The 2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer team represented the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

during the

2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 63rd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. After the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 season partially returned to normal. ...

. It was the program's 44th season. It was the program's ninth season competing in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. The Fighting Irish were led by head coach Chad Riley, in his fourth year and played their home games at

Alumni Stadium Alumni Stadium is a college football stadium on the lower campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is about west of downtown Boston, just inside the Boston city limits near the border with Newton, Massachusetts, Newton. It i ...

Notre Dame, Indiana Notre Dame is a census-designated place and unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend in St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It includes the campuses of three colleges: the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's Co ...

. 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 North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

in the First Round,

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

on penalties in the Second Round,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in the Semifinals, and

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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

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in the Quarterfinals before losing to

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 2021 MLS SuperDraft was the 22nd edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first held exclusively via conference call a ...

, the Fighting Irish had one player drafted: Aiden McFadden.

Player movement

Players leaving

Players arriving

Squad

Roster

Team management

Source:

Schedule

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Awards and honors

2022 MLS Super Draft

Source:

Rankings

References

{{College Cup 2020–2029 navbox

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer team represents the University of Notre Dame in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's soccer. The team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference ( ...

Notre Dame NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament College Cup seasons