Sept. 18, 2001
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THE WEEK AHEAD – Notre Dame returns to action at Alumni Field for two games this week after the postponement of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament following the tragic events of last week in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. The Irish play host to Cleveland State on Wed., Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m. and then entertain BIG EAST rival #23 Rutgers on Sat., Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
RECAPPING THE UMBRO/SPINX FURMAN INVITATONAL – Notre Dame dropped two games at the Umbro/Spinx Furman Invitational as the Irish faced two ranked opponents in #5 Furman and #16 Clemson in the first-ever meetings between the two schools. Senior defender Griffin Howard (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomore foward Devon Prescod (Marietta, Ga.) were named to the all-tournament team. Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany) finished with a goal and an assist in the two games, while Justin Detter (White Lake, Mich.) added a goal and Prescod had an assist.
FURMAN: Notre Dame dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to #5 Furman. John Barry Nusum scored two goals for the Paladins, including the game winner 3:59 tin the second overtime session. The Irish got on the scoreboard first when Braun knocked in a loose ball in the box at the 13:42 mark with the assist credited to Prescod. Nusum scored the equalizer for Furman at 19:33. The matchup remained tied at 1-1 until Detter gave the Irish a 2-1 advantage at the 70:57 mark off an assist from Braun. The Paladins tied the game on Sergei Raad’s goal at the 81:11 mark. The match proceeded to overtime with Nusum netting the game-winning score at 108:59. Both teams attempted 12 shots in the game and junior goalkeeper Greg Tait(Fayetteville, N.Y.) made four saves in the contest.
CLEMSON: Clemson scored twice in each half as the Tigers shutout the Irish 4-0. Dimelon Westfield scored two goals and Steven Rhyne added a goal and two assists for Clemson. The Tigers had their first two scores less than 16 minutes into the contest with their third and fourth goals coming at the 47:31 and 50:59 marks, respectively. Clemson outshot Notre Dame 22-3 in the game as the Irish did not attempt a shot in the first half. Greg Tait had four saves and then was replaced by freshman Chris Sawyer (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) who played the final 34:19 and made four saves while not allowing a goal.
SERIES RECORD VS. CLEVELAND STATE – This will be the third consecutive meeting between the two teams at Alumni Field. Notre Dame leads the series 2-0, both contests have been decided by a single goal. The Irish defeated the Vikings 1-0 in 1999 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools and then earned a 2-1 victory a year ago.
SERIES RECORD VS. RUTGERS – Notre Dame trails in the series 3-7 as Rutgers has taken each of the last four meetings and has outscored the Irish 7-1 in those contests. Notre Dame’s last win in the series came during the 1997 campaign in the Scarlet Knights first-ever visit to Alumni Field as the Irish earned a 1-0 victory. Two years ago, in 1999, Rutgers defeated the Irish 2-0.
HEAD COACH BOBBY CLARK – Bobby Clark is in his first season at Notre Dame. He was named the fifth head coach in the history of the Notre Dame men’s soccer program on Jan. 19, 2001. In his 15th season as a collegiate coach, Clark was victorious in his debut on the Irish sidelines in Notre Dame’s 5-0 win over Villanova. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, he spent five seasons guiding the Stanford Cardinal to a 71-21-12 record and .740 winning percentage from 1996-2000. Clark also was the head coach at Dartmouth from 1985-1993 where he led the Big Green to an 82-42-13 mark (.646). Heading into this season, Clark ranked 15th among active Division I head men’s soccer coaches in terms of winning percentage. In 14-plus seasons, he owns a 154-65-25 record for Among active Division I head men’s soccer coaches, he ranks 15th with a .681 winning percentage. Six of Clark’s teams have advanced to NCAA tournament play with his 1998 Stanford squad finishing as the NCAA runnerup that season. In between his coaching stints at Dartmouth and Stanford, he was head coach of the New Zealand National Team.
NOTRE DAME CELEBRATING 25TH SEASON OF VARSITY COMPETITION – The 2001 cam-paign marks the 25th season of varsity competition for the Notre Dame men’s soccer team. Since its inaugural campaign in 1977, Irish teams have compiled a 316-160-43 mark for a .650 winning percentage. Notre Dame has won 20-plus games on three occasions and 15 or more games 11 times. In the program’s history, only five teams have had a losing season.
BRAUN OFF TO IMPRESSIVE START – Junior Erich Braun, who led Notre Dame in scoring as freshman and was second in the scoring column last season, is off to a quick start for the Irish with two goals and an assist (five points). He tallied goals in each of the Villanova and Furman contests and also dished off an assist against the Paladins.
HOWARD, PRESCOD GARNER ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS – Griffin Howard and Devon Prescod were named to the all-tournament team at the Umbro/Spinx Furman Invita-tional. Prescod had the assist on Erich Braun’s goal which put the Irish up 1-0 in the contest.
BALANCED SCORING FOR IRISH – A balanced scoring attack has been very evident in Notre Dame’s first three games this season with nine players recording at least one point. The Irish havehad five single goal-scorers – Justin Detter, Kevin Goldthwaite (Sacramento, Calif.), Greg Martin (Plano, Texas), Matt Rosso (Churchville, Pa.) and Justin Ratcliffe (Miami, Fla.) – and one player, Erich Braun, who has scored two goals. Six different players have registered as-sists in the seven goals the Irish have scored – Braun, Detter, Rafael Garcia (Palmdale, Calif.) Martin, Devon Presod and Kevin Richards (Warwick, Bermuda).
IRISH HIT THE ROAD – Following its two-game homestand this week, Notre Dame will play five of its next six contests on the road, which inlcude three BIG EAST matchups against Seton Hall (Sat., Sept. 29), West Virginia (Thur., Oct. 11) and Virginia Tech (Sun., Oct. 14). The only home game on the Irish over the next six games is against Georgetown on Fri., Oct. 5.