Oct. 12, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team (7-4-1, 3-1-1), winners of four straight and riding its longest winning streak since the 1997 campaign, plays one non-conference game on the road and two BIG EAST contests at home this week. The Irish travel to Valparaiso on Tuesday, Oct. 12 for a 4:00 p.m. matchup. Coach Mike Berticelli’s squad then plays host to two BIG EAST teams over the weekend. The Irish entertain Villanova on Friday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m., and then meet 16th-ranked Rutgers on Sunday, October 17 at 1:00 p.m.
1999 BIG EAST STANDINGS
BIG EAST Overall Record Record 1. Rutgers 5-0-1 (11) 7-3-2 West Virginia 5-1-1 (11) 9-3-1 3. Georgetown 4-2-1 (9) 7-4-1 4. Seton Hall 4-2-0 (8) 8-3-0 5. NOTRE DAME 3-1-1 (7) 7-4-1 St. John's 2-1-3 (7) 5-2-37. Connecticut 3-2-0 (6) 7-4-0 Syracuse 3-3-0 (6) 5-6-0 Providence 3-4-0 (6) 4-6-110. Boston College 1-5-0 (2) 3-5-111. Pittsburgh 0-5-1 (0) 4-6-212. Villanova 0-7-0 (0) 2-9-0
WEEK IN REVIEW
IUPUI: Ryan Cox (Broadview Heights, Ohio) scored the game’s only goal at 65:56 to lift the Irish to a 1-0 victory over visiting IUPUI. The goal, the second of the season for the senior forward, was set up by freshman Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany). Notre Dame outshot the Jaguars 25-5 in the contest, but goalie Armando Fermia came up with eight saves to keep the visitors to within one goal. Irish goalkeeper Gerick Short (Mobile, Ala.) came up with three saves in the game to record his fifth shutout of the season.
Providence: Junior Dustin Pridmore (Dallas, Texas) and Erich Braun each scored two goals to lead the Irish to their third straight shutout, and sixth of the season, with a 4-0 victory over Providence. Pridmore tallied Notre Dame’s first two goals of the game, while Braun added the final two scores. Pridmore got the Irish on the scoreboard with a header 3:32 into the contest off assists from Connor LaRose (Claremont, Calif.) and Alan Lyskawa (Novi, Mich.). Pridmore’s second goal came 27 seconds into the second half off assists from Lyskawa and Andrew Aris (Auckland, New Zealand). Braun tallied his two goals within 53 seconds of each other. The first was an unassisted score at 74:08, while the second came at the 74:55 mark off an assist from Reggie McKnight (Greenville, S.C.). Short made just one save in goal, but that one proved to be noteworthy when he stopped a Michael Eisenhut penalty kick in the first half.
ROOKIE LEADS IRISH IN SCORING FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR – For the second straight year, the Irish are led in scoring by a freshman. Last year it was forward Shane Walton (now a member of the Notre Dame football team), and this season, it’s freshman forward Erich Braun. Braun has a team-leading five goals and two assists on the season for 12 points. His two goals against Providence marked the second time this season he had recorded a two-goal game (the other was seven days earlier on October 2 against Syracuse). Braun has had either a goal or an assist in Notre Dame’s last four games. In Notre Dame’s last four contests (all victories), he has scored five goals and dished off two assists.
BERTICELLI GETS 100TH CAREER WIN – With Notre Dame’s 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan on September 29, head coach Mike Berticelli earned his 100th with the Irish. His current record at Notre Dame stands at 103-75-17. 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 103-75-17 (.572) mark at Notre Dame and is 290-130-40 (.674) 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 FINDING THE GOAL – Notre Dame scored just five goals in its first eight games and was shutout in three of those contests. Recently, however, the Irish have been very productive outscoring their opponents 12-2 in their last four outings. The four goals against Providence were the second most this season as the Irish found the net five times in a 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan.
BIG EAST FEAST AGAINST FRIARS – The four goals scored by Notre Dame against Providence equaled the largest goal output for the Irish in a BIG EAST game. The four goal differential in the contest was also the largest for Notre Dame in a conference game since joining the league in 1995. In its first season as member of the BIG EAST, Notre Dame defeated Villanova 4-0 on November 3.
SERIES RECORDS VS. UPCOMING OPPONENTS
VALPARAISO: Notre Dame has won all 26 meetings between the two schools and is 11-0 in games on the road against the Crusaders. The Irish have outscored Valparaiso 32-2 the last seven times the two teams have met. Five of those contests have been shutouts. Notre Dame posted a 6-1 victory last year at home.
Villanova: Notre Dame has a 3-2 edge in the series, but has won two straight over the Wildcats, who are 0-2 at Alumni Field. Since 1995, the Irish have won three of the four meetings. Last season, Notre Dame earned a 2-1 overtime victory, the only overtime contest in the five games played.
Rutgers: Notre Dame trails 3-4 in the series. This will be just the second visit by the Scarlet Knights to Alumni Field. The Irish were victorious 1-0 two years ago when Rutgers played its first-ever game at Notre Dame. The final outcome in each of the last four games played between the two schools has resulted in 1-0 scores with each team winning twice.
LAROSE HONORED BY BIG EAST – Junior defender Connor LaRose became the third different Notre Dame player to be honored on the BIG EAST weekly honor roll when he was named the league’s defensive player of the week for his performances in shutouts against IUPUI and Providence. LaRose, who has started all 12 games in 1999, also contributed an assist, his second of the season, in the win over Providence. He assisted on Notre Dame’s first goal of the game scored by Dustin Pridmore 3:32 into the contest. LaRose has been a solid anchor to an Irish defense that has recorded three straight shutouts and six overall this season.
IRISH BACK ON THE ROAD – Notre Dame is back on the road again when the Irish travel to Valparaiso on Tuesday, October 12. Berticelli’s squad recently completed a four-game homestand in which they finished up 4-0 and outscored their opponents 12-2.
ARIS LEADS IRISH IN ASSISTS – Andrew Aris leads the team with five assists this season. In addition, he has scored a goal for seven points, which places him third on the scoring list. Alan Lyskawa is behind Aris with four assists. He added two against Providence on Saturday night.
SHORT FINALLY GETS A BREAK – After playing the first 1115:02 of the season, Irish senior goalkeeper Gerick Short was finally replaced in the net. Freshman goalkeeper Greg Tait (Fayetteville, N.Y.) entered the Providence game with 11:28 remaining in the contest. Short, in his first year as a full-time starter, started the season having played in just six games and making two starts. He has a 0.89 goals against average this season and .810 save percentage. He has made 47 saves and has five complete shutout games.
ONE-GOAL DECISIONS – Six of Notre Dame’s 12 games in 1999 have been decided by a single goal. The Irish are 4-2 in those contests. Notre Dame has posted 1-0 wins over Northwestern, Boston College, Cleveland State and IUPUI . The two one-goal losses suffered by the Irish have been in overtime as Berticelli’s squad was defeated 1-0 by Western Michigan at home and 2-1 by Connecticut on the road.
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 69 of the 72 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 (40) and Ryan Cox (33).
HOME SWEET HOME – Notre Dame finished 5-1-2 at home last season and is 6-1 in 1999 as the Irish, the only loss being a 1-0 setback in overtime to Western Michigan. This marks the 10th year for the Irish playing at Alumni Field where Notre Dame owns a 64-21-7 mark overall for a 73.4 winning percentage.
SETON HALL POSTPONEMENT – The inclement weather conditions in the Northeast 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).
NSCAA/ADIDAS (Week of October 11)
LW 1. Santa Clara 1 2. Duke 2 3. Saint Louis 3 4. Indiana 4 5. Penn State 5 6. UCLA 6 7. Wake Forest 7 8. San Diego 9 9. Maryland 12 10. Southwest Missouri 10 11. Furman 1312. Connecticut 1113. St. John's 18 14. Jacksonville 20 Virginia 1916. Rutgers NR17. Creighton 1718. Cal State Fullerton 23 19. Akron NR20. Portland 14 21. Virginia Commonwealth 822. Southern Methodist 24 23. Brown 25 Seton Hall 15 25. Cincinnati NR
SOCCER AMERICA (Week of October 11)
LW 1. Indiana 1 2. UCLA 2 3. Santa Clara 3 4. Penn State 4 5. Saint Louis 5 6. Duke 6 7. SW Missouri State 8 8. San Diego 9 9. Southern Methodist 1010. Maryland 1111. Rutgers NR12. Jacksonville 1613. Furman 1714. Wake Forest NR15. Creighton 1916. Connecticut 1317. Cal State Fullerton 2018. Virginia NR19. Portland 1420. UMBC NR
1999 NSCAA GREAT LAKES REGION RANKINGS
(Week of Oct. 10)
Pts. 1. Indiana (9-2-0) 50 2. Akron (8-3-1) 42 3. Cincinnati (7-3-1) 38 4. Oakland (9-2-1) 35 5. W. Kentucky (10-1-0) 26 6. Kentucky (8-3-0) 21 7. NOTRE DAME (7-4-1) 15 Marquette (8-5-0) 15 9. Dayton (7-4-1) 13 Michigan State (6-4-1) 13
Also receiving votes: Ohio State