Oct. 20, 1998
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s soccer team tied Connecticut 1-1 on Fri., Oct. 16, and lost 3-2 in overtime at Seton Hall on Sun., Oct. 18. The Irish continue their road trip with games at Michigan on Fri., Oct. 23, and at St. John’s on Sun., Oct. 25.
This Week for the Irish: Notre Dame wraps up its six-game road stretch this weekend with its first ever trip to Michigan on Fri., Oct. 23, with a 4:00 p.m. game. The Irish then play their final road game of the regular season at St. John’s on Sun., Oct. 25, at 2:00 p.m. Notre Dame has played Michigan twice previously and won both meetings. The Irish recorded a 4-3 victory in 1989 when the Wolverines were a club team and a 5-0 win last year at Alumni Field. Notre Dame launched a season-high 44 shots against Michigan last year while the Wolverines managed just one shot. The Irish scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to break open a 1-0 halftime game. Michigan is ranked 21st in the country by the NSCAA with an 11-3-1 record.
Notre Dame and St. John’s have played on three previous occasions with the Irish winning all three games by a combined 22-0, including a 7-0 win in 1997. The Red Storm stands 11th in the BIG EAST standings with a 1-6-2 conference record and 2-10-2 mark overall. Lisa Kaczmarski leads St. John’s with six goals and two assists.
Heft on Record-Setting Pace: Junior forward Jenny Heft continues on her record-setting goal scoring pace, as she scored all three of Notre Dame’s goals this past weekend to bring her season total to 20 goals in 15 games, including 13 in nine BIG EAST games. She already has matched her 1997 total of 20 goals, which she scored in 22 games for the seventh-most in Irish history. Former All-American and national player of the year Cindy Daws scored 26 goals in 26 games to set the Notre Dame single-season record for goals.
Last Week for the Irish: The second-ranked Notre Dame womens soccer team went winless in two games for the first time since 1995 after a 1-1 tie at Connecticut and a 3-2 overtime loss at Seton Hall. The Irish scored seven minutes into the game but could not score again in the next 113 minutes in the 1-1 at fourth-ranked Connecticut. The Irish outshot the Huskies 29-18 in the game but hit the post three times.
Notre Dame junior forward Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) put the Irish on the board first when she scored her 18th goal of the season at 7:00. Junior defender Kara Brown (Avon, Conn.) lofted a pass from just beyond midfield from the left side over the Connecticut defense to Heft inside the box on the right side. Heft fired a shot which skimmed off the left post into the right corner of the net.
Connecticuts freshman Mary-Frances Monroe tied the game at 29:52 when she won the ball just beyond midfield and drove to the goal, firing a shot just inside the box into the lower right corner of the net.
Sophomore midfielder Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) hit Notre Dames second post of the first half in the 37th minute. Makinen fired a free kick from 20 yards at the top of the box square off the right post. The Irish hit their third post of the game just two minutes into overtime when Heft headed the ball off the right post from two yards. Notre Dame senior forward Monica Gerardo (Simi Valley, Calif.) hit the left post from the top of the box on Notre Dames first shot of the game.
The Seton Hall womens soccer team scored on two counter attacks and a penalty kick, and Notre Dame managed just two goals on 29 shots as the Irish lost 3-2 to the Pirates in overtime. The loss also snapped Notre Dames 37-game conference unbeaten streak, dating back to a ’95 5-4 overtime loss to Connecticut
Heft put Notre Dame ahead 1-0 at 7:18 when she volleyed in a corner kick from defender Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.). Junior midfielder Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) hit the right post in the 15th minute of the game, and senior midfielder Shannon Boxx (Torrance, Calif.) hit the left post in the 30th minute of the game as the Irish led 1-0 at halftime with a 14-2 advantage in shots.
Pirate forward Kelly Smith converted a penalty kick at 52:17 to tie the game, and Courtney Wood finished a counter attack with a pass from Smith at 61:54 to give Seton Hall a 2-1 lead. Makinen nearly tied the game in the 75th minute with a blast from the top of the box but Seton Halls Leslie Smith made a save on the line to preserve the lead.
Heft scored the equalizer at 77:45 when she headed in another Grubb corner kick. The Irish could not score again and finished with a 15-2 advantage in shots in the second half as Notre Dame, on the heels of a 1-1 tie at Connecticut on Fri., Oct. 16, played consecutive overtime games for the first time since playing three straight during the 1995 season.
Notre Dame went on the offensive early in overtime, earning a corner kick in the first minute. The Pirates, however, cleared the corner kick from the box and scored on another counter attack. Michelle Tacey found Wood on the left wing from 15 yards out. Wood fired into the lower right corner of the net to end the game at 91:09.
The Pirates, who had five shots in the game, scored on their final three shots after missing their two shots in the first half. Notre Dame finished with a 29-5 advantage in shots, 7-1 advantage in corners, while Seton Hall had 13 fouls to Notre Dames six.
Irish vs. Big 10: Notre Dame heads to Michigan with a 33-game winning streak against Big 10 teams, dating back to a 1989 loss to Michigan State. Irish head coach Chris Petrucelli is 31-0-0 against the Big 10 since taking over as the reigns at Notre Dame. The Irish have recorded 23 shutouts in the 33 wins and have outscored their Big 10 opponents 156-14 during the winning streak.
Irish Suffer Rare Conference, Unranked Loss: Notre Dame’s loss to BIG EAST Conference opponent and unranked Seton Hall marked just the second loss ever for the Irish in 68 conference regular season and conference championship games. Notre Dame was 24-0-1 all-time in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference from 1991-94 and 40-1-1 in the BIG EAST Conference since 1995 before the loss to Seton Hall with a 37-game conference unbeaten streak. Notre Dame’s 36-game conference winning streak was stopped with the 1-1 tie at Connecticut.
The loss to the unranked Pirates marked the first time Notre Dame has lost to an unranked opponent in 183 games since Oct. 6, 1990, when Creighton blanked the Irish 2-0 in Chris Petrucelli’s first year as head coach.
Irish Named Finalists: Three Notre Dame juniors have been named finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Collegiate Player of the Year award, which will be presented Jan. 8, 1999. All-American goalkeeper, LaKeysia Beene (Gold River, Calif.), All-American defender Jen Grubb and All-American midfielder Jenny Streiffer are three of the 15 candidates for the award and were chosen by balloting of coaches of the top 20 teams in the preseason rankings. The winner of the award, which recognizes the top American born or naturalized college soccer player, will be selected in balloting by approximately 800 coaches from across the country.
Head Coach Chris Petrucelli: Chris Petrucelli is in his ninth season as head coach of Notre Dame’s women’s soccer team after leading the Irish to their fourth straight NCAA championship weekend appearance in 1997. Petrucelli was named NSCAA coach of the year for the second consecutive year after guiding Notre Dame to its first NCAA women’s soccer title in 1995, becoming the first coach to win the honor two straight years. The Orange, N.J., native owns a 166-21-10 record with an .868 winning percentage that is second best among all NCAA Division I women’s soccer coaches, active and nonactive. During his eight seasons as head coach, Petrucelli has coached his players to 21 NSCAA All-America selections, including 18 since 1994, the most in the country during that span.
Post Mortem: In two of Notre Dame’s last three losses and in the last tie, the Irish have controlled the game in every category but on the scoreboard, including in the number of shots off the post. In its only loss of the 1997 season in the NCAA semifinals, Notre Dame outshot Connecticut 28-6 but had shots hit the post three times, the crossbar twice and had another shot saved off the line. In the 1-1 tie at Connecticut on Friday, the Irish again outshot the Huskies, this time 29-18, but hit the post three more times, including on their first shot of the game by Monica Gerardo. In the 3-2 loss at Seton Hall, Notre Dame had 29 shots to the Pirates’ five but watched two of its shots clanked off the post and another swept off the line by a defender.
Irish Among NCAA Leaders: Notre Dame is first in the latest NCAA national statistics in scoring offense with 4.33 goals per game, fifth in shutouts per game with 10 in 15 games and 13th in team defense with 0.72 goals per game.
Individually, Jenny Heft is third in goals per game with 15 goals in 20 games for a 1.43 average. Heft is fourth in points per game with 2.93. Jen Grubb is fifth in assists with 13 in 15 games (0.87). LaKeysia Beene is 19th in goals against average with 0.80.
Irish Among BIG EAST Leaders: Notre Dame once again is among the BIG EAST statistical leaders. In all games played, the Irish have scored the most goals (65), recorded the most assists (75) and shutouts (10) and compiled the second lowest goals against average (0.72) in all games.
In BIG EAST games, the Irish boast three of the top four scorers. Jenny Heft is second with 13 goals and three assists for 29 points. Anne Makinen is second with six goals and eight assists for 20 points in seven BIG EAST games played, while Monica Gerardo is third with eight goals and three for 19 points in six BIG EAST games played.
BIG EAST Standings:
Team BIG EAST Overall 1. Connecticut 7-0-1 13-0-2 2. Notre Dame 7-1-1 12-2-1 3. Syracuse 6-2-1 10-4-1 4. Seton Hall 5-2-1 8-4-1 5. Boston College 4-3-3 8-5-3 Pittsburgh 5-5-0 7-8-0 7. Rutgers 2-3-4 4-7-4 Villanova 3-4-1 7-6-2 West Virginia 3-5-1 8-5-1 10. Providence 2-8-0 3-12-0 11. St. John's 1-6-2 2-10-2 12. Georgetown 1-7-1 4-7-1