Sept. 15, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The sixth-ranked Notre Dame women?s soccer team begins a four-game road swing against eighth-ranked Texas A&M and SMU at the Women?s College Classic in Klein, Texas. The Irish will face the Aggies on Fri., Sept. 17, at 4:30 p.m. at Meyer Park and take on the Mustangs on Sun., Sept. 19, at 12:00 p.m. Notre Dame travels to Texas with a 3-1-0 record after blanking St. John?s 4-0 and Butler 5-0.
THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame heads to Klein, Texas, for the Women?s College Classic to take on Texas A&M and SMU at Meyer Park. The Aggies enter the game with a 6-0-0 record after a 2-1 win over Ohio State last weekend. Alison Peters leads the Aggies with five goals in six games, while Nicky Thrasher has scored a team-leading 10 points. The matchup will be the first between Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
Notre Dame and SMU have played twice previously, with the sixth-ranked Mustangs winning 3-1 at home in 1992 and the Irish winning 5-2 at home in 1993. Tara Comfort, Lana Darnell and Sarah Harvey lead SMU with three goals each. Becca Lief has played every minute in goal. The Mustangs currently are 3-3-0 after a 3-1 win at Minnesota on Sunday. SMU will take on Oklahoma on Thurs., Sept. 16, before facing the Irish.
IRISH IN LONE STAR STATE: Notre Dame makes it third trip to Texas this weekend and its second trip to Meyer Park looking for better results after finishing 1-3-1 in its two previous visits. In 1992 the Irish lost 3-1 at SMU before beating TCU 4-0. In 1995 at Meyer Park Notre Dame tied Duke 2-2 and lost 2-0 to North Carolina.
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Irish used three second-half goals for a 4-0 win over host St. John’s on the artificial turf at DaSilva Memorial Field in a BIG EAST Conference cross divisional game on Sunday. Four different players scored for Notre Dame. Irish goalkeepers LaKeysia Beene (Gold River, Calif.) and Elizabeth Wagner (Spring, Texas) combined to record the shutout, the fifth for Notre Dame in as many meetings with St. John’s. Notre Dame managed just a 5-3 advantage in shots in the first 45 minutes of action before outshooting St. John’s 16-3 in the second half for a 21-6 final shot total. Red Storm goalkeeper Kristina Fogg made seven saves, while Beene made two saves. St. John’s was called for 11 fouls to nine for Notre Dame.
The Irish took a 1-0 lead into halftime on a goal by Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash). Defender Kara Brown (Avon, Conn.) won the ball in the back and dribbled through the St. John’s midfield to the right side. Brown crossed the ball to the far post to Erikson, who headed the ball for the game-winning goal at 10:16. Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) gave the Irish a 2-0 lead at 53:05 when she booted in a failed clear from 10 yards. Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) built Notre Dame’s lead to 3-0 at 60:24. Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) served a free kick from 25 yards on the right sideline that Streiffer headed into the right corner of the net from the near post. Monica Gonzalez (Richardson, Texas) closed out the scoring at 82:14 when she one-timed a cross from Erikson, who won the ball from two Red Storm defenders and fed Gonzalez from 10 yards beyond the goal on the left endline.
Five different players in Notre Dame?s 5-0 win over Butler on Wednesday night at Alumni Field. The Irish led 2-0 at halftime on goals by freshman Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) and Gonzalez. Mikacenic?s goal, the first of her career, came in the first minute of the contest when she put back a loose ball in front of the net. Gonzalez headed a Brown corner kick to Butler goalkeeper Trisha Czerniak, who failed to secure the ball. Mikacenic pounced on the ball to record the game-winning goal 57 seconds into the contest. Gonzalez converted a penalty kick at 18:47 for a 2-0 Irish advantage. Heft was fouled in the box to set up Gonzalez’s goal. Streiffer received the ball at midfield from Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) and put Notre Dame ahead 3-0 with a blast at 51:06 from 35 yards out from the center of the field into the lower right corner of the net. Grubb fired a free kick from 20 yards into the upper left corner of the net for a 4-0 lead at 58:47. Iris Lancaster (Waiahae, Hawaii) scored her first goal of the season at 78:48 when she headed in a corner kick from Grubb to close out the scoring.
BROWN NAMED BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame senior Kara Brown has been named BIG EAST Conference defensive player of the week after helping the Irish shut out St. John?s 4-0 on Sun., Sept. 12. The BIG EAST player-of-the-week award is the first for the Irish in 1999 and the second for Brown in her career after being named rookie of the week as a freshman in 1996. Brown assisted on the game-winning goal after winning the ball in the backfield and dribbling through the midfield where she served the ball from the right sideline. Meotis Erikson headed in the cross for the game-winning goal in the 11th minute of the game. Defensively, Brown helped the Irish backline hold the Red Storm to just six shots in recording its first shutout of 1999.
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 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.
NOTRE DAME-TEXAS CONNECTION: Head coach Randy Waldrum, junior forward Monica Gonzalez and sophomore goalkeeper Elizabeth Wagner return to their home state this weekend. Waldrum grew up in Irving, Texas, and played collegiate soccer at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas. He has coached men?s teams at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth, Texas, in addition to coaching the women?s team at Baylor.
Gonzalez was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and grew up in Richardson, Texas, attending Plano East High School. Her family has since moved to The Woodlands, Texas. Wagner was born in Houston, and grew up in Spring, Texas, attending Klein High School. Nine other players have come to Notre Dame from Texas in the 12-year history of the program, including Houston natives Kim Gold (1991-93), Amy Hughson (1992) and Tiffany Thompson (1991-94) and Spring natives Robin Mego (1991-94) and Stephanie Porter (1990-93).
WALDRUM, EDWARDS FACE FAMILIAR FOES: Head coach Randy Waldrum and assistant coach Amy Edwards, both in their first years at Notre Dame, will square off against some familiar teams this weekend. Waldrum has a 5-3-0 against Texas A&M, including 2-2-0 record at Baylor and 3-1-0 mark at Tulsa. His record against SMU stands at 2-6-0 with wins coming 1-0 in 1992 with Tulsa and 3-1 in 1998 with Baylor.
Edwards was 0-4-1 against SMU as head coach at Tulsa from 1995-98 with three losses by one goal, including a pair of 1-0 decisions in 1997. Her 1996 Tulsa squad lost 5-2 to Texas A&M.
THREE NAMED HERMANN TROPHY FINALISTS: Three Irish women?s soccer players have been selected as three of 15 finalists for the 1999 Hermann Trophy, to be presented December 11, in Charlotte, N.C. Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene and Jenny Streiffer and junior All-American Anne Makinen 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.
HEFT EYES SCORING RECORD, SURPASSES DAWS: Thanks to a single-season school record 28 goals last year and with two goals in ?99, senior Jenny Heft needs 18 goals in her senior season to become just the 11th player in NCAA women?s soccer history to score 80 career goals. She entered her final year with 60 goals and 21 assists for 141 points, the seventh-most points in Irish history. Heft?s 62 goals are second most in Notre Dame history. Her 62nd goal against St. John?s moved her past Cindy Daws? 61 goals for second place. She remains on pace to break the record of 73 career goals that Monica Gerardo set just last year.
IRISH TABBED FOR TITLE, EARN PRESEASON BIG EAST HONORS: Notre Dame’s four-time defending BIG EAST women’s soccer champions have been picked to finish first in the BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic division, according to a vote by the conference coaches. Senior goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene and defender Jen Grubb have been voted preseason players of the year for their respective positions for the second consecutive year. Jenny Streiffer and Anne Makinen join Beene and Grubb on the preseason all-BIG EAST team. Notre Dame leads the all-BIG EAST team with four of the 11 selections. Seton Hall’s Kelly Smith has been voted BIG EAST preseason offensive player of the year.
Beginning with the 1999 season, the 13 competing BIG EAST schools will be divided into two divisions, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic. Interdivisional games have been randomly selected and will not be reflected in conference records and statistics. Only games against teams within each division will count as the conference record, which will be used to determine the field for the eight-team BIG EAST championship. The top four teams in each division will qualify for the BIG EAST championship.
IRISH NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Notre Dame leads 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.
STREIFFER NEARS 60-60 PLATEAU: All-American and two-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American Jenny Streiffer is on pace to join former Irish All-American Cindy Daws as one of just four players in NCAA history to reach 60 goals and 60 assists. She became just the ninth player in NCAA women?s soccer history to score 50 goals and record 50 assists as a junior. Streiffer currently has 54 goals and 56 assists.
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 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.