Senior moments
NDC vets fill the nets in Korb finale
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SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame defeated Seton Hill (PA) Tuesday by a 4-1 final in a game that likely marked the last home match of the season for the AMC Tournament-bound Falcons.  On a night designated by the NDC squad as Senior Night, three outgoing senior players combined to score all four NDC goals and 10 of the 11 Falcon points on the night (four goals, two assists).  The non-conference, home-field victory for No. 25-ranked Notre Dame (13-2-2, 4-0 AMC-N) gives the Falcons a season-high fourth straight win and likely closes out their 2007 home schedule. 

David McCaig (Sr/Stewarton, Scotland) found the back of the net twice for Notre Dame, and Danny Bartulovic (Sr/Gates Mills, OH) added a goal and two assists in what Head Coach Michael “Mac” McBride termed one of the team’s best performances of the season.

“This was one of our best performances of the year,” said McBride.  “Seton Hill does a lot of things well, but we played our game to a different level tonight.”

McCaig scored the game’s first goal with a 15-yard header off a nifty 25-yard pass from Johnny Morris (So/Huddersfield, England) at 10:18.  Bartulovic gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead over Seton Hill (6-10-2, 3-4-1 WVIAC) at the 23-minute mark on a free kick from 25 yards out.  That goal, Bartulovic’s eighth of the season, would send NDC into halftime with a two-goal advantage.

Out-shooting the Griffins by a wide margin (29-10 for the match), the Falcons would extend that lead beyond repair by the middle of the second period.  Senior midfielder Nick Jordan (Mentor, OH) scored a goal at 62:22, dribbling 30 yards through the SHU defense before finding the bottom-right corner of the net for his team-leading ninth of the season.  McCaig finished off the Notre Dame scoring with his second goal of the match moments later, at 63:53, when he knocked home a 6-yarder on 40-yard free kick off the leg of Bartulovic. 

Bartulovic also assisted on the McCaig goal in the second half.  The senior from Gates Mills, Ohio, has now scored 22 points (eight goals, six assists) in 14 contests this season.

The Falcons out-shot the Griffins, 16-3, in the second frame.  For the match, NDC put seven shots on goal to SHU’s four.  Sophomore goalkeeper Craig Pickering (Newcastle, England) went the distance between the pipes for Notre Dame.  Pickering collected three saves on the night to raise his season save percentage to .702.

The Falcons have earned a first-round bye in the upcoming American Mideast Conference (AMC) Tournament, by right of winning the AMC’s North Division.  They will likely meet their tournament foes on the road, with home field determinations made by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ (NAIA) Longo computer ranking system.

Notre Dame will close out their regular season with a road match at Malone on Saturday, Oct. 27.  Kickoff Saturday, in Canton, Ohio, is scheduled for 1:00pm.  The Falcons’ next match would be in round-two of the AMC Tournament, to be held a week later, on Saturday, Nov. 3.

Notes from the Nest...

Finishing on a high note: With the victory Tuesday, Notre Dame notched their fourth consecutive win, a season high. In the winning streak, Notre Dame has outscored their opponents 18-5. The Falcons tied Rio Grande, 2-2, in the match (Sep. 29) before the winning streak began; they have not lost a match since dropping a 1-0 decision to Mount Vernon Sep. 25.

Seven-senior salute: Notre Dame recognized seven NDC senior players before Tuesday's match. Bartulovic, Jordan, McCaig, Steve Klick, Jared Miller, Martin Jones, and Marty Pokorny were honored. The three who scored goals in the match against SHU (Bartulovic, Jordan, and McCaig) have combined to score 58 points this season (24 goals, 10 assists).

Lucky '13': NDC's 13-2-2 mark matches a single-season best for the program in regular season play, and the Falcons will have an opportunity to top that Saturday, when they take on the Malone Pioneers. Malone, an AMC-North school, is 6-9-1 on the season and 2-2 in division play. The Falcons' 13-2-2 record matches their regular season record of 2005, when NDC finished 16-4-2, after advancing to the NAIA Championship Tournament.