Bermudian defender Kevin Richards and his University of Notre Dame soccer team cruised into the second round of the NCAA Championship on Wednesday night with a thumping 4-1 victory over UW-Milwaukee.

Notre Dame, nicknamed the ?Fighting Irish?, will now host Michigan in the next round ? their first appearance in the final 16 of the prestigious tournament.

Wednesday?s game was evenly poised at half-time after the NCAA fifth seeds had taken the lead through striker Justin Detter only for UW-Milwaukee to equalise in the latter stages of the half through a well taken Kyle Lance penalty.

Richards? side turned on the style after the interval, however, and romped to victory with a further strike from Detter, a goal from Devon Prescod and a solo effort from Greg Martin.

Despite Notre Dame?s good form, Michigan will be no pushover in the next round as they advanced following a systematic 6-2 destruction of St.Peter?s College.

Although Richards started life as a forward in Bermuda, playing for local side PHC, he has since retreated to the centre of the defence and has become the mainstay of Notre Dame?s backline.

Last week, he helped Notre Dame to the Big East title, a victory that earned them a place in the NCAA championship flight, when he scored his first goal in almost three years of competition against the University of Connecticut.

Notre Dame coach Bobby Clarke, who played for current Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen between 1965 and 1982, has been so impressed with Richards? performances this season that he told last week that he was considering recommending the pacy defender to his former club.