Nov. 2, 1999
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The sixth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team broke open a 1-0 halftime game with four goals in the second half to beat Miami 5-0 in the BIG EAST championship quarterfinals on Tuesday night at Alumni Field. Junior All-American Anne Makinen scored the game-winning goal in the 13th minute, and freshman Ali Lovelace scored the first two goals of career in the second half for the four-time defending BIG EAST champions, who improve to 16-3-0 with the win. Miami falls to 12-8-0 with the loss. Notre Dame advances to face Seton Hall on Fri., Nov. 5, at 6:00 p.m. at Rutgers.
The Irish held a 43-4 advantage in shots, including 25-0 in the second half. Notre Dame?s defense held Miami without a shot for the final 58:54 of the contest, which was played in a scattered mix of rain, sleet and snow with gusting winds. Hurricane goalkeeper Elizabeth Swinson saved a school-record 16 shots, including nine in the second half. Irish All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene recorded four saves. Notre Dame had 10 corner kicks to one for Miami.
Makinen gave the Irish an early 1-0 lead at 12:07 when she headed in a corner kick from senior defender Kara Brown. Sophomore Mia Sarkesian then volleyed a shot from 25 yards toward the upper part of the net in the 34th minute but Swinson tipped the ball over the crossbar. Notre Dame sent 13 more shots toward the Miami net after Makinen?s goal but Swinson came up with six saves to end the half.
Senior All-American Jenny Streiffer gave the Irish a two-goal lead at 56:50 when junior Meotis Erikson passed the ball from the top of the box to the right wing. Streiffer turned past the defender and fired a shot from 15 yards on the right wing into the upper left corner of the net. Her 66th career goal came on her fifth shot of the second half, after Swinson had saved a shot from six yards from a thru ball and after the Hurricanes saved another Streiffer shot off the line.
Senior Jenny Heft scored her school-record 77th career goal at 73:53 when she put back a shot from Makinen from 30 yards that deflected off a Miami defender and bounced to the left wing. Heft scored into the right corner past an extended Swinson. Lovelace then scored her first career goal just 32 seconds later when she beat the defender to the ball and blasted a shot into the upper left corner on the right wing from a pass from Streiffer at the top of the box. Lovelace then closed out the scoring at 86:39 when she took a pass from senior Iris Lancaster from the top of the box and scored on a shot from 15 yards on the right wing.
The Irish will meet Seton Hall at Rutgers? Yurcak Field in Friday?s first semifinal at 6:00 p.m. Senior forward Kelly Smith scored three goals and had two assists for the Pirates in their 6-2 win at Syracuse. Notre Dame won 4-2 at Seton Hall earlier in the season. Boston College will meet Connecticut in the second semifinal. The Eagles beat visiting Villanova 2-1 in doubles overtime to set up a semifinal match against the Huskies for the second consecutive year. Connecticut advanced with a 2-0 over Georgetown. The Irish have beaten the Huskies in every BIG EAST final since joining the conference in 1995. The 1999 BIG EAST final will be played at 12:00 p.m., on Sun., Nov. 7, at Yurcak Field and will be televised live on Empire Sports, Fox Sports New England, the Madison Square Garden Network and Sports Channel Florida. Fox Sports Chicago will air the game at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, while WHME-TV South Bend will air it on Mon., Nov. 8, at 11:00 p.m.