2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer team

The 2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the program's 44th season.^[1] It was the program's ninth season competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Fighting Irish were led by head coach Chad Riley, in his fourth year and played their home games at Alumni Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.

2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer
ACC Tournament Champions
NCAA Tournament, Semifinals
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 4
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 4
Record	14–5–5 (4–2–2 ACC)
Head coach	Chad Riley (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Mike Graczyk (2nd season) Jeff Rowland (1st season)
Home stadium	Alumni Stadium
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 1 Clemson +	5	–	3	–	0			16	–	5	–	2
Louisville +	5	–	3	–	0			10	–	7	–	1
No. 17 Wake Forest +	4	–	3	–	1			13	–	7	–	1
Boston College	2	–	4	–	2			6	–	7	–	2
Syracuse	2	–	5	–	1			8	–	8	–	2
NC State	1	–	5	–	2			7	–	8	–	2
Coastal
No. 12 Duke +	5	–	2	–	1			14	–	5	–	1
No. 6 Pittsburgh +	5	–	2	–	1			13	–	5	–	2
No. 4 Notre Dame ‡	4	–	2	–	2			14	–	5	–	5
North Carolina +	4	–	4	–	0			11	–	7	–	2
No. 19 Virginia Tech +	3	–	4	–	1			11	–	5	–	4
Virginia	2	–	5	–	1			6	–	9	–	3
‡ – ACC Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2021 NCAA tournament As of December 14, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: The ACC

The Fighting Irish finished the season 14–5–5 overall and 4–2–2 in ACC play to finish in third place in the Coastal Division. As the fifth overall seed in the ACC Tournament they defeated NC State in the First Round, Louisville on penalties in the Second Round, Pittsburgh in the Semifinals, and Duke in the Final to win the tournament. This was their first tournament title after moving to the ACC in 2013. As tournament champions, they received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and were awarded the fourth overall seed. After a First Round bye, they defeated Villanova in the Second Round, Wake Forest in the Third Round, and Pittsburgh in the Quarterfianls via penalty shootout before losing to Clemson in the Semifinals again via penalty shootout to end their season.

Background

Main article: 2020 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer team

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.

The Fighting Irish finished the fall season 5–4–0 and 3–2–0 in ACC play to finish in third place in the North Division. In the ACC Tournament they defeated North Carolina in the Quarterfinals before losing to Pittsburgh in the Semifinals. They finished the spring season 3–5–0 and 1–5–0 in ACC play, to finish in sixth place in the Coastal Division. They were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.

In the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, the Fighting Irish had one player drafted: Aiden McFadden.^[2]

Player movement

Players leaving

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Keagan McLaughlin	1	GK	6'4"	190	Senior	Zanesville, OH	Graduated
Mohammad Abualnadi	5	DF	6'1"	165	Sophomore	Leawood, KS	—
Aiden McFadden	10	MF	5'10"	165	Senior	West Chester, PA	Graduated; Drafted 59th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Atlanta United
Simon Roennecke	11	FW	6'0"	165	Senior	Pleasant Ridge, MI	Graduated
Patrick Coleman	13	MF	5'11"	155	Junior	Antioch, IL	—
Senan Farrelly	17	DF	6'1"	196	Graduate Student	Havertown, PA	Graduated
Townsend Meyer	18	MF	6'0"	169	Senior	San Diego, CA	Graduated
Jacob Huber	24	DF	6'0"	175	Senior	Lebanon, OH	Graduated
Zach Dedrick	25	DF	6'3"	180	Sophomore	Wilton, CT	—
Sam Guinane	30	GK	6'3"	185	Junior	San Juan Capistrano, CA	—

Players arriving

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Mateo Acosta DF	USA	Skokie, IL	Chicago Fire	[3]
Bryce Boneau MF	USA	Keller, TX	FC Dallas	[4]
Liam Egan GK	USA	Louisville, KY	Bridgton Academy	[5]
Kyle Genenbacher DF	USA	Farmington, MO	St. Louis FC U17	[6]
Eno Nto FW	ENG	Derby, England	Derby County FC	N/A[7]
Joshua Ramsey DF	USA	Plano, TX	FC Dallas Academy	[8]
Matthew Roou FW	USA	Germantown, WI	Indiana Fire Academy	[9]
Michael Rossi FW	USA	Glen Ellyn, IL	Sockers FC	[10]
Cleveland Sellers IV DF	USA	Charlotte, NC	Charlotte Independence SC	[11]

Squad

Roster

As of February 10, 2022^[12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Thomas Deslongchamps 2 DF  USA Philip Quinton 3 DF  USA Reese Mayer 4 DF  USA Aaron Hill 5 MF  USA Bryce Boneau 6 MF  USA Michael Pellegrino 7 MF  USA Ethan O'Brien 8 MF  CAN Matthew Radivojsa 9 FW  USA Tyler Shea 10 MF  USA Matthew McLaughlin 11 FW  USA Daniel Russo 12 MF  USA Bryan Silver 13 DF  USA Cleveland Sellers IV 14 MF  USA Michael Lynch 15 DF  NIR Paddy Burns

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW  ENG Eno Nto 17 DF  USA Mateo Acosta 18 DF  USA Josh Ramsey 19 FW  USA Michael Rossi 21 FW  USA Matthew Roou 22 MF  CAN PJ Bujouves 23 FW  USA Alex Salvino 24 DF  USA Kyle Genenbacher 26 MF  USA Ben Giacobello 27 FW  USA Jack Lynn 28 FW  USA Dawson McCartney 29 MF  CAN Mohamed Omar 30 GK  USA Liam Egan 31 GK  USA Bryan Dowd

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	Jack Swarbrick
Head Coach	Chad Riely
Assistant Coach	Mike Graczyk
Assistant Coach	Jeff Rowland
Director of Operations	Chris Rolfe

Source:^[12]

Schedule

Source:^[13][14]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site City, State
Exhibition
August 18* 7:00 p.m.		Butler		—	Alumni Stadium Notre Dame, IN
August 23* 7:00 p.m.		St. Thomas		—	Alumni Stadium Notre Dame, IN
Regular Season
August 27* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 2 Indiana	L 2–3 OT	0–1–0	Alumni Stadium (2,347) Notre Dame, IN
August 30* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		NIU	W 2–0	1–1–0	Alumni Stadium (456) Notre Dame, IN
September 3* 7:30 p.m., ESPN+		at No. 21 Kentucky	L 0–1	1–2–0	Bell Soccer Complex (1,589) Lexington, KY
September 10 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Boston College	T 1–1 2OT	1–2–1 (0–0–1)	Newton Soccer Complex (927) Chestnut Hill, MA
September 14* 7:00 p.m., ACCN		Michigan State	L 3–4	1–3–1	Alumni Stadium (351) Notre Dame, IN
September 17 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		NC State	W 1–0	2–3–1 (1–0–1)	Alumni Stadium (1,001) Notre Dame, IN
September 21* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU		at Michigan	W 3–1	3–3–1	U-M Soccer Stadium (317) Ann Arbor, MI
September 24 7:00 p.m.		at No. 12 Virginia Tech	L 1–2 OT	3–4–1 (1–1–1)	Thompson Field (1,423) Blacksburg, VA
September 28* 7:00 p.m.		Trine	W 13–0	4–4–1	Alumni Stadium (318) Notre Dame, IN
October 1 6:00 p.m., ACCN		Virginia	W 2–1	5–4–1 (2–1–1)	Alumni Stadium (1,213) Notre Dame, IN
October 5* 7:00 p.m.		Purdue Fort Wayne	W 4–0	6–4–1	Alumni Stadium (403) Notre Dame, IN
October 9 7:00 p.m.		at No. 21 Clemson	W 2–0	7–4–1 (3–1–1)	Riggs Field (1,500) Clemson, SC
October 16 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 7 Pittsburgh	W 1–0 2OT	8–4–1 (4–1–1)	Alumni Stadium (385) Notre Dame, IN
October 19* 7:00 p.m.	No. 20	UIC	W 3–0	9–4–1	Alumni Stadium (259) Notre Dame, IN
October 22 7:00 p.m.	No. 20	No. 18 Duke	T 1–1 2OT	9–4–2 (4–1–2)	Alumni Stadium (1,037) Notre Dame, IN
October 29 4:30 p.m., ESPNU	No. 11	at North Carolina	L 1–3	9–5–2 (4–2–2)	Dorrance Field (1,481) Chapel Hill, NC
ACC Tournament
November 3 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	(5) No. 23	(12) NC State First Round	W 1–0	10–5–2	Alumni Stadium (174) South Bend, IN
November 7 6:00 p.m., ACCN	(5) No. 23	at (4) Louisville Quarterfinals	T 0–0 (3–0 PKs) 2OT	10–5–3	Lynn Stadium (582) Louisville, KY
November 10 5:00 p.m., ACCN	(5) No. 20	at (1) No. 5 Pittsburgh Semifinals	W 2–0	11–5–3	Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,626) Pittsburgh, PA
November 14 2:00 p.m., ESPNU	(5) No. 20	vs. (3) No. 11 Duke Final	W 2–0	12–5–3	WakeMed Soccer Park (2,737) Cary, NC
NCAA Tournament
November 21 5:00 p.m.	(4) No. 20	Villanova Second Round	W 3–0	13–5–3	Alumni Stadium (891) South Bend, IN
November 28 5:00 p.m.	(4) No. 20	Wake Forest Third Round	W 2–0	14–5–3	Alumni Stadium (481) South Bend, IN
December 4 5:00 p.m.	(4) No. 20	(5) No. 5 Pittsburgh Quarterfinals	T 1–1 (4–2 PKs)	14–5–4	Alumni Stadium (1,303) South Bend, IN
December 10 6:00 p.m., ESPNU	(4) No. 20	vs. (8) No. 9 Clemson Semifinals	T 1–1 (4–5 PKs)	14–5–5	WakeMed Soccer Park (10,132) Cary, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Jack Lynn	Preseason All-ACC Watchlist	August 18	[15]
Daniel Russo	Co-Offensive Player of the Week	October 13	[16]
Philip Quinton	Defensive Player of the Week
Paddy Burns	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 19	[17]
Trace Alphin	ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week	November 2	[18]
Jack Lynn	All-ACC First Team	November 10	[19]
Philip Quinton	All-ACC Third Team
Josh Ramsey	ACC All-Freshman Team
Matthew Roou
Bryan Dowd	ACC All-Tournament Team	November 15	[20]
Jack Lynn
Dawson McCartney
Philip Quinton
Dawson McCartney	ACC Tournament MVP

2022 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2022 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Jack Lynn	Orlando City	1	18	FW
Mohamed Omar	Colorado Rapids	1	23	MF
Philip Quinton	Columbus Crew	1	25	DF

Source:^[21]

Rankings

Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer[22]	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	20	11	23	20	Not released				4
TopDrawer Soccer[23]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	11	9	6	3	4