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Irish Prepare For NCAA Semifinal

Nov. 30, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The fifth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team battled fourth-ranked Nebraska to a 1-1 tie through 150 minutes and four overtime periods before advancing to the NCAA Women’s College Cup 4-3 in penalty kicks. The Irish will take on top-seeded Santa Clara in the second semifinal on Friday, Dec. 3, at approximately 6:30 p.m. PST, 30 minutes following the 4:00 p.m. semifinal between second-seeded North Carolina and sixth-seeded Penn State. The semifinal appearance is the fifth for Notre Dame in the last six years.

NEXT UP FOR THE IRISH
Notre Dame travels to San Jose State’s Stadium for 1999 NCAA Women’s College Cup and will meet top-seeded Santa Clara for a spot in Sunday’s championship game. The 23-0-0 Broncos advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 win over Connecticut and have not lost since a 1-0 defeat to Florida in the semifinals of the 1998 NCAA Women’s College Cup. Santa Clara was the last team to beat Notre Dame, as the Broncos scored four goals in a span of 9:19 for a 4-0 lead at the 20:39 mark of a 4-2 win over the visiting Irish. The game will mark the first postseason meeting between the teams in the series, which Santa Clara leads 2-1-0. In the first meeting in 1995, the Broncos out shot the Irish 12-7 but Notre Dame forward Monica Gerardo tallied the game’s only goal in the 52nd minute as the second-ranked Irish beat eighth-ranked Santa Clara 1-0 on Oct. 8, at Alumni Field. In 1996, the Irish were ranked No. 1 and took a 24-game winning streak into Buck Shaw Stadium on Oct. 13. The teams were tied 1-1 at halftime before then-freshman Jacqui Little scored the game-winning goal in the 59th minute. Little also assisted on Santa Clara’s other two goals.

IRISH IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Notre Dame is making its seventh straight NCAA tournament appearance and is one of only five teams (Connecticut, North Carolina, Santa Clara and William & Mary) to appear in each of the last seven tournaments. The Irish boast a record of 18-5-1 in its seven NCAA appearances for a .771 winning percentage, the second highest in NCAA history. The Irish won the NCAA championship in 1995, reached the final in 1994 and 1996, were semifinalists in 1997 and were quarterfinalists in 1998. The Irish lost in the regional semifinals in their first appearance in 1993.

STREIFFER JOINS ELITE COMPANY
Senior All-American and two-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American forward Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) scored her 70th career goal in the second minute against Nebraska to go along with her 71 career assists, placing her alongside Mia Hamm (North Carolina, 1989-90, 92-92) as the only players in NCAA Division I history reach the 70-70 plateau. Earlier this season Streiffer, who has 211 points, became the first Notre Dame player to break the 200-point mark.

IRISH OUST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS, TWO TOP EIGHT TEAMS
The BIG EAST champion Irish have advanced to the 1999 NCAA Women’s College Cup by eliminating champions of the Atlantic 10 (Dayton), Pacific-10 (Stanford) and Big XII (Nebraska) conferences in their first three games. Santa Clara will be Notre Dame’s fourth consecutive opponent that has won its conference championship and its third consecutive opponent ranked among the top eight teams by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America final regular-season poll. The Irish shut out eighth-ranked Stanford in the third round and then traveled to fourth-ranked Nebraska and snapped the Cornhuskers 14-game winning streak overall and 16-game winning streak at home.

SENIORS TO CLOSE CAREERS
Notre Dame’s class of 2000 enters the final weekend of their careers with an 88-9-3 record since their first game in 1996. The class includes three All-Americans in LaKeysia Beene (Gold River, Calif.), Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Jenny Streiffer, the first class in Irish history with three All-Americans. Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) has become the all-time Irish leading goalscorer with 80, while Streiffer has the most points in Irish history with 211. Beene is set to leave Notre Dame with the lowest career goals against average, while two-time BIG EAST defensive player of the year Jen Grubb could become Notre Dame’s first four-time All-American defender. Defender Kara Brown (Avon, Conn.) has played in 97 games and is eighth all-time with 40 assists, including a team-leading 16 in 1999.

NOTRE DAME TO FINISH ’90S AS SECOND-WINNINGEST TEAM
This weekend marks the final three women’s soccer games of the 1990s, and the Irish will finish as the second winningest NCAA Division I team of the ’90s. Notre Dame enters Friday’s game with a 195-25-11 (.868) record for the second-most wins and the second-highest winning percentage, behind only North Carolina’s 241 wins and .966 winning percentage.

IRISH DRAW RECORD-SETTING CROWDS
Notre Dame drew another record-setting crowd to an Irish women’s soccer game when 3,702 fans came to the Abbott Sports Complex to watch Notre Dame and Nebraska battle to a shootout on Sunday in the NCAA quarterfinals in Lincoln, Neb. Notre Dame’s first meeting with Santa Clara in 1999 drew a regular-season record of 4,051 fans to Buck Shaw Stadium, named after Lawrence T. ‘Buck’ Shaw, an All-American football player at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne from 1919-21. Seven of Notre Dame’s 24 games this year were played in front of more than 1,000 fans. A North Carolina regular-season record crowd of 6,024 fans watched the Irish and Tar Heels at Fetzer Field in 1998, while Notre Dame’s win over North Carolina in the 1995 NCAA semifinals drew 7,212, the largest crowd ever at Fetzer Field. Notre Dame beat Portland 1-0 in front of 5,041 fans at Merlo Field on Sept. 7, 1997. The Irish beat Connecticut 2-1 in front of a then-record 3,711 fans at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium on Sept. 22, 1996. Santa Clara beat the Irish 3-1 in front of a then regular-season record 3,714 fans at Buck Shaw Stadium on Oct. 13, 1996. The largest-ever soccer crowds at Buck Shaw Stadium of 8,800 watched Notre Dame against Portland in the 1996 NCAA semifinals and against North Carolina in the ’96 final.

HEFT-STREIFFER AMONG TOP-SCORING TEAMMATES
Senior forwards Jenny Heft and Jenny Streiffer, who have combined for 150 goals during their four-year careers from 1996-99, are the only four-year teammates in NCAA Division I history to score at least 70 goals. Heft stands as Notre Dame’s all-time leading goalscorer with 80 goals in 93 games during her career, while Streiffer is third with 70 goals in 98 games.

IRISH VS. NO. 1
Friday’s semifinal will mark the ninth meeting between Notre Dame and the top-ranked team, including the third time in 1999 the Irish have played the No. 1 ranked team in the NSCAA poll, after losing 3-2 in double overtime to then-No. 1 North Carolina in the season opener and the 4-2 loss at Santa Clara. Notre Dame has a 2-4-2 record against the No. 1 team with the first seven of those games coming against North Carolina.

RANDY WALDRUM FOURTH FIRST-YEAR COACH IN NCAA SEMIFINALS
Irish head coach Randy Waldrum has led the Irish to the NCAA Women’s College Cup in his first year at Notre Dame to become just the fourth coach to take a team to the NCAA Division I national semifinals in his or her first year at the school. The other first-year coaches are: Ian Sawyer (Stanford, 1993), Carl Beal (Colorado College, 1991) and Jean Paul Verhees (California, 1987). Waldrum came to Notre Dame after coaching Baylor from 1995-98 and faced a former Big XII Conference rival in Nebraska in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Waldrum was voted the 1999 BIG EAST coach of the year in his first year at Notre Dame, as he led the ’99 Irish to the inaugural BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division title with a 6-0-0 record against divisional opponents and a 3-0-0 record in cross-divisional games. The award marks the second consecutive conference coach-of-the-year honor for Waldrum, who was voted the ’98 Big 12 coach of the year after leading Baylor to the ’98 regular season title. The BIG EAST championship semifinal win over Seton Hall marked the 200th win of Waldrum’s coaching career. His record now stands at 203-108-20 in 17-plus seasons.

IRISH ON THE ROAD IN NCAA
Notre Dame improved to 2-0-1 in NCAA tournament games on its opponent’s home field after advancing in a shootout at Nebraska’s Abbott Sports Complex. The Irish advanced to their first NCAA championship game in 1994 with a 1-0 semifinal win over Portland in front of 5,000 fans at the Pilots’ Merlo Field on a header from freshman Kate Sobrero in the 52nd minute. Notre Dame advanced to its second NCAA championship game in 1995 with a 1-0 semifinal win over top-ranked North Carolina in front of 7,212 at the Tar Heels’ Fetzer Field on an own goal from North Carolina freshman Cindy Parlow in the 20th minute. Sunday’s quarterfinal game marked the earliest road NCAA game for the Irish since losing to George Mason in the ’93 regional semifinals in Madison, Wis.

BEENE TO END HER SEASON AT HOME
Senior All-American and Northern California native LaKeysia Beene saved two of six penalty kicks in the shootout against Nebraska to help the Irish advance to the NCAA Women’s College Cup, where she will end her Notre Dame career in front of a number of family and friends. The native of Gold River, Calif., enters the semifinal contest against Santa Clara coming off two of the best outings of her career. Against Stanford in the third round Beene saved four shots, including a diving save in the first half, to record the shutout. She saved seven Nebraska shots and smother a breakaway attempt in the second half before her heroics in the shootout helped the Irish advance. Beene is set to finish her career as the best goalkeeper in Notre Dame her history with a goals against average that stands at 0.60 in her four years with 31 solo shutouts and 26 shared.

IRISH IN CALIFORNIA
Notre Dame makes its fifth trip to California this weekend and has yet to leave California without a loss with a 3-4-0 record in the previous four trips, including the previous trip this season to Santa Clara. In 1993 the Irish lost to host Stanford and beat St. Mary’s. In 1996 Notre Dame beat Stanford and lost to host Santa Clara during the regular season and then returned to Santa Clara for the 1996 NCAA semifinals and final, beating Portland in the semifinal and losing to North Carolina in double overtime in the final.

IRISH FORWARDS FORMIDABLE
Notre Dame’s trio of starting forwards, Jenny Heft, Jenny Streiffer and Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.), and its reserves, senior Iris Lancaster (Waiahe, Hawaii), junior Monica Gonzalez (Richardson, Texas), sophomore Kelly Tulisiak (Medina, Ohio) and freshman Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) have combined for 66 of the 97 goals the Irish have scored in 1999. Only Santa Clara, SMU and Stanford have held Notre Dame’s forwards without a goal. Defender Jen Grubb and midfielder Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) scored against Santa Clara, while sophomore midfielder Mia Sarkesian (Canton, Mich.) scored the game’s only goal against Stanford.

EAST MEETS WEST IN SEMIFINALS
The Notre Dame-Santa Clara matchup features teams from two of the most successful women’s soccer conferences in the 1990s. Since 1994, at least one team from the BIG EAST Conference and West Coast Conference have advanced to the NCAA Women’s College Cup, with three teams from the two conferences among the four semifinalists in 1994, ’96 and ’97. Notre Dame, in its last season as a member of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, Connecticut and host Portland reached the semifinals in ’94, while the Irish and Pilots both reached semifinals and the championship game in ’95. Notre Dame, Portland and host Santa Clara were semifinalists in ’96, while the Broncos, Huskies and Irish advanced to the semifinals in ’97. The 1998 semifinals were the first without a BIG EAST team since ’94 after Notre Dame and Connecticut lost quarterfinal games to Portland and Santa Clara, respectively. Portland (1-3-0) and Santa Clara (3-0-0) have combined for a 4-3-0 record against Notre Dame (3-1-0) and Connecticut (0-3-0) in NCAA tournament games since 1994.

LINDSEY UNLIKELY HERO IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD
When junior defender Kelly Lindsey (Omaha, Neb.) stepped to take Notre Dame’s sixth penalty kick against Nebraska, she was the only starting Irish field player without a point this season and had taken just three shots in ’99. She converted Notre Dame’s sixth kick before LaKeysia Beene made her second save of the shootout to help the Irish advance to the semifinals. The Irish are 18-1-1 in games Lindsey has started. She did not start in Notre Dame’s first meeting with Santa Clara this season after she became ill in the early morning before the game. Lindsey also came off the bench in the loss to SMU.

SARKESIAN STEPS UP
Sophomore midfielder Mia Sarkesian has been at her best in Notre Dame’s three NCAA tournament games, scoring a goal and assisting on two others. Sarkesian assisted on Kara Brown’s goal against Dayton in the second round and then scored the game’s only goal in the 81st minute as the Irish edged eighth-ranked Stanford 1-0 in the third round. She made her first start in 23 days against Nebraska and immediately helped the Irish get on the board when she sent a pass through the Cornhusker back line to set up Jenny Streiffer’s goal just 1:30 into the game. Sarkesian also came off the bench to score Notre Dame’s second goal against North Carolina. For the season she has three goals and three assists.

QUARTERFINAL RECAP
Fifth-ranked Notre Dame and fourth-ranked Nebraska played four overtime periods and 150 minutes for a 1-1 tie before the Irish used a 4-3 advantage in penalty kicks to advance to the NCAA Women’s College Cup. Irish junior Kelly Lindsey converted Notre Dame’s sixth penalty and senior All-American LaKeysia Beene saved Nebraska sixth penalty kick to send the Irish into the NCAA semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years. Senior All-American Jenny Streiffer scored at 1:30 to give the Irish an early 1-0 lead. Nebraska tied the game with a goal at 17:07 before 132:53 of scoreless soccer sent the game into a shootout.

Nebraska won the coin toss before the shootout and elected to kick second. Streiffer took the first kick and converted in the lower left corner of the net. Beene then saved Kelly Rheem’s first shot for the Cornhuskers in the lower right corner. After Irish senior Jenny Heft put Notre Dame up 2-0 with a shot into the upper left corner, Nebraska’s Meghan Anderson moved the shootout to 2-1 with a shot to the lower right. After Notre Dame junior All-American Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) had her kick bounce off the left post, Husker Christine Latham skimmed a shot off the left post to tie the kicks at 2-2. When Husker All-American junior goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc then saved Monica Gonzalez’s shot to the lower left, the Cornhuskers needed to convert their final two kicks to advance to their first NCAA semifinal, but Sharolta Nonen’s shot sailed high over the center of the net in the fourth round. Irish senior All-American Jen Grubb went into the upper right corner for a 3-2 Irish edge. Jenny Benson kept Nebraska alive with a shot into the lower right for a 3-3 tie after the first five kicks. The teams then were scheduled to take one kick each until one team had a one-goal advantage but the Irish would need just one extra round as Lindsey shot into the lower right and Beene saved Husker senior Amy Walsh’s shot to the lower right for the 4-3 Irish advantage.

Streiffer gave the Irish a quick lead when she converted a through-ball from Mia Sarkesian at 1:30. Sarkesian, who scored the game-winning goal in Notre Dame’s 1-0 win over Stanford in the NCAA third round, split the Husker back line with a pass from 40 yards that Streiffer dribbled from the right wing into the box. Her shot from eight yards sailed past a diving LeBlanc and bounced off the left post into the right side of the net. Rheem knotted the game in the 18th minute when she tapped a cross from Benson into the net from two yards. Benson served the ball from the left side over a pair of Irish defenders and a Husker forward to an open Rheem.

The teams then had a number of scoring opportunities during the rest of the game but both goalkeepers came up with a number of plays to keep the game tied. LeBlanc finished with 10 saves, while Beene saved seven shots and came off her line to smother a breakaway with 32 minutes left in the second half. Notre Dame finished with a 29-16 advantage in shots and 13-6 in the four overtime periods. Nebraska had 15 corner kicks to nine for the Irish and had 21 fouls to 18 for Notre Dame.

IRONWOMEN GO THE DISTANCE
Four field players and goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene played all 150 minutes of Notre Dame’s NCAA quarterfinal contest against Nebraska. Defenders Jen Grubb and Kelly Lindsey, midfielder Anne Makinen and forward Jenny Streiffer also played every minute of the longest game in Notre Dame history. Before Sunday the longest game the Irish had ever played came in the 1995 NCAA championship game when Cindy Daws scored at 125:31 in Notre Dame’s 1-0 win over Portland.

20-WIN SEASONS
The win over Stanford in the third round upped Notre Dame’s record to 20-3-0, marking the sixth consecutive year the Irish have won at least 20 games. Notre Dame won 23 games in 1994, 21 in ’95, 24 in ’96, 23 in ’97 and 21 in ’98.

PRUZINSKY, GRUBB NAMED PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Senior All-American Jen Grubb was named the 1999 BIG EAST Conference defensive player of the year, and freshman defender Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) was named the 1999 BIG EAST Conference rookie of the year at the annual BIG EAST women’s soccer banquet on Nov. 4. Grubb also was named defensive player of the year as a junior in 1998. The award marks the third consecutive year that an Irish defender has won the award after Kate Sobrero was named the first BIG EAST defensive player of the year in 1997. Grubb also was voted to the all-BIG EAST first team for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the first four-time first team all-BIG EAST women’s soccer player. Pruzinsky becomes the third Irish freshman to win rookie-of-the-year award in Notre Dame’s five years in the BIG EAST Conference. Monica Gerardo won the award in 1995, while senior Jenny Streiffer was the 1996 recipient.

HEFT SCORES 80TH GOAL
Senior forward Jenny Heft scored one goal against both Connecticut and Miami during the regular season to tie and then 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, Miami, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Dayton to bring her total to 80 goals. Heft has scored 17 goals in 13 of the last 16 games after tallying just three goals in the first eight games of the season. 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.

IRISH WIN FIFTH BIG EAST TITLE
Notre Dame used goals by three different players and took advantage of a Connecticut own goal to win its fifth consecutive BIG EAST championship with a 4-2 win over the 13th-ranked Huskies on Nov. 7, at Rutgers’ Yurcak Field. Jenny Heft and freshman Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) tallied second-half goals to lead the Irish. Jenny Streiffer, who had a goal and an assist in each of Notre Dame’s three wins in the conference championship, was named the BIG EAST championship most outstanding player. Notre Dame improves to 12-0-0 all-time in the BIG EAST championship, having beaten Connecticut in every final from 1995-99 for its five straight BIG EAST titles.

IRISH EARN ALL-BIG EAST HONORS
Led by 1999 BIG EAST defensive player of the year Jen Grubb, six of Notre Dame’s 11 starters earned all-BIG EAST honors. Joining Grubb on the all-BIG EAST first team are senior forwards Jenny Heft and Jenny Streiffer and junior midfielder Anne Makinen. Makinen joined 1999 BIG EAST offensive player of the year Kelly Smith of Seton Hall as the only unanimous first-team selections. Senior goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene and senior defender Kara Brown were voted to the second team. Freshmen Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) and Vanessa Pruzinsky were named to the BIG EAST all-rookie team. Pruzinsky was the only unanimous selection to the all-rookie team. Notre Dame’s six all-BIG EAST selections and four first-team selections lead all schools.

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 and currently has 13 goals and 11 assists for 37 points. Her 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.

IRISH TAKE OFFENSE
After suffering their first shutout in 55 games in the 1-0 loss to SMU, the Irish have scored 81 goals in the 18 games since and at least four goals in 14 of the last 18 games. Notre Dame has totalled 97 goals in 24 games in 1999 for an average of 4.04 goals per game entering the week, third best in the NCAA entering the week.

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 eight assists in ’99 to go along with her nine goals for 26 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.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
The Irish have distributed their scoring evenly in 1999, with one 50-point scorer, two 40-point scorers, one 30-point scorer and two others with at least 20 points. Fourteen different players have scored at least one goal, while four players have at least 13 goals.

BROWN LEADS IRISH IN ASSISTS
Senior defender Kara Brown recorded assists in six consecutive games before the BIG EAST final and has at least one point in seven of the last 10 games and in nine of the last 13 games with a team-high 16 assists in 1999. Her 16 assists in her senior season have moved her into eighth place on the Notre Dame career assist list with 40 assists during her Irish career. She currently is tied for 11th in the country with 0.67 assists per game, according to the latest NCAA national statistics.

FROSH PART OF IRISH SUCCESS
Notre Dame’s class of 2003 has given the Irish major contributions this season. Defender Vanessa Pruzinsky has started all 24 games, while midfielder Nancy Mikacenic has started 21 games. Pruzinsky has assisted on five Irish goals, while Mikacenic scored the game-winning goal against Butler and has nine assists. Midfielder Ashley Dryer (Salt Lake City, Utah) has started 13 games and played in 22 games total with six assists, while forward Ali Lovelace has played in 20 games and scored twice against Miami in the BIG EAST quarterfinals and once against Connecticut in the BIG EAST final.

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 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 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

School ’99 BIG EAST ’99 overall
1. Notre Dame * 6-0-0 20-3-1
2. Villanova # 4-2-0 14-8-0
3. Seton Hall # 3-3-0 11-9-0
4. Georgetown # 2-3-1 8-10-2
5. West Virginia 2-4-0 9-9-1
6. Rutgers 2-4-0 8-10-0
7. Pittsburgh 1-4-1 5-12-1

Northeast Division

School ’99 BIG EAST ’99 overall
1. Connecticut * 5-0-0 17-8-0
2. Syracuse # 3-1-1 12-6-2
3. Boston College # 2-2-1 16-7-1
4. Miami # 2-3-0 11-8-0
5. Providence 1-4-0 6-10-1
6. St. John’s 0-3-2 10-6-3

* clinched division title
# clinched playoff spot

NSCAA Top 25 (11/8)

Team Record Points Last Wk.
1. Santa Clara * 20-0-0 300 1
2. Florida 21-1-0 285 2
3. North Carolina * 19-2-0 275 3
4. Nebraska * 20-1-1 268 4
5. NOTRE DAME 18-3-0 250 6
6. Penn State 18-3-1 241 5
7. Harvard 14-1-1 217 9
T8. Stanford * 14-4-1 212 7
T8. Clemson 13-6-1 212 8
10. William & Mary 18-3-1 180 12
11. Texas A&M * 15-4-1 175 10
12. Connecticut * 15-7-0 167 13
13. Kentucky 16-2-1 162 14
14. UCLA 14-4-1 149 20
15. Wake Forest 15-6-1 144 15
16. Virginia 12-8-0 135 16
17. USC 14-5-0 119 11
18. Michigan * 16-5-1 112 18
19. SMU * 15-5-1 90 19
20. San Diego 15-4-0 75 17
21. Missouri 14-7-1 63 25
22. Duke * 12-9-0 40 21
23. BYU 20-3-0 34 23
24. Dartmouth 9-7-1 28 24
25. Maryland 10-9-1 23 NR

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents

Soccer Times Top 25 (11/8)

Team Record Points Last Wk.
1. Santa Clara * (12) 20-0-0 300 1
2. North Carolina * 19-2-0 279 2
3. Florida 21-1-0 277 T3
4. Nebraska * 20-1-1 269 T3
5. Notre Dame 18-3-0 252 6
6. Penn State 18-3-1 252 5
7. Clemson 13-6-1 243 7
8. Stanford * 14-4-1 197 9
9. Harvard 14-1-1 189 10
10. William & Mary 18-3-1 169 15
11. Connecticut * 15-7-0 168 11
T12. Wake Forest 15-6-1 165 12
T12. UCLA 14-4-1 165 17
14. USC 14-5-0 145 8
15. Virginia 12-8-0 133 13
16. Texas A&M * 15-4-1 125 14
17. Kentucky 16-2-1 115 16
18. Michigan * 16-5-1 104 21
T19. BYU 20-3-0 69 20
T19. San Diego 15-4-0 69 19
21. SMU * 15-5-1 63 22
22. Duke * 12-9-0 54 18
23. Missouri 14-7-1 38 NR
24. California 13-6-1 25 24
T25. Baylor 14-6-1 17 23
T25. Hartford 15-4-2 17 25
T25. Maryland 10-9-1 17 NR

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents

IRISH CAREER RECORDS

Goals Gm G
1. Jenny Heft, 1996- 93 80
2. Monica Gerardo, 1995-98 98 73
3. Jenny Streiffer, 1996- 98 70
4. Cindy Daws, 1993-96 94 61
5. Michelle McCarthy, 1992-95 89 59
6. Rosella Guerrero, 1992-95 91 55
7. Anne Makinen, 1997- 64 51
8. Meotis Erickson 1997- 74 46
9. Alison Lester, 1990-93 81 45
10. Susie Zilvitis, 1988-91 82 43
Assists Gm A
1. Holly Manthei, 1994-97 99 128
2. Jenny Streiffer, 1996- 98 71
3. Cindy Daws, 1993-96 94 67
4. Shannon Boxx, 1995-98 101 57
5. Jen Grubb, 1996- 98 52
6. Monica Gerardo, 1995-98 98 44
7. Kate Fisher, 1993-96 98 41
8. Kara Brown, 1996- 97 40
Michelle McCarthy, 1992-95 89 38
10. Ragen Coyne, 1992-95 62 37
Tiffany Thompson, 1991-94 86 37
Points G A P
1. Jenny Streiffer, 1996- 70 71 211
2. Monica Gerardo, 1995-98 73 44 190
3. Cindy Daws, 1993-96 61 67 189
Jenny Heft, 1996- 80 29 189
5. Holly Manthei, 1994-97 24 128 176
6. Michelle McCarthy, 1992-95 59 38 156
7. Rosella Guerrero, 1992-95 55 32 142
Anne Makinen, 1997- 51 41 143
9. Shannon Boxx, 1995-98 39 57 135
10. Alison Lester, 1990-93 45 36 126

Irish In NCAA Statistics

Scoring Offense
3. Notre Dame 4.04
Winning Percentage
7. Notre Dame .854
Single-Game Goals
T4. Notre Dame vs. Georgetown 10
Points Per Game
16. Jenny Streiffer 2.21
Goals Per Game
20. Jenny Heft 0.83
Assists Per Game
T11. Kara Brown 0.67
16. Jenny Streiffer 0.63
T18. Anne Makinen 0.60

Irish in NCAA Championship

Name (games) G-A-P GWG
Jenny Heft (15) 9-0-18 2
Anne Makinen (10) 5-7-17 0
Jenny Streiffer (14) 6-4-16 1
Kara Brown (15) 3-7-13 0
Meotis Erikson (10) 3-4-10 1
Monica Gonzalez (6) 2-1-5 0
Jen Grubb (15) 0-5-5 0
Kelly Lindsey (10) 1-3-5 0
Mia Sarkesian (4) 1-2-4 1
Name (games) Min Sv/G GAA ShO
LaKeysia Beene (12) 980 37/8 0.73 4 (1)