After a tightly contested first half, Notre Dame College opened the game up in the second half by scoring four times to win 6-1 over California University of Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon.
The Falcons (3-1) have now won two games in a row and their six goals are the most that the program has scored since October 12, 2016 when they beat Shepherd University, 6-0. The Vulcans (0-3) have been outscored 12-2 in their first three games, all against opponents from the MEC.
NDC struck first with a goal by sophomore Paolo Termine, his first of the season, at the three minute mark. The assist was credited to Reece Daly on the cross.
California (Pa.) did not get on the scoreboard until the 15th minute Eric Campbell put the ball in the back of the net, his first goal of the year. However, less than eight minutes later, Notre Dame retook the lead with a header by senior Leonardo Paiva. Paiva’s streak of 22 consecutive regular season games with a goal came to an end in the Falcons 1-0 win over Wheeling Jesuit on September 6.
After going into the halftime break leading 2-1, the Falcons looked even better in the second half, as head coach Carl Nolan described.
“The team played fairly well in the first half, but really kicked it into a different gear in the second half,” he said. “Higher work rate, more pressure on the ball and better decisions gave us the ability to create more chances and of course, score more goals.”
In a 12 minute span, NDC put four more shots into the back of the net. In the 65th minute, Paiva stole the ball and won the battle with the Vulcans goal keeper, Joseph Valeriano. Sophomore Guilherme Gloria Albuquerque then scored his first goal of the season at the 69:10 minute mark.
Freshman Jan Walker stole the ball and then made a pass to Paiva who went on to score his third goal of the game with nearly 16 minutes to go in the game. The final goal of the second half came from junior Joao Pedro Ribas de Oliveira in the 77th minute.
California (Pa.) only took three shots in the second half and was really locked down by the Notre Dame defense. Nolan noticed what his team did well.
“Defensively the team worked hard on simple things,” he said. “Win our challenges in the air and compete for every second ball. They kept things simple and made good decisions.”
On the other hand, NDC took 24 shots with 14 shots on goal. Several Falcons were able to get multiple good looks at the goal. Paiva took nine shots and had five shots on goal while Oliveira, Albuquerque and sophomore Mats Jota each had two shots on goal. Five different players recorded an assist.
For the Vulcans, Campbell was the only player with multiple shots in the game.
Notre Dame will play in Buckhannon, W.Va. to play West Virginia Wesleyan on September 14. The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
