Aug. 18, 1999

IRISH ALL-AMERICANS: Since Notre Dame reached its first NCAA championship game in 1994, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America has honored the Irish with 17 All-America selections, more than any other school in the country since then. Of these 17 All-America honors, eight have been first-teamers while four were awarded to midfielder Holly Manthei from 1994-97, the only four-time All-American in the program?s history. Two-time captain Jen Grubb enters her senior year as a three-time All-American and could become Notre Dame?s first four-time All-America defender.

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS: In the last six years, Notre Dame women?s soccer players also have been voted GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans more than any other NCAA Division I women?s soccer team. Jen Renola and Amy VanLaecke both were second-team selections in 1995 and both were first-team picks in 1996. Renola was named the Academic All-American of the Year for the 1996-97 women?s fall/winter at-large team encompassing eight different sports. Jenny Streiffer was the only sophomore named to the first team in ?97, the first year she was eligible for the honor. She was voted to the team once again as a junior as a second-team selection.

Streiffer can join a select group of Notre Dame student-athletes if she is voted to the team for a third time. Only Bob Arnzen (basketball, 1967-69), Joy Battersby (softball, 1995-97), Joe Heap (football, 1952-54) and Katie Marten (softball, 1995-97) are Notre Dame?s three-time Academic All-Americans, the most a person traditionally can be honored since freshmen are not eligible for the award.

IRISH MEET INTERNATIONALLY: It was an Irish reunion when Notre Dame?s three representatives in the 1999 FIFA Women?s World Cup, former Irish teammates Monica Gonzalez (left) and Monica Gerardo (right) for Mexico and Kate Sobrero (center) for the United States, met on the field for a World Cup preparation game between the U.S. and Mexico at the Rose Bowl on March 28. The U.S. blanked Mexico 3-0 in that warmup.

MORE IRISH MEET INTERNATIONALLY: A month before Monica Gerardo, Monica Gonzalez and Kate Sobrero met in the U.S.-Mexico match in the Rose Bowl on March 28, the current Irish teammates Jen Grubb, Anne Makinen and Jenny Streiffer met in a U.S.-Finland match on Feb. 24, in Orlando, Fla. With the U.S. national team using a lineup comprised of future national team players, the Americans beat the Finnish national team 3-1 with all three Notre Dame players involved in the scoring. Grubb opened the scoring by blasting a free kick from 25 yards in the seventh minute for her second international goal in her 12th appearance with the U.S. national team. Streiffer assisted on the third U.S. goal in the 69th minute in her first appearance with the full national team. Makinen rounded out the scoring when she converted a breakaway in the 83rd minute for Finland?s only goal.

HEFT EYES SCORING RECORD: Thanks to a single-season school record 28 goals last year, Jenny Heft needs 20 goals in her senior season to become just the 11th player in NCAA women?s soccer history to score 80 career goals. She enters her final year with 60 goals and 21 assists for 141 points, the seventh-most points in Irish history. Heft?s 60 goals are third most in Notre Dame history, just one behind Cindy Daws for second place. She is on pace to break the record of 73 career goals that Monica Gerardo set just last year.

MAKINEN OUTSTANDING: Junior Anne Makinen has played in two BIG EAST championships and has been named the championship?s most outstanding player at both tournaments, becoming the only player to win the honor more than once. She has scored six goals and has two assists in five BIG EAST championship games. In the 1997 championship game, she had a hat trick, including the game-winning goal, in Notre Dame?s 6-1 win over Connecticut. She came through once again in the ?98 title game with a goal in the 82nd minute of the 1-0 Irish win at Connecticut.

IRISH TAKE OFFENSIVE…: Notre Dame?s 1998 offense followed not only the two best scoring teams in Notre Dame history but two record-setting offenses in NCAA history. The 1996 Irish scored 140 goals in 26 games while the 1997 Irish scored 135 goals in 25 games, the two highest single-season goal totals in NCAA women?s soccer history. While the ?98 offense ranked 15th in NCAA history with 99 goals, the 3.96 goals per game marked the highest scoring offense in the first year the NCAA has crowned annual scoring champions.

In 1996, Notre Dame?s NCAA finalists averaged 5.38 goals per game, the highest since North Carolina?s 5.33 goals per game in 1982 and second only to Cincinnati?s 1982 team that averaged 6.00 goals per game. After setting the second-best scoring average in NCAA history in 1996, the Irish managed to top that mark with a 5.40 scoring average in 1997 before the 3.96 scoring mark in 1998 that topped all NCAA Division I teams.

… AND GET DEFENSIVE: While Notre Dame?s scoring average has reached record levels, the Irish scoring defense has kept on improving. The Irish have allowed fewer than one goal per game every year except 1992 when Notre Dame had a 1.00 goals-against average. The Irish have posted double-digit shutouts every season in the 1990s including 18 in both 1997 and 1995, the ninth-most in a single season in NCAA history. In 1998, Notre Dame yielded just 16 goals all year and allowed more than one goal in a game just three times for a 0.68 goals-against average and 16 shutouts.

CONFERENCE QUEENS: Notre Dame?s 1-0 win over Connecticut in the ?98 BIG EAST championship game marked the sixth consecutive year the Irish have won their conference tournament championship, including their fourth consecutive BIG EAST crown. Notre Dame has compiled a 13-0-0 record in winning its six conference titles, the first two coming in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1993 and 1994.

HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame enters the 10th season of soccer at Alumni Field with a 92-6-1 (.934) record at the facility. The Irish are 69-2-1 in their last 72 home games which included a 27-game winning streak from October 7, 1992-October 6, 1995, the third longest in NCAA history.

FAR & WIDE: Players come from far and wide to be a part of the Notre Dame women?s soccer program. Of the 24 players on the roster, the 1999 Irish hail from 15 different states and countries and from five time zones in the U.S. Indiana and Washington lead with three natives, while California, Connecticut, Michigan and Texas are represented twice. Helsinki, Finland-native Anne Makinen is the first player in Notre Dame women?s soccer history to hail from outside the U.S.

COVERGIRL: Former Irish All-American Kate Sobrero has won both the NCAA championship and the FIFA Women?s World Cup, each time earning a place on a magazine cover. Soccer America pictured Sobrero on its cover in 1995 after she was the defensive MVP as the Irish shut out top-ranked North Carolina and undefeated Portland in winning the NCAA title. After playing a key role as a starting defender on the United States? ?99 World Cup championship team, Sobrero was part of a celebration photo on the cover of Time.

Irish in the ISAA/NSCAA Poll 1993-99 (64 polls)

 Rank   Number of Weeks    1         9    2        28    3        12    4         3    5         7    6         2    7         2   12         1
Rank     No. of Weeks    Pct. 1-3     49 of 64        76.6 1-5     59 of 64        92.2 1-10    63 of 64        98.4
Before and After
Year    Preseason    Final1993       12          31994        3          11995        2          41996        2          11997        2          21998        2          41999        7          ?
Coaching and Support Staff
Head CoachRandy Waldrum(Midwestern State ?81)
Waldrum at Notre DameFirst year
Assistant CoachesAmy Edwards, Sue-Moy Chin
Women?s Soccer AdministratorTony Yelovich
Academic ServicesGermaine Holden
TrainerTony Sutton
Strength and Conditioning CoachHeather Mason
Women?s Soccer SIDEric Wachter
ManagerHeather Cole

Team Information
1998 Record21-3-1
1998 BIG EAST Championship3-0, championNotre Dame 5, West Virginia 0Notre Dame 5, Syracuse 1Notre Dame 1, Connecticut 0
1998 NCAA Championship2-1, quarterfinalistNotre Dame 3, Michigan 0Notre Dame 2, Nebraska 0Portland 2, Notre Dame 1
Starters ReturningLaKeysia Beene (Sr., GK)Kara Brown (Sr., D)Jen Grubb (Sr., D)Jenny Heft (Sr., F)Jenny Streiffer (Sr., F)Meotis Erikson (Jr., F)Kelly Lindsey (Jr., D)Anne Makinen (Jr., MF)Lindsey Jones (So., MF)
Monogram Winners Ret./Lost14/3
1999 CaptainsLaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb, Kelly Lindsey