Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Men's Soccer Ends Three Game Slide

Oct. 5, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team (5-4-1, 2-1-1) will look to improve on its two-game winning streak this week as the Irish continue their four-game homestand with matchups against IUPUI and Providence. Notre Dame entertains the Jaguars in a non-conference contest on Tuesday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m. and then faces BIG EAST foe Providence in a crucial league matchup on Saturday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.

WEEK IN REVIEW – Eastern Michigan: Notre Dame had its biggest offensive output of the season and gave 10th-year head coach Mike Berticelli his 100th win with the Irish in the 5-2 victory which snapped a three-game losing streak. The Irish got goals from five different players in the contest and equalled the entire goal output of the first eight games. It marked the most goals scored by an Irish team since a 6-1 victory over Valparaiso in the season opener of the 1998 campaign on September 1. Senior forward Andrew Aris (Auckland, New Zealand) netted his first goal of the season and dished off two assists, while freshman Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany) had a goal and an assist. Freshman Justin Ratcliffe (San Antonio, Texas) also had the first two assists of his career as one of three multiple-point scorers in the game. The other goal scorers in the contest included junior Dustin Pridmore (Dallas, Texas), freshman Andreas Forstner (Gerlinden, Germany) and senior Jason Jorski (Lutz, Fla.). It was the first goals of the season for all three, and the first-ever collegiate scores for Forstner and Jorski.

Syracuse: Erich Braun scored two goals, both in the second, to lead the Irish to their fourth shutout of the season. The scores were the fourth and fifth of the season for the Irish rookie who leads the team in scoring with five goals and an assist. Braun scored his first goal when when he took a pass from Alan Lyskawa (Novi, Mich.) and raced down the field. Braun’s eight-yard shot 1:50 into the second half got past the Syracuse goalkeeper as he was coming out of the goal area to stop the shot attempt. Braun then gave the Irish and insurance goal with four minutes remaining in the contest when he picked up a Syracuse defender’s loose ball at midfield and threaded the secondary areas untouched. Goalkeeper Gerick Short (Mobile, Ala.) made six stops in the game as Notre Dame outshot Syracuse 18-13.

BERTICELLI GETS 100TH CARER WIN – With Notre Dame’s 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan, head coach Mike Berticelli earned his 100th Mike Berticelli with the Irish. His current record at Notre Dame stands at 101-75-17. 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.

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 101-75-17 (.567) mark at Notre Dame and is 288-130-40 (.672) 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 FINALLY FIND THE NET – Notre Dame scored just five goals in its first eight games and was shutout in three of those contests. In its two games last week, the Irish scored seven goals. In the 5-2 win over Eastern Michigan to start the week off, Notre Dame had five different goal scorers in the game.

SERIES RECORDS VS. UPCOMING OPPONENTS – IUPUI: This is the second consecutive year the two teams have played each other and third meeting overall. Notre Dame has both time the two school’s have met, including last year’s 1-0 overtime win. Providence: Notre Dame holds a 3-1 advantage in the series as the Irish were victorious the first three times the two teams played. The Friars earned their first win last year at home with a 2-1 victory over the Irish.

TWO IRISH PLAYERS HONORED BY BIG EAST – Gerick Short and Erich Braun were each honored by the BIG EAST in its weekly honor roll for their performances last week. Short picked goalkeeper-of-the-week honors for the second time this season, while Braun was named the league’s rookie of the week. Short notched six saves in getting his fourth shutout of the season. He also had two saves in the win over Eastern Michigan. Braun had three goals and two assists in the two outings last week, including both scores in the 2-0 shutout of Syracuse.

BRAUN FINDING THE MARK – Freshman Erich Braun has been the only multiple-goal scorer for the Irish. He has scored five of Notre Dame’s 12 goals this season and leads the team with 11 points.

ARIS LEADS IRISH IN ASSISTS – Andrew Aris leads the team with four assists this season. In addition, he has scored a goal for six points, which places him second on the scoring list. Alan Lyskawa and Justin Ratcliffe are behind Aris in the assist column as each has contributed two in 1999.

JORSKI FINALLY GETS FIRST COLLEGIATE GOAL – Senior Jason Jorski finally earned the first goal of his collegiate career when he drilled a 20-yard shot off an assist from Andrew Aris in Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Eastern Michigan. The goal came at the 87:24 mark of the contest. Jorksi has played in six of the team’s 10 games this season and in 30 games overall throughout his career.

HOME COOKIN’ – Notre Dame plays two more games at home this week in its contests against IUPUI and Providence. Five of the team’s eight remaining games are at home this season. In fact, Mike Berticelli’s squad does not have to leave the state of Indiana to play again unitl Wednesday, October 20 when it travels to West Viriginia. Valparaiso (October 12) is the only road game scheduled between now and then.

GOING OVERTIME – Three of Notre Dame’s 10 games this season have gone to overtime. The Irish own an 0-2-1 mark in those contests. Overtime games are something Notre Dame grew accustomed to a year ago as the Irish played six overtime contests in 1998. At one point during last season, Coach Mike Berticelli’s squad played a school-record five consecutive overtime contests.

SHORT IN GOAL – Prior to the start of the season, fifth-year player Gerick Short had only seen action in six total games throughout his career and had made just two starts. He also had not played in a game since midway through the 1996 campaign. This season, Short has played all 947:00 of the season and has recorded four shutouts. He has made 43 saves in ’99, including a personal best nine versus 14th-ranked San Diego. Short has a 1.05 goals against averaged and .796 save percentage.

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 67 of the 70 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 (38) and Ryan Cox (31).

HOME SWEET HOME – Notre Dame finished 5-1-2 at home last season and is 4-1 in 1999 as the Irish suffered a 1-0 overtime defeat to Western Michigan in the second home game of the season. This marks the 10th year for the Irish playing at Alumni Field where Notre Dame owns a 62-21-7 mark overall for a 72.8 winning percentage.

SETON HALL POSTPONEMENT – The inclement weather conditions in the Northeast because of Hurricane Floyd forced the postponement of Notre Dame’s game at Seton Hall on Friday, September 17. The contest has tentatively been rescheduled for Wednesday, November 3.

ND-RUTGERS CONTEST TO BE TELEVISED BY WHME – WHME-TV will televise tape-delayed Notre Dame’s matchup at Alumni Field against Rutgers on Sunday, October 17. The game, which is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., will be shown that same evening at 11:00 p.m. on WHME (TV 46).

1999 Schedule/Results
(5-4-1, 2-1-1)

AUGUST22   Sun.   BRADLEY (Exhibition)      L, 0-2    SEPTEMBER 1   Wed.   at Northwestern           W, 1-0 4   Sat.   BOSTON COLLEGE*           W, 1-0 7   Tue.   (16/NR) W. MICHIGAN       L, 0-1 (OT)11   Sat.   (16/NR) at Pittsburgh*    T, 1-1 (OT)14   Tue.   CLEVELAND STATE           W, 1-017   Fri.   at Seton Hall*            ppd.19   Sun.   at Connecticut (19/20)*   L, 1-2 (OT)24   Fri.   vs. San Diego (14/16)!    L, 0-326   Sun.   vs. Saint Mary's!         L, 0-229   Wed.   EASTERN MICHIGAN          W, 5-2   OCTOBER 2   Sat.   SYRACUSE*                 7:30 p.m. 5   Tue.   IUPUI                     7:30 p.m. 9   Sat.   PROVIDENCE*               7:30 p.m.12   Tue.   at Valparaiso             4:00 p.m.15   Fri.   VILLANOVA*                7:30 p.m.17   Sun.   RUTGERS*                  1:00 p.m.20   Wed.   at West Virginia*         7:00 p.m.23   Sat.   at St. John's*            7:30 p.m.29   Fri.   GEORGETOWN*               7:30 p.m.
NOVEMBER 6 Sat. BIG EAST Quarterfinals (Campus Sites)12 Fri. BIG EAST Semifinals (Storrs, CT)14 Sun. BIG EAST Finals (Storrs, CT)
*BIG EAST match!Saint Mary's Tournament (Moraga, Calif.)
( ) - indicates rankings at time of game in NSCAA and Soccer America polls.
All times are local

1999 BIG EAST STANDINGS

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

NSCAA/ADIDAS
(Week of October 4)

                            LW  1.   Santa Clara            2 2.   Duke                   3 3.   Saint Louis            5 4.   Indiana                6  5.   Penn State             1 6.   UCLA                   9 7.   Wake Forest           10 8.   Va. Commonwealth      21 9.   San Diego             NR     10.   Southwest Missouri    18 11.   Connecticut            712.   Maryland               813.   Furman                14 14.   Portland              25 15.   Seton Hall            RV16.   Yale                  16 17.   Creigton              12 18.   St. John's            18    19.   Virginia              1320.   Jacksonville          19    21.   Oakland               RV22.   California            20 23.   Cal State Fullerton    4 24    Southern Methodist    11 25.   Brown                 17

SOCCER AMERICA
(Week of October 4)

                            LW 1.   Indiana                2 2.   UCLA                   3 3.   Santa Clara            4  4.   Penn State             1 5.   Saint Louis            6     6.   Duke                   7  7.   Va. Commonwealth      NR  8.   SW Missouri State     14  9.   San Diego             NR10.   Southern Methodist     811.   Maryland               912.   Seton Hall            NR13.   Connecticut           1015.   Portland              NR15.   Yale                  1716.   Jacksonville          1917.   Furman                1618.   Brown                 1119.   Creighton             1220.   Cal State Fullerton    5

1999 NSCAA GREAT LAKES REGION RANKINGS
(Week of Oct. 3)

                                Pts. 1. Indiana (7-2-0)              50 2. Oakland (8-1-1)              45 3. Akron (6-3-1)                38 4. Cincinnati (6-2-1)           37 5. Marquette (7-4-0)            27 6. Ohio State (7-3-0)           18 7. Western Kentucky (8-1-0)     18 8. NOTRE DAME (5-4-1)           15 9. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (7-4-0)   710. Kentucky (6-3-0)              6

Also receiving votes: Dayton, IUPUI