October 16, 1998
STORRS, Conn. – The second-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team scored seven minutes into the game but could not score again in the next 113 minutes as the Irish played to a 1-1 at fourth-ranked Connecticut. The Irish outshot the Huskies 29-18 in the game but hit the post three times. The tie snaps Notre Dame’s 36-game BIG EAST winning streak, dating back to a 5-4 overtime loss to Connecticut in 1995. Notre Dame falls to 12-1-1 and 7-0-1 in the BIG EAST while Connecticut is 12-0-2, 6-0-1.
Notre Dame junior forward Jenny Heft put the Irish on the board first when she scored her 18th goal of the season at 7:00. Junior defender Kara Brown lofted a pass from just beyond midfield from the left side over the Connecticut defense to Heft inside the box on the right side. Heft fired a shot which skimmed off the left post into the right corner of the net.
Connecticut’s freshman Mary-Frances Monroe tied the game at 29:52 when she won the ball just beyond midfield and drove to the goal, firing a shot just inside the box into the lower right corner of the net.
Sophomore midifielder Anne Makinen hit Notre Dame’s second post of the first half in the 37th minute. Makinen fired a free kick from 20 yards at the top of the box square off the right post. The Irish hit their third post of the game just two minutes into overtime when Heft headed the ball off the right post from two yards.
Notre Dame outshot UConn 7-4 in overtime. The tie is the first for the Irish since a 2-2 draw with North Carolina on Sept. 19, 1997, when lightning halted play 71 minutes into the game. The overtime game was the first for the Irish since losing 1-0 to North Carolina in the 1996 NCAA championship game.
Both teams had chances to score in the first five minutes of the game. Husky sophomore Jen Carlson shot from the right wing past Irish junior goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene but unto to the foot of Irish junior defender Kara Brown, who blocked the ball on the line near the left post. Notre Dame senior forward Monica Gerardo hit the left post from the top of the box on Notre Dame’s first shot of the game.
The Irish entered the game with the highest scoring offense in the country with a 4.77 scoring average through 13 games. The Huskies were third with 4.15 goals per game. Notre Dame’s defense with fifth in the country with a 0.54 goals against average, while Connecticut was eighth with a 0.60 goals against average.
Notre Dame returns to action on Sun., Oct. 18, at Seton Hall.