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Irish To Host 16th Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament

The Irish host the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament at Alumni Stadium. Notre Dame welcomes Seattle at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 6 and then takes on Denver at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 8. Both matches will be available to stream live on ACCNX.

This weekend marks the 16th Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament on the Notre Dame campus. The tournament is held in memory of former Notre Dame soccer head coach Mike Berticelli, who died unexpectedly in January of 2000 at the age of 48.

The Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament, which has been held in every season except for 2013 and 2018 dating back to the 2002 campaign. The tournament is held in honor of the former Irish head coach who compiled a 104-80-19 record during his 10-year stint at Notre Dame.

Berticelli led the Irish to three NCAA tournament appearances (1993, 1994, 1996), including the program’s first NCAA win in 1996. He guided Notre Dame to one Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC) regular-season title (1993) and two MCC tournament crowns (1993 & 1994). He also steered Notre Dame to its first BIG EAST tournament title in 1996.

Notre Dame is 22-3-5 (.817) all-time in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. The Irish have claimed the tournament championship eight times: 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

HOW TO FOLLOW ND THIS WEEKEND
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana | Alumni Stadium
Live Stream: vs. Seattle: ACCNX | vs. Denver: ACCNX
Live Stats: vs. Seattle: Click Here | vs. Denver: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament

OWNING THE OPENERS

• Notre Dame has historically gotten off to a good start to its season, posting a record of 26-9-8.

• The Irish remain unbeaten in their last nine openers to a season, going 5-0-4 after the win over Saint Louis. Notre Dame has outscored the oppositiong by a combined score of 14-5 over that stretch.

• Notre Dame has been even better in home openers, recording a mark of 30-8-4.

• Last season the Irish earned a draw with Saint Louis in the home opener, finishing with a score of 1-1 after 110 minutes of play.

STARTING STRONG

• The Irish scored a goal in the second minute (1:12) of the season opener, marking the quickest goal to start a season in program history.

• Freshman Mohammad Abualnadi scored the first goal off a rebound from a Felicien Dumas free kick.

• The goal scored at 1:12 is tied for the second fastest goal scored to open a match since 1995.

RILEY MAKES INSTANT IMPACT

• In head coach Chad Riley’s first season the Irish reached their first NCAA quarterfinal since 2013, finishing the season with a record of 11-7-3, defeating six ranked opponents.

• Riley became the first head coach in program history to reach the NCAA quarterfinals in his debut season after earning the No. 7 overall seed in the tournament.

Aschieris, Casey & Dumas Named team captainS

• Graduate students Ian Aschieris and Felicien Dumas along with senior Jack Casey will wear the captains armbands for the Irish in 2019.

• The trio of captains played a large role in Notre Dame’s success last season. The three players combined to play in 61 matches during the 2018 campaign, earning 54 starts.

TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN THE COUNTRY

• The Irish have never shied away from playing a challenging slate of opponents and the 2019 schedule looks to be no different.

• Notre Dame is set to face five of the top 10 ranked teams in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll in No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 2 Indiana, No. 5 Duke, No. 7 Virginia, and No. 10 Virginia Tech.

• Eight of the 16 teams on Notre Dame’s regular-season schedule enter the 2019 year in the national rankings.

• Ten of the sides the Irish are scheduled to face qualified for the 2018 NCAA tourney.

#englaNDabroad

• The program spent the 2019 spring break in England, touring the country.

• The 10-day trip consisted of three matches against formidable club teams, attending three matches, touring stadiums and training facilities and learning about the English culture.

• The Irish went an unbeaten 1-0-2 on the trip, defeating a strong Brentford Reserve side and earned draws against Derby County U-18s and Players Centre.

• The team attended matches at Southampton, Mancherster City and West Ham.