Oct. 26, 2000
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NOTRE DAME, IND. — The Notre Dame men’s soccer team (6-8-1, 3-7-0) plays its final two games of the 2000 campaign when the Irish play host to West Virginia on Fri., Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. before closing out the regular season on the road at IUPUI on Tues., Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. Coach Chris Apple’s squad went 1-2 in three road games last week.
THE WEEK IN REVIEW — Georgetown: The Irish lost a 2-0 decision on the road at Georgetown as the Irish lost to the Hoyas for the fourth straight time to the Hoyas. Georgetown did not score its first goal until the 76:27 mark of the contest when Kenny Owen converted a penalty kick for the game-winning goal. The Hoyas added an insurance goal a t the 82:37 mark when Peter Bachman scored from seven yards out. Cole Straub (Oakville, Ontario) played well in goal in making his second career start as he made six saves in the contest. Both teams attempted 13 shots in the game, while the Hoyas owned an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks. Villanova: Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany) had his first multiple-goal game of the season, and third of his career, in leading Notre Dame to a 2-1 victory on the road at Villanova. Braun netted a goal in each half for the Irish. Cole Straub made a career-high seven saves to bolster Notre Dame’s strong defensive effort. Braun tallied his first goal 3:55 into the contest when he blasted a shot past the Villanova goalkeeper following a Chad Riley (Houston, Texas) free kick. Notre Dame gave itself a two-goal cushion when Braun took advantage of a Wildcat misplay in the backfield and slipped a pass into the back of the net at the 62:12 mark of the contest. Villanova scored its only goal with 11:20 remaining in the game. Straub made a career-high seven saves in the game. Rutgers: Two second-half goals with under 20 minutes to play in the contest lifted the Scarlet Knights to a 3-1 victory. Guy Abrahamson and Dustin Sheppard, who finished with a goal and an assist in the contest, tallied back-to-back scores within a span of 1:45 to break a 1-1 deadlock midway through the second half. Erich Braun had Notre Dame’s lone score in the game off assists from Andreas Forstner (Gerlinden, Germany) and Chad Riley.
HEAD COACH CHRIS APPLE — Chris Apple is in his first season as head coach of the Irish. He earned his first victory at Notre Dame in the team’s 2-0 season-opening win over New Mexico on Sept. 1 in the first round of the UNLV Fila/Snickers Rebel Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. Apple was named head coach on March 3, 2000 after spending four seasons as an assistant on the Notre Dame sidelines. This is the second head-coaching stint for the 30-year-old Apple whose first experience as a head coach was at North Carolina Wesleyan from 1994-95. In two seasons at the school, he compiled a 12-20-1 record. His overall coaching ledger currently stands at 18-28-2. He is the second-youngest coach in the BIG EAST, four years older than Chaka Daley of Providence, another first-year coach in the league who is 26 years old.
SERIES RECORD VS. UPCOMING OPPONENTS — West Virginia: This will be the sixth meeting between the two teams with the Irish holding a 3-2-0 advantage in the series. Notre Dame has won three of the last four meetings and is 2-0 overall against the Mountaineers at home. The Irish were shut out 1-0 in Morgantown last year, but had earned shutout wins in its three previous meetings before last year. IUPUI: Notre Dame leads the series 3-0. The Irish and Jaguars have met each of the last two seasons with Notre Dame earning 1-0 victories in each of those contests.
BRAUN ON A ROLL — Erich Braun, who missed the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury, leads the Irish in scoring with four goal and three assists (11 points). He scored all three of Notre Dame’s goals last week. After the Irish lost to Georgetown, Braun tallied two goals in the 2-1 victory over Villanova. It marked his first multiple-goal game of the season and third of his career.
RILEY SECOND IN SCORING COLUMN — Chad Riley is second on the team in scoring with two goals and a team-high six assists (10 points). Riley’s second goal of the season came in Notre Dame’s upset of then 10th-ranked St. John’s 1-0 on Oct. 14.
FORSTNER DISHES OFF FIRST ASSIST OF CAREER — Andreas Forstner collected his first career assist when he assisted on Erich Braun’s goal which tied the game in the first half right before the half. Last season, Forstner had a goal in Notre Dame’s 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan.
STRAUB MAKES THE MOST OF FIRST CAREER START — Sophomore goalkeeper Cole Straub made the most of his first career game in goal for the Irish against St. John’s on Oct. 14. Straub, who was seeing action for the first time in his collegiate career, made six stops (five in the first half) against the Red Storm in recording Notre Dame’s fourth shutout of the season.
STRAUB PLAYING WELL — In the four contests he has played and started, Cole Straub is averaging 5.0 saves per game. He had six saves in both the St. John’s and Georgetown contests and then surpassed his personal best with seven saves against Villanova in the 2-1 win.
DETTER GETS FIRST CAREER ASSIST — Justin Detter’s feed on the game-winning goal by Chad Riley against St. John’s was the first career assist for the Irish rookie who has played in all 15 games and made 14 starts.
DETTER RECORDS FIRST MULTIPLE-GOAL GAME — Freshman Justin Detter was the first Irish player to post a multiple-goal game. He recorded the first multiple-goal game of his careerwhen he scored both of Notre Dame’s goals in the 2-1 win over Northwestern. It was the first multiple-goal game for an Irish player since Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany) and Dustin Pridmore (Dallas, Texas) scored two goals each in Notre Dame’s 4-0 victory over Providence on Oct., 8, 1999.
BRAUN, HOWARD TIED FOR GOAL-SCORING LEAD IRISH WITH FOUR GOALS — Senior Griffin Howard (San Diego, Calif.) and Erich Braun lead the Irish with four goals each. Three of Howard’s four goals this season have come off of penalty kicks.
WIN OVER RED STORM SIGNIFICANT — Notre Dame’s win over St. John’s was the first for the Irish in seven previous meetings with the Red Storm. It also was the first victory for an Irish men’s soccer team over a top 10 opponent since the 1988 campaign when Notre Dame beat then fourth-ranked St. Louis 2-0.
ROAD WARRIORS — Notre Dame will close out the season by playing four of its final regular-season contests on the road. The Irish are 2-4-1 overall on the road this season and 1-0-0 in neutral contests.
HOME SWEET HOME — Although Notre Dame has struggled somewhat at home this season (3-4), the Irish own a 67-27-4 mark (.704) winning percentage. Notre Dame finished the ’99 season with a 7-3-0 mark at home after posting a 5-1-2 record at Alumni Field in ’98. The Irish lost two one-goal decisions at home (to Western Michigan and Rutgers) and also suffered a 3-1 setback to Georgetown. Last season marked the 10th season for the Irish playing at Alumni Field.
IRONMEN — Three Iirsh players — Chad Riley, Connor LaRose (Claremont, Calif.) and Andreas Forstner — have started all 15 games for the Irish this season. LaRose has played in 66 career games and has made starting appearances in all but nine of those contests. He has started 53 consecutive games.