Irish Face Seton Hall In Big East Semifinal

Nov. 3, 1999

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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The sixth-ranked and four-time defending BIG EAST champion Notre Dame women?s soccer team travels to Rutgers? Yurcak Field for a BIG EAST championship semifinal game against Seton Hall on Fri., Nov. 5, at 6:00 p.m. Connecticut and Boston College will meet in the second semifinal. The Irish beat Miami 5-0 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.

IRISH LOOK FOR FIFTH BIG EAST TITLE:
Four-time defending champion Notre Dame continues its road to a fifth consecutive BIG EAST championship against Seton Hall in the BIG EAST semifinals. The Irish have won four of the six BIG EAST women?s soccer championships held, including all four tournaments held since Notre Dame joined the conference in 1995. St. John?s (1994) and Providence (1993) claimed the first two BIG EAST titles. The Irish are 10-0-0 in BIG EAST championship games with an all-time conference championship record of 15-0-0. Notre Dame also captured the 1993 and 1994 Midwestern Collegiate Conference titles.

The Irish and Pirates will square off for the second time in 1999 after Notre Dame won 4-2 at Seton Hall on Sept. 24. Following Friday’s semifinal games that begin at 6:00 p.m., the winners will meet on Sunday for the championship at 12:00 p.m. The championship game will be televised live on Empire Sports, Fox Sports New England, the Madison Square Garden Network and SportsChannel Florida. Comcast Sports Philadelphia will air the game at 2:00 p.m., and Fox Sports Chicago at 5:00 p.m., while WHME-South Bend will carry the game on Monday, Nov. 8, at 11:00 p.m.

Notre Dame claimed the BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division title with a 6-0-0 record to set up its game with Miami, the fourth-place team from the Northeast division. The Irish averaged 5.33 goals per game in the six wins, outscoring their Mid-Atlantic opponents 32-3.

QUARTERFINAL RECAP:
Junior All-American Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) scored the game-winning goal in the 13th minute, and freshman Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) scored the first two goals of career in the second half as the Irish blanked Miami 5-0 on Tuesday night at Alumni Field. 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 (Gold River, Calif.) recorded four saves in the shutout.

Makinen gave the Irish an early 1-0 lead at 12:07 when she headed in a corner kick from senior defender Kara Brown. Senior All-American Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) gave the Irish a two-goal lead at 56:50 when junior Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.) 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. Senior Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) 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 (Waiahae, Hawaii) from the top of the box and scored on a shot on the right wing.

IRISH-PIRATES SERIES:
Notre Dame and Seton Hall have met five times previously, with the Irish winning four of the five meetings, including a 4-2 win earlier this season at Seton Hall. This will mark the first postseason game between the teams.

IRISH RETURN TO HOME AWAY FROM HOME:
Notre Dame enters the game against Seton Hall with a 5-0-0 record all-time at Yurcak Field with three wins against Rutgers and victories over Villanova and Connecticut to win the 1997 BIG EAST championship. The Irish have outscored the opposition 27-2 in those five wins. Anne Makinen had two hat tricks there in 1997 and has eight goals and two assists in four games played at Yurcak Field. Other Irish players who have found success at Rutgers include: Meotis Erikson (five goals and three assists), Jenny Streiffer (four goals and five assists), Jenny Heft (one goal and two assists), Monica Gonzalez and Jen Grubb (one goal each) and Ashley Dryer and Kelly Lindsey (one assist each). LaKeysia Beene has allowed just two goals in 315 minutes for a 0.57 goals against average at Yurcak Field.

HEFT SETS IRISH GOAL-SCORING MARK:
Senior forward Jenny Heft scored one goal against both Connecticut and Miami to surpass the 73 goals Monica Gerardo scored from 1995-98 to become Notre Dame?s all-time leading goal scorer with 74 goals. She added single tallies against Wisconsin, Indiana and Miami to bring her total to 77 goals, tying her with Robin Confer (North Carolina, 1994-97) for 15th on the NCAA Division I career goals list. Heft scored 12 goals as a freshman and 20 as a sophomore before setting the Irish single-season mark with 28 goals as a junior in 1998.

STREIFFER APPROACHES 70-70, BREAKS 200-POINT PLATEAU:
All-American and two-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American forward Jenny Streiffer has scored seven goals and assisted on five goals in the last four games to reach the 60-goals and 60-assist mark and moved her closer to becoming just the second player in NCAA Division I history to reach 70-70. Her goal and assist against Miami in the BIG EAST quarterfinals moved her career totals to 66 goals and 69 assists for 201 points, becoming the 11th player in NCAA Division I history and first Notre Dame player to reach 200 points.

Notre Dame In Conference Championships:
The Irish have played in six conference championships beginning in 1993 and have left with the title in each of those six tournaments:

1993 MCC Championship
SF: Notre Dame 5,  Butler       1F:  Notre Dame 4,  Xavier       0

1994 MCC Championship
QF: Notre Dame 7,  Wright State 0SF: Notre Dame 10, Xavier       0F:  Notre Dame 5,  Butler       1

1995 BIG EAST Championship
SF: Notre Dame 3, Rutgers       0F:  Notre Dame 1, Connecticut   0

Spreading The Wealth:
The Irish have distributed their scoring evenly in 1999, with two 40-point scorers on the team and two others with at least 30 points. Fourteen different players have scored at least one goal, while four players have at least 12 goals.

HEAD COACH RANDY WALDRUM:
Randy Waldrum, a seven-year member of the United States national team coaching staff, is in his first year as head coach of the Irish after leading Baylor to the ?98 NCAA championship second round in just the third year of the program that he started in 1996. He comes to Notre Dame after being named 1998 National Soccer Coaches Association Central Region coach of the year and Big 12 Conference coach of the year. His 107-50-12 (.669) women?s soccer career record in three seasons coaching the Baylor women?s soccer program and six seasons with the Tulsa women?s soccer program has him listed 13th on the NCAA winningest coaches list by career winning percentage and 26th by wins. The Irving, Texas, native also has coached men?s teams at Tulsa, Texas Wesleyan and Austin College and boasts an overall career record of 183-105-19 in 17 total seasons before coming to Notre Dame.

Irish Among BIG EAST Leaders:
In addition to finishing 6-0 in the BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic and winning its three cross-division games, Notre Dame stands among the BIG EAST statistical leaders. In all games played, the Irish have scored the most goals (81) and recorded the most assists (89). Individually, the Irish boast five of the top six scorers in BIG EAST games. Jenny Heft is the leading scorer with 3.5 points per BIG EAST game (nine goals and three assists in six games), while Jenny Streiffer is third with 2.7 points per game. Meotis Erikson and Anne Makinen are fourth with 2.2, while Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) is sixth with 1.7.

MAKINEN SETS SCORING STREAK RECORD:
After not recording a point in the season-opening game against North Carolina, junior All-American midfielder Anne Makinen had at least one point in the next 12 games in which she played. That streak reached 12 straight games with two goals and two assists against Wisconsin to break the school record for consecutive games with a point. Jenny Streiffer, Meotis Erikson and former Irish All-American Holly Manthei had recorded at least one point in 11 consecutive games to set the previous record. After scoring her first goal of the season against Duke, Makinen missed four games from Sept. 12-19, while playing with the Finnish national team. She had 11 goals and seven assists for 29 points in those 12 games. The streak was stopped when she did not have a goal or an assist against Indiana. She scored the game-winning goal and added an assist against Miami on Tuesday.

IRISH TAKE OFFENSE:
After suffering their first shutout in 55 games in the 1-0 loss to SMU, the Irish scored 65 goals in the 13 games since and at least four goals in 11 of the 13 games. Notre Dame has totalled 81 goals in 19 games for an average of 4.26 goals per game entering the week, third best in the NCAA.

GRUBB PASSES GOAL TOTAL:
Irish senior All-American defender Jen Grubb?s nine goals in 1999 surpass the six career goals she had scored entering her senior year. Grubb scored three as a freshman, two as a sophomore and one as a junior for a total of six goals. She also has six assists in ?99 to go along with her nine goals for 25 points, placing her fifth on the team in scoring. Five of her goals have come from free kicks against Santa Clara, Georgetown, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Butler. She had the first two-goal game of her career against Wisconsin.

BROWN LEADS IRISH IN ASSISTS:
Senior defender Kara Brown (Avon, Conn.) has recorded assists in five consecutive games, in seven of the last eight and in nine of the last 11 games for a team-high 14 assists. Her 14 assists in her senior season have moved her into eighth place on Notre Dame career assist list with 38 assists during her Irish career. Her 14 assists eclipse the 11 assists she had as a freshman midfielder in 1996.

FROSH KEY TO IRISH SUCCESS:
Notre Dame?s class of 2003 has given the Irish major contributions this season. Defender Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) has started all 19 games, while midfielder Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) has started 18 games. Pruzinsky has assisted on four Irish goals, while Mikacenic scored the game-winning goal against Butler and has nine assists. Midfielder Ashley Dryer (Salt Lake City, Utah) has started eight games and played in 17 games total with six assists, while forward Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) has played in 15 games and scored twice against Miami in the BIG EAST quarterfinals. Kate Morrel (Carmel, Ind.) and Emily Barnes (Redmond, Wash.) also have played in five games, with Morrel scoring her first career goal against Georgetown and adding an assist against West Virginia.

Goalkeeper Sani Post (Davis, Calif.) has played 174:16 behind LaKeysia Beene and has yet to allow a goal. She has two shared shutouts with Beene after playing the final 38:54 of Notre Dame?s 5-0 win against Butler and the entire second half against Rutgers.

IRISH VERSUS BIG 10:
Notre Dame win against Indiana marked its 39th consecutive wins against Big 10 teams, a streak that spans 10 years after a 3-0 loss to Michigan State on Sept. 22, 1989. The Irish have recorded 25 shutouts in the 39 wins and have outscored their Big 10 opponents 182-19 during the winning streak, an average margin of 4.67-0.49 goals per game.

ERIKSON AMONG GOAL SCORERS:
Junior forward Meotis Erikson already is listed among Notre Dame?s most proficient goal scorers with her 44 career goals in just 68 games, an average of nearly two goals for every three games. She has scored in 11 of Notre Dame?s 19 games.

IRISH NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS:
Notre Dame led the 1999 College Soccer Online Preseason All-America first team with four players selected to the 11-member team, more selections than any other school. Seniors LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer and junior Anne Makinen were selected to the team. Beene and Makinen also were named to Soccer America first team, with Grubb and Streiffer placed on the second team.

FOUR NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS:
Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer and junior All-American Anne Makinen have been named four of the 15 finalists for the ninth annual Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Collegiate Player of the Year award. Notre Dame leads all schools with four players among the finalists, while North Carolina, with two players, is the only other school with more than one finalist. With Seton Hall?s Kelly Smith and Connecticut?s Mary-Frances Monroe also among the finalists, the BIG EAST Conference accounts for more finalists with six than any other conference. Beene, Grubb, Makinen and Streiffer will be looking to become Notre Dame?s first winner of the MAC award since former Irish All-American Cindy Daws was selected as the recipient following the 1996 season. Beene, Grubb and Streiffer also were finalists for the 1998 award, while Grubb and Streiffer were finalists as sophomores in 1997.

Three Irish women?s soccer players also have been selected as three of 15 finalists for the 1999 Hermann Trophy, to be presented December 11, in Charlotte, N.C. Beene, Makinen and Streiffer join three players from North Carolina in leading the ballot. Makinen was a finalist for the ?98 award, while Beene is the only goalkeeper among the finalists. Notre Dame has had one Hermann Trophy recipient in its history, Cindy Daws, who won the award in 1996.

IRISH HAVE BUSY SUMMER ON NATIONAL TEAMS:
A number of current and former Irish women?s soccer players had busy summers with national teams. Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer were part of the U.S. under-21 national team that won the 1999 Nordic Cup in Iceland. Streiffer, who tallied the game-winning goal in the ?97 championship game against Norway, scored the game-tying goal in the championship game against Norway in the 85th-minute of the 2-1 overtime win. She also scored in the 22nd minute to lead the Americans to a 1-0 win over Finland in the opening round. Streiffer finished as the team?s leading scorer with three goals and one assist in four games.

Former three-time Irish All-American Kate Sobrero played a key role in helping the U.S. claim its second FIFA Women?s World Cup in 1999 as one of the youngest players on the roster. She started five of the six games the Americans played, missing only the Korea game when she rested a sore ankle after the U.S. already had clinched the top spot in its pool. Sobrero starred for the U.S. as the youngest starting defender on team.

Junior Monica Gonzalez (Richardson) and former all-time Irish leading scorer Monica Gerardo represented Mexico in that country?s first appearance in the World Cup in ?99. The Irish pair both started Mexico?s first World Cup game against Brazil, while Gerardo, who wrapped up her career at Notre Dame following the 1998 season, also started against Italy.

BIG EAST Standings

Mid-Atlantic Division

Northeast Division

* clinched division title
# clinched playoff spot

NSCAA Top 25 (11/1)

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents

Soccer Times Top 25 (11/1)

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents