Sept. 30, 1998

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s soccer team continued its six-game homestand with two more shutouts this weekend with 3-0 wins over Indiana and 25th-ranked Wake Forest. The Irish wrap up their homestand this weekend when they play host to Butler and Georgetown.

This Week for the Irish: Notre Dame continues its non-conference schedule when it renews its rivalry with old Midwestern Collegiate Conference foe Butler on Fri., Oct. 2, at Alumni Field. The Bulldogs enter the game with a 4-5-0 record after beating New Mexico 2-0 on Tuesday. Joy Aschenbrener leads Butler with six goals and is the all-time leading goal scorer in Butler history with 36 goals.

Notre Dame has won all seven meetings with Butler but the teams have not met since 1995. The Bulldogs will be making just their fourth trip to Alumni Field.

The Irish begin a stretch of five consecutive BIG EAST games on Sun., Oct. 4, when Georgetown makes its second visit to Alumni Field. Notre Dame has won all three previous games against the Hoyas.

Last Week for the Irish: Irish junior forward Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) scored a hat trick as the third-ranked Irish women’s soccer team blanked 25th-ranked Wake Forest 3-0 in the final game of the KeyBank Soccer Classic at Alumni Field. The Irish outshot the Deacons 30-6 in the game. Heft first scored at 24:43 to put Notre Dame up 1-0. Junior All-American Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) chipped a pass over the Deacons back line to Heft from 12 yards on the right wing who punched the ball past a charging Regan into the lower left corner of the net.

On the second goal, freshman midfielder Mia Sarkesian (Canton, Mich.) passed to Heft over the backline of Wake Forest, and Regan attempted to intercept the ball in the air. The ball slipped out of Regan’s hands, and Heft pounced with a header into the open at 52:27. She completed her hat trick at 85:28 following a corner kick by junior All-American defender Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) to the far post and a header by senior midfielder Shannon Boxx (Torrance, Calif.) to the near post, where Heft volleyed in the final goal of the game.

Sophomore All-American midfielder Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) scored twice to lead the third-ranked Irish women’s soccer to a 3-0 win over Indiana on Friday at the KeyBank Soccer Classic. The Irish outshot the Hoosiers 22-3 but found the net just three times. Makinen scored twice on corner kicks from Grubb. Her first goal came at 34:10 when she volleyed in a corner kick for a 1-0 lead. Heft scored next when sophomore Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.) stripped the Hoosiers of the ball and dished to Heft who dribbled through the Indiana backline at 35:48.

Makinen scored the final goal when she a headed a Grubb corner kick to the far post into the net at 79:08. The win marked Notre Dame’s ninth consecutive victory over Indiana and its 33rd straight win over a Big 10 team, dating back to a 1989 loss to Michigan State.

Gerardo Eyes Record: Senior forward Monica Gerardo (Simi Valley, Calif.) has scored four goals this season to up her career goal total to 57. She continues to inch her way towards Cindy Daws’ school-record of 61 career goals.

Corner Kick Efficiency: The ’98 Irish have been lethal on corner kicks as they have scored on nine of their 81 corner kicks this season. Jen Grubb has taken over the corner kick duties which were handled by four-time All-American Holly Manthei from 1994-97. The combination of Grubb to Anne Makinen has connected on four of the nine corner kicks. In 1997, Notre Dame scored on just seven of 246 corner kicks. The 1996 Irish converted on 14 of 186, with former national player of the year Cindy Daws contributing to seven of those 14 goals.

Head Coach Chris Petrucelli: Chris Petrucelli is in his ninth season as head coach of Notre Dame’s women’s soccer team after leading the Irish to their fourth straight NCAA championship weekend appearance in 1997. Petrucelli was named NSCAA coach of the year for the second consecutive year after guiding Notre Dame to its first NCAA women’s soccer title in 1995, becoming the first coach to win the honor two straight years. The Orange, N.J., native owns a 162-20-9 record with an .872 winning percentage that is second best among all NCAA Division I women’s soccer coaches, active and nonactive. During his eight seasons as head coach, Petrucelli has coached his players to 21 NSCAA All-America selections, including 18 since 1994, the most in the country during that span.

Grubb, Heft Earns BIG EAST Honors: Jen Grubb was named BIG EAST defensive player of the week for the third of four weeks this season and for the fifth time in her career. The BIG EAST preseason defensive player of the year had more three assists, two against Indiana and one against Wake Forest.

Heft was named BIG EAST offensive player of the after her four-goal performance this weekend. She recorded her second career hat trick against Wake Forest.

Poll Position: Notre Dame has moved into a tie for second place with Santa Clara in the weekly National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll after being ranked third in each of the last two polls. After losing at North Carolina on Sept. 13, the Irish had slipped to third and remained there for two weeks. The No. 3 ranking marked the first time Notre Dame had been ranked out of the top two spots for the first time since the final poll of the 1995 season when the Irish finished fourth before going on to win the NCAA championship.

Irish in Among NCAA Leaders: Notre Dame also is tied with Santa Clara for second in the latest NCAA statistics with 0.78 shutouts per game, each with seven shutouts in nine games. As a team, the Irish are fourth in scoring offense and 15th in goal against average. Individually, Anne Makinen is tied for first in assists per game with 1.14 assists per game, while Jen Grubb is sixth with one assist per game. Meotis Erikson is tied for 17th with 0.78. Jenny Heft is tied for fifth in goals per game with 1.33 and ninth with three points per game. Makinen is eighth with 3.14 points per game.

Irish Alumni Weekend: Notre Dame will welcome back more than 30 former Irish women’s soccer player this weekend, Oct. 2-4, in a “Past Meets the Present” reunion. The reunion will celebrate the first decade of women’s soccer at Notre Dame and the recent successes of the NCAA participant teams as well as recognize the founding teams which forged the path for later successes. The former players will be honored at halftime of the Notre Dame-Butler women’s soccer game on Fri., Oct. 2, and at halftime of the Notre Dame-Stanford football game on Oct. 3. Other activities will include a 9:00 a.m. alumni game on Saturday and a Saturday night banquet with the ’98 Irish women’s soccer team.

Irish vs. Big 10: After the 3-0 win against Indiana, Notre Dame extended its winning streak against Big 10 team to 33, beginning with a 4-1 win against the Hoosiers in 1989. Irish head coach Chris Petrucelli is 31-0-0 against the Big 10 since taking over as the reigns at Notre Dame. The Irish have recorded 23 shutouts in the 33 wins and have outscored their Big 10 opponents 156-14 during the winning streak.

BIG EAST Picks Notre Dame First: The Irish have been picked to win their third straight BIG EAST regular season title in a preseason poll of the 12 BIG EAST coaches. Notre Dame picked up 10 first-place votes, while Connecticut garnered the other two votes. The Irish have won the last two regular season titles and all three BIG EAST tournaments since joining the conference in 1995. In 1997, Notre Dame beat Connecticut 1-0 to win the regular season title and 6-1 in the BIG EAST championship final to win the tournament title.

The Irish received individual preseason honors from the BIG EAST as junior LaKeysia Beene (Gold River, Calif.) has been selected preseason goalkeeper of the year and Grubb preseason defensive player of the year. Notre Dame accounted for six of the 11 players voted to the preseason all-BIG EAST team. In addition to Beene and Grubb, Shannon Boxx, sophomore forward Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.), Anne Makinen and Jenny Streiffer have been voted preseason all-BIG EAST.

September   Tues.   1   at Michigan State                W, 4-0   Fri.    4   West Virginia *                  W, 7-0   Sun.    6   Pittsburgh *                     W, 9-1   Fri.   11   vs. #14 Duke (Chapel Hill, N.C.) W, 3-0   Sun.   13   at #1 North Carolina             L, 1-5   Fri.   18   Rutgers *                        W, 3-0   Sun.   20   Villanova *                      W, 5-0Key Bank Classic
Friday, September 25 Missouri vs. Wake Forest   WF, 4-1 Indiana at Notre Dame       W, 3-0
Sunday, September 27 Indiana vs. Missouri            UM, 3-2 #25 Wake Forest at Notre Dame   W, 3-0
October   Fri.    2   Butler   7:30 p.m.   Sun.    4   Georgetown *   1:00 p.m.   Fri.    9   at Boston College *   3:00 p.m.   Sun.   11   at Providence *   1:00 p.m.   Fri.   16   at UConn * (Hartford, Conn.)   7:00 p.m.   Sun.   18   at Seton Hall *   1:00 p.m.   Fri.   23   at Michigan   4:00 p.m.   Sun.   25   at St. John's *   2:00 p.m.   Fri.   30   WISCONSIN   5:00 p.m.
November   Sun.      1   syracuse *   1:00 p.m.Tues.-Wed. 3-4   BIG EAST Champ. quarterfinalsFri.-Sun. 7-9    at BIG EAST Championship
* BIG EAST Conference matchAll times are localBold CAPS denotes home matchAll home matches played at Alumni Field
BIG EAST Standings
         Team            BIG EAST  Overall    1.   Notre Dame      4-0-0     6-1-0    1.   Connecticut     4-0-0     9-0-0    3.   Pittsburgh      4-1-0     5-4-0    4.   Syracuse        3-1-1     6-2-1    4.   Boston College  3-1-1     5-3-1    6.   West Virginia   3-2-0     5-2-0    7.   Seton Hall      2-1-1     5-1-1    8.   Rutgers         1-2-1     2-6-1    9.   Villanova       1-4-0     4-4-1   10.   Providence      1-4-0     1-7-0   11.   Georgetown      1-5-0     2-5-0   12.   St. John's      0-5-0     1-8-0     NSCAA Top 25 (9/28)            Team              Record   Points   Last Wk.   1.    North Carolina *   8-0-0   300   1  2T.    NOTRE DAME         8-1-0   278   2  2T.    Santa Clara        8-0-1   278   2   4.    Connecticut *      9-0-0   270   4   5.    Florida            8-0-0   252   5   6.    Portland           7-0-1   238   6   7.    Penn State         8-0-1   232   7   8.    William & Mary     7-0-1   216   8   9.    Northwestern       8-0-1   190   11 10T.    San Diego State    7-1-0   172   16 10T.    Virginia           6-2-1   172   13  12.    Texas A&M          5-3-0   161   10  13.    Dartmouth          4-1-1   154   15  14.    Clemson            5-3-0   150   12  15.    Stanford           5-1-2   133   19  16.    Hartford           5-3-0   128   18  17.    Vanderbilt         7-2-0   104   17  18.    UCLA               7-1-1   76     9  19.    Nebraska           6-2-0   72    21  20.    Maryland           6-3-0   69    NR  21.    Wisconsin *        5-3-0   61    NR  22.    Harvard            4-2-0   47    24  23.    Georgia            6-2-0   31    22 24T.    George Mason       7-2-0   30     2 24T.    Michigan *         6-2-1   30    NR   * indicates 1998 Notre Dame opponents      Soccer America Top 20 (9/28)             Team               Record   Last Week    1.    North Carolina *   8-0-0   1    2.    NOTRE DAME         8-1-0   3    3.    Santa Clara        8-0-1   2    4.    Florida            8-0-0   4    5.    Connecticut *      9-0-0   5    6.    Penn State         8-0-1   6    7.    Portland           7-0-1   7    8.    William & Mary     7-0-1   8    9.    Virginia           6-2-1   10   10.    Hartford           5-3-0   11   11.    Northwestern       8-0-1   12   12.    UCLA               7-1-1   9   13.    Stanford           5-1-2   15   14.    Dartmouth          4-1-1   13   15.    Nebraska           6-2-0   14   16.    Texas A&M          5-3-0   16   17.    Clemson            5-3-0   18   18.    Harvard            4-2-0   19   19.    San Diego State    7-1-0   20   20.    Maryland           6-3-0   NR   * indicates 1998 Notre Dame opponents