Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Match 12 Preview: #3 Duke

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame travels to Durham to take on No. 3 Duke in a big ACC match at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 14 at Koskinen Stadium. The matchup will air on ACCN.

NOTRE DAME vs. #3 DUKE
Location: Durham, North Carolina | Koskinen Stadium
TV: ACCN
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. Duke

THE DUKE SERIES

• The Irish and Blue Devils will meet on the pitch for the 17th time on Friday evening.

• The Irish lead the series with a mark of 10-4-2.

• Notre Dame and Duke met twice last season and the Irish went 1-0-1.

• In the regular season matchup the Irish and Blue Devils played to a 1-1 standstill at Alumni Stadium.

• The two sides met again in the ACC Championship final in Cary, North Carolina, and Notre Dame won by a score of 2-0 to claim its first ACC Tournament title. Dawson McCartney scored twice and was named the tournament MVP.

THE LAST TIME OUT

• The Irish suffered a 2-0 loss against No. 11 Louisville at Alumni Stadium.

• Notre Dame controlled the run of play for the majority of the contest despite the defeat.

• The Irish outshot the Cardinals 15-5 over the 90 minutes of play and earned eight corners to Louisville’s two.

FIRST HALF DOMINANCE

• The Irish are outscoring the opposition 13-3 over the opening 45 minutes of play this season.

• Notre Dame has given up just one goal from open play in the first half of matches this season, the other two goals coming from penalties.

• Three of Paddy Burns’ team-leading four goals have come in the first 45 minutes of play in 2022.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• Of the 15 Notre Dame players that have recorded starts this season, eight have been either freshmen or sophomores.

• Seven Irish players made their collegiate debuts this season.

• Notre Dame has allowed one or no goals in eight of its last nine outings.

• The Irish are a perfect 5-0-0 when scoring first in matches this season.

• Eleven different Notre Dame players have scored a goal this season.

• Seven players have recorded multiple assists through eight games, with KK Baffour, Daniel Russo and Kyle Genenbacher leading the team with three assists apiece.

BAFFOUR’S BUZZER BEATER

• Notre Dame escaped Charlottesville with a thrilling 2-1 road win over Virginia in ACC play on Friday, Sept. 16.

• KK Baffour provided the heroics, scoring the match winner with 3.1 seconds left after Matthew Roou played him through on goal just before crossing the midfield line.

• Baffour’s goal was the first of his collegiate career.

• Notre Dame has now won three of the last four matchups against Virginia and the last 11 matches have been decided by a goal or ended in a draw.

#3 RANKED FRESHMAN CLASS IN THE COUNTRY

• The Irish welcome a seven-man freshman class to South Bend which was ranked as the No. 3 class in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.

• The class features four players ranked in IMG’s top 200 rankings, each ranking in the top 100.

• The seven players come from a combined five states and one foreign country (Ghana).

• Kelvin Baffour (M), Daniel Boateng (M), Wyatt Borso (F), Owen Cornell (GK), Mitchell Ferguson (D), Sebastian Green (M) and Nicholas Legendre (F) make up the class.

• Notre Dame also welcomes Mo Williams to the team, a grad transfer defender from Seton Hall.