Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish Look To Earn BIG EAST Tournament Berth

Nov. 2, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame men’s soccer team travels to Seton Hall on Wednesday, November 3 for a 1:00 p.m. contest in a game which will determine whether the Irish earn a berth in the 1999 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship. Currently ninth in the league’s regular-season standings, a win or tie earns a spot for Notre Dame in the eight-team field. The Irish originally were scheduled to play the Pirates on September 17, but that game was postponed due to inclement weather conditions in the Northeast.

1999 BIG EAST STANDINGS

                    BIG EAST     Overall                    Record       Record  1. West Virginia   8-2-1 (17)   13-4-1 2. Rutgers         7-1-2 (16)   10-4-3    Connecticut     8-2-0 (16)   12-4-0 4. St. John's      6-2-3 (15)   10-4-3 5. Georgetown      6-4-1 (13)    9-7-1 6. Syracuse        6-5-0 (12)    9-8-0 7. Providence      5-6-0 (10)    7-8-1    Seton Hall      5-5-0 (10)    9-7-0 9. NOTRE DAME      4-5-1 (9)     8-8-210. Boston College  2-8-0 (4)     6-8-211. Pittsburgh      1-7-2 (4)     6-8-312. Villanova       0-11-0 (0)    2-14-0

BIG EAST SCENARIO
With a win or a tie against the Pirates, the Irish will advance to the BIG EAST tournament for the fourth straight year. Notre Dame, with nine points, is vying with Providence and Seton Hall for the final spot as both teams are ahead of the Irish with 10 points each. If the Irish win, they will finish in seventh-place and Providence will earn the eighth seed. If the Notre Dame-Seton Hall game ends in a tie, the Pirates would end the season with 11 points and the Irish and Friars finish in a tie for eighth. Notre Dame would earn the final tournament spot based on head-to-head competition (ND beat Providence 4-0 during the regular season). A loss by Notre Dame to Seton Hall eliminates the Irish from tournament contention.

WEEK IN REVIEW
Georgetown: Notre Dame lost its fourth straight in dropping a 3-1 decision to the Hoyas in the regular-season home finale. It marked the third consecutive year that Georgetown had beaten the Irish. The Hoyas got on the scoreboard quickly when Jeff Boehling netted the game’s first goal when he headed in Kevin Shaw’s corner kick 1:45 into the contest. The score remained that way until the 66:31 mark when Mert Incekara picked up Shaw’s initial shot that deflected off of Irish goalkeeper Gerick Short (Mobile, Ala.). Notre Dame closed the game to 2-1 when Connor LaRose (Claremont, Calif.) blasted a shot from the top of the box for his second goal in ’99 at 78:20. Matt Rosso (Churchville, Pa.) set up the goal when his corner kick from the right side rebounded off two Georgetown defenders back to LaRose. The third goal of the half, and final score of the game, was put in by Truls Engebretsen off an assist from Khary Robinson. Notre Dame outshot the Hoyas 15-14 in the game. Short came up with four stops in goal, while Tyler Purtill made five saves for Georgetown.

IRISH LOSING STREAK LONGEST SINCE 1997
Notre Dame has had a four-game losing streak just three times in the 23-year history of the program – in 1990, 1995 and 1997. A loss to Seton Hall on Wednesday would mark the first time an Irish team has dropped five straight contests.

LAROSE SCORES SECOND GOAL OF SEASON AND CAREER
Connor LaRose’s score against Georgetown marked the second goal of the season and career for the Irish junior. LaRose is the team’s fifth-leading scorer with two goals and two assists (six points). He has two goals and seven assists for his career (11 points).

ROSSO NOTCHES FIRST CAREER ASSIST
Sophomore Matt Rosso dished off his first career assist in Notre Dame’s 3-1 loss to Georgetown. Rosso assisted on Connor LaRose’s score with just over 12 minutes to play in the contest. Earlier in the season, Rosso scored his first career goal in Notre Dame’s 5-0 win over Villanova.

OPPONENTS OUTSCORING IRISH IN LAST FOUR GAMES
Notre Dame has been outscored by its opponents 9-2 in its last four games. The Irish have been shutout in two of the contests and managed just one goal in each of the other two games.

ROOKIE LEADS IRISH IN SCORING FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR
For the second straight year, the Irish are led in scoring by a freshman. Last year it was forward Shane Walton (now a member of the Notre Dame football team), and this season, it’s freshman forward Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany). Braun leads the team in goals (nine), assists (five) and points (23). Prior to Notre Dame’s 1-0 loss against Rutgers on October 16, he had either a goal or an assist in five straight games, and has recorded points in six of the team’s last nine contests.

BERTICELLI GETS 100TH CAREER WIN
With Notre Dame’s 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan on September 29, head coach Mike Berticelli earned his 100th win with the Irish. His current record at Notre Dame stands at 104-79-18. Just the third coach in the 22-year history of the program, Berticelli would become the second Notre Dame coach to garner 100 wins. Rich Hunter, the program’s first head coach from 1977-83, produced a 128-32-8 mark during his seven-year tenure. He coached his 200th game at Notre Dame against St. John’s on October 23.

HEAD COACH MIKE BERTICELLI
Notre Dame head coach Mike Berticelli is in his 10th season at Notre Dame and his 24th as a collegiate coach. He has led Notre Dame to three of the school’s four NCAA tournament appearances (1993, 1994 and 1996). In 1996, his Irish squad won the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament game when it defeated second-seeded UNC Greensboro in the first round. Berticelli has a 104-79-18 (.562) mark at Notre Dame and is 291-134-41 (.668) overall. He coached his 450th career game against Boston College on September 4.

In three of the last six seasons, his Notre Dame teams have won conference tournament titles. Under Berticelli, the Irish claimed the 1996 BIG EAST tournament crown in just its second year as a member of the league with consecutive wins over ranked opponents Connecticut and Rutgers. During the 1993 and 1994 campaigns, the Irish won back-to-back MCC tournament crowns and earned berths in the NCAA tournament. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, he spent six seasons (1984-89) at Old Dominion where his teams compiled a 76-27-16 record for a .706 winning percentage.

Berticelli coached for four years at UNC-Greensboro (1980-83) with his teams compiling a 70-9-5 record (.863) and winning two Division III national crowns in 1982 and 1983. His first head coaching stint was at Thomas College where he coached from (1976-79) with his teams posting a 41-19-2 mark during that four-year span. The Irish have won 10-plus games in six of his nine seasons at the Notre Dame helm.

IRISH STRUGGLING ON THE ROAD
Notre Dame opened up the 1999 campaign with a 1-0 victory on the road. Since that September 1 contest, however, the Irish are 0-4-2 in road games. Coach Mike Berticelli’s squad is 7-3-0 at home this season.

BACK-T0-BACK LOSSES AT HOME A RARITY
Notre Dame lost its final two regular season home games when it dropped decisions to Rutgers (1-0) on October 17 (1-0) and Georgetown (3-1) on October 29. The Irish had not lost two straight at home since the 1995 campaign when they lost overtime decisions to Indiana (4-2) and Boston College (3-2).

SERIES RECORDS VS. UPCOMING OPPONENT
Seton Hall: Notre Dame leads the serires 5-2 and has won two straight against the Pirates. This will be the sixth time the Irish visit South Orange, N.J., and are 3-2 in those appearances. Notre Dame has posted back-to-back 2-0 shutouts in the last two meetings, and three of the last four times the two teams have met.

CLOSE CALLS
Eight of Notre Dame’s 18 games have been decided by a single goal, with seven of those games ending in a 1-0 decision. The Irish are 4-2 in games which have ended 1-0 this season and are 4-4 in games decided by a single goal.

IRONMEN
Six Irish players, including three freshmen, have started all 18 games this season. Seniors Matt McNew (Arlington, Tex), a defender, and goalkeeper Gerick Short have been in the starting lineup for every games as has junior defender Connor LaRose. Freshmen Erich Braun, Alan Lyskawa (Novi, Mich.) and Justin Ratcliffe (Miami, Fla.) have each been in the starting lineup for all 18 contests.

BRAUN, ARIS LEAD TEAM IN ASSISTS
Freshman Erich Braun and senior Andrew Aris (Auckland, New Zealand) lead the team with five assists each. Aris’ total equals the career best he had as a freshman and has 18 for his career.

LYSKAWA SECOND IN IRISH SCORING COLUMN
The Irish are led in scoring by two freshmen, Erich Braun and Alan Lyskawa. Braun leads the team and Lsykawa is second with two goals and four assists (eight points).

DOUBLING UP
Heading into the 1999 campaign, junior midfielder Dustin Pridmore (Dallas, Tex.) had just one goal and two assists to his credit in his first two seasons. This season, Pridmore is the team’s third-leading scorer with three goals and an assist (seven points).

IRISH NOTCH SEVEN SHUTOUTS
Notre Dame has shutout seven opponents this season The Irish began the campaign with two shutout wins over Northwestern on the road and Boston College at home. In early October, Coach Mike Berticelli’s squad notched three straight shutout wins, and four in five outings. Notre Dame’s three shutout victories were at home against Syracuse (2-0), IUPUI (1-0) and Providence (4-0).

A BIG EAST FEAST AGAINST WILDCATS
The five goals scored by Notre Dame against Villanova was the largest scoring output for the Irish in a BIG EAST game. The five-goal differential in the 5-0 win over the Wildcats was the biggest for the Irish in a conference game.

STINGY DEFENSE
As a team, the Irish have a 1.19 goals against average and have allowed 22 goals in 18 games. Notre Dame has given up seven goals in its last two contests which have been losses to St. John’s (4-1) and Villanova (3-1). Prior to its loss to St. John’s, Notre Dame had yielded just four goals in its seven previous outings.

McNEW GETS HIS STARTS
Graduation took its toll on the Notre Dame backfield with the losses of defenders Phil Murphy and David Cutler, central midfielder Matt Johnson and goalkeeper Greg Velho. The only returning starter in the backfield was sweeper Matt McNew, a three-year starter and second-team all-BIG EAST selection in 1998. He has started 74 of the 77 games he has played in during his Irish career, nearly double that of any other returnee in ’99. Only two other players on this year’s roster have started more than 25 games – Andrew Aris (44) and Ryan Cox (36).

HOME SWEET HOME
Notre Dame finished 5-1-2 at home in 1998 and was 7-3-0 in 1999 as the Irish have dropped two 1-0 decisions to Western Michigan and Rutgers and lost 3-1 to Georgetown. This marks the 10th year for the Irish playing at Alumni Field where Notre Dame owns a 65-23-7 mark overall for a 72.1 winning percentage.

NSCAA/ADIDAS
(Week of November 1)

                             LW  1. Duke                      1 2. UCLA                      3 3. Wake Forest               4 4. Penn State                5 5. Indiana                   2 6. Saint Louis              12 7. Maryland                  9 8. Furman                    7 9. Santa Clara              1310. Southwest Missouri State  611. Connecticut              1112. Akron                    1413. Cal State Fullerton       814. St. John's               1515. Creighton                1016. Old Dominion             1617. Rutgers                  2218. North Carolina           2119. UMBC                     2020. SMU                     T17    Washington               1922. Brown                   T1723. UAB                      RV24. San Diego                RV25. Columbia                 NR

SOCCER AMERICA
(Week of November 1)

                              LW 1.  UCLA                      2 2.  Duke                      3 3.  Indiana                   1 4.  Furman                    6 5.  Wake Forest               5 6.  Penn State                7 7.  Maryland                  8 8.  Southwest Missouri State  4 9.  Saint Louis              1010.  Connecticut              1111.  UMBC                     1212.  SMU                      1313.  Santa Clara              1414.  Creighton                 915.  Washington               1616.  San Diego                1817.  Stanford                 NR18.  Portland                 1519.  Brown                    NR20.  North Carolina           NR

1999 NSCAA GREAT LAKES REGION RANKINGS
(Week of Oct. 31)

                                Pts. 1. Indiana (14-3-0)            50 2. Akron (11-3-2)              41 3. Ohio State (11-6-0)         39 4. Western Kentucky (13-34-0)  32 5. Cincinnati (9-6-1)          27 6. Oakland (11-5-2)            26 7. Marquette (10-7-0)          23 8. Kentucky (10-6-1)           16 9. Evansville (9-7-1)          1010. Michigan State (9-6-1)       9    NOTRE DAME (8-8-2)           9

Also receiving votes: Dayton