No. 20 Notre Dame welcomes Boston College to the Alumni Stadium pitch for an ACC match at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28. The match will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra via the WatchESPN app.
NOTRE DAME VS. BOSTON COLLEGE
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana | Alumni Stadium
Live Stream: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. Boston College
THE BOSTON COLLEGE SERIES
• The Irish and Eagles will meet on the pitch for the 14th time on Friday evening.
• The Irish have a commanding lead in the series at 8-3-1.
• Notre Dame is 4-2-0 against Boston College when playing at home.
• The Irish won the most recent meeting in the series by a score of 3-1 on Sept. 8, 2017 in Newton, Mass.
SET-PIECE SUCCESS
• Seven of the 14 Irish goals scored this season have come directly from set pieces.
• Patrick Berneski has done the bulk of the damage, scoring five headers off set pieces.
• The other set-piece goal came from a sublime Felicien Dumas free kick that proved to be the game winner against Syracuse.
• Dumas has supplied the assist in five of the set-piece goals.
THE SKIPPER DOES IT ALL
• Senior center back Patrick Berneski has gotten off to an impressive start in his senior season after earning the captain position prior to the season.
• Berneski has scored in five of eight matches this season, leading the team with five goals.
• After scoring two goals and helping the Irish to two clean-sheet victories, Berneski earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors (9/3) as well as Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.
HERE TO ASSIST
• Senior full back Felicien Dumas has been a weapon for the Irish this season in the attack, as the set-piece specialist has six assists and a goal in 2018.
• The defender ranks first in the ACC and sixth in the county for total assists with six.
• Dumas has assisted on four of Berneski’s five set-piece goals.
• The senior also scored one of the best goals of the season, striking a perfect free kick into the top right corner of the goal in what proved to be the game winner against Syracuse.
Dumas was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week on following his performance at Syracuse.
BEST ATTACKING PERFORMANCE OF THE SEASON
• The Irish are coming off their highest scoring match of the season, defeating previously unbeaten #22 Xavier by a final score of 4-1.
• The four goals came in under 72 minutes of play, as the match was called early due to lightning.
• Notre Dame scored twice in the first half courtesy of goals from Aiden McFadden and Thomas Ueland. The Irish added two second-half goals from Jack Lynn and Patrick Berneski.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
• Of Notre Dame’s 14 goals scored, 10 have come in the second half this season.
• All three of Notre Dame’s goals in the ACC-opening win over Syracuse came in the final 45 minutes of play.
• Just as impressive, the Irish defense has not allowed a goal in the first half in any match this season, spanning 360 minutes.
The CHAD RILEY ERA UNDERWAY
• Chad Riley was named the sixth head coach in program history on Jan. 4, 2018.
• Riley is a 2004 graduate of Notre Dame, where he was a standout on the soccer team under the previous head coach Bobby Clark.
• Riley was a three-time All-BIG EAST selection during his time with the Irish and was named the skipper of the squad in 2003.
• Prior to taking the reins of the Notre Dame program, Riley spent the last five seasons as the head coach of Dartmouth.
• Dartmouth won the Ivy League Championship in each of the last four seasons under Riley’s direction, earning four trips to the NCAA Championship.