If Kevin Richards dreams of playing professional soccer the path to future glories could lead him to Scotland, thanks to his current coach.

Bermudian Richards plays for Notre Dame University's Fighting Irish team who won the Big East title at the weekend and are now through to the prestigious NCAA Championship.

The 2-0 victory was down, in part, to a goal from defender Richards and coach Bobby Clark, who used to play for Scottish Premier Division side Aberdeen, believes he could play at a higher level.

Speaking from Indiana, the coach was glowing in his praise of the 22-year-old from Warwick and said he might consider recommending him to the Dons.

"I played for Aberdeen for 17 years, from 1965 to 1982. We took the Notre Dame team over the summer before last and played Aberdeen's Under-21s, Dundee United's Under-21s, Ross County's Under-21s and we never lost a game," said Clark.

"He did well then and he has come on another couple of stages since then. The great thing is he is very quick and you can't coach speed.

"I think he could play at the next level and especially once he gets a Notre Dame degree in his back pocket it might be something he might want to explore. We will see."

Clark has known the former PHC player for four years and has watched his development with interest.

"Coming here, he concentrated on soccer and in the US college system you are working on it every single day," he said. "He is a good athlete and a tremendous competitor. He is very strong mentally and tough physically. He is not a huge guy but he is fast and he can play.

"He is a hell of an attacking full-back. He is still working on his final cross, his final pass, some of it is very good . . . if he keeps working on it it will be interesting to see what he can do. I would love to send him back to Scotland next year."

Notre Dame have a bye in the first round of the NCAA tournament and will be paired against the winner of the clash between Western Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee which takes place either on November 21 or 22. The second round tie is scheduled for November 26.

"We will have to wait and see who we play," said Clark as far as tactics were concerned. "We will go up and have a look at that game on Saturday and once we have seen it we will maybe have a better idea of what we should be doing."

One thing that is for certain is that Richards will be in the starting line-up.

"There is not even a second thought," said Clark. "He would be out there on one leg. We love him."

The coach has great belief in his team and, while not saying they will go on to take the grand prize, he wants to get as close to it as possible.

"I left Stanford to come here and they were arguably the No.1 team in the country at that time," he said. "One of the reasons I came here three years ago was that (I believed) Notre Dame should be the top team in the country. The only way you do that is by winning the whole thing. But you need a bit of luck, especially when it comes to the knockout stages. It's not always the best team that wins the FA Cup, the best team usually wins the league.

"Once you come to this stage of the season ? the tournament stage ? it is a knockout and you have got to get it right on the day and sometimes luck features in that."