Oct. 17, 2000

NOTRE DAME, IND. — The Notre Dame men’s soccer team (5-6-1, 2-5-0) will embark on a three-game road trip this week when the Irish travel to Georgetown, Villanova and Rutgers for three crucial BIG EAST matchups. Notre Dame, coming off a stunning 1-0 upset of 10th-ranked St. John’s at home on Saturday evening (Oct. 14), will meet Georgetown on Tues., Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. The Irish then travel to Villanova for a 3:00 p.m. contest on Fri., Oct. 20 before ending their road swing with a 1:00 p.m. game against the Scarlet Knights on Sun., Oct. 22.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW St. John’s: Notre Dame pulled off the biggest upset in the first year of head coach Chris Apple’s tenure as the Irish defeated 10th-ranked St. John’s 1-0. Freshman Chad Riley’s (Houston, Texas) leaping header over St. John’s goalkeeper Jeffrey Stoklosa gave the Irish their first-ever win over the Red Storm since joining the BIG EAST in 1995.

Riley’s game-winning goal, which came off of a feed from another freshman, Justin Detter (White Lake, Mich.), came at the 82:52 mark of the contest. The win snapped a four-game conference losing streak for the Irish.

Notre Dame’s defense proved to be a key as the Irish frustrated the Red Storm all night, limiting them to eight shots overall and just three in the second half. The Irish only had two shots in the first half, but picked up the tempo and became much more aggressive offensively as they also had eight shot total in the game.

Sophomore goalkeeper Cole Straub (Oakville, Ontario) made his first career start in playing in his first-ever career game at Notre Dame. He also finished with saves in the contest which included five in the first half.

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 17-26-2. 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 Georgetown: Notre Dame leads the series 4-3-1 versus Georgetown, but has lost three straight to the Hoyas, including last year’s 3-1 setback at Alumni Field. Notre Dame is 2-1 in the games it has played at Georgetown, the lone loss came two years ago, 2-1, in 1998. Villanova: Notre Dame has won three straight over the Wildcats and leads the series 4-2. In the last three meetings between the two teams, the Irish have outscored Villanova 8-1. Since joining the BIG EAST in 1995, Notre Dame is 4-1 versus Villanova. The loss came in 1996 when the Irish dropped a 2-1 decision on the road. Rutgers: Notre Dame trails 3-6 in the series and has lost five of the last seven meetings between the two schools. The Irish have been outscored 5-0 the last three times these teams have met. Notre Dame is 1-5 in contests played at Rutgers. The lone Irish victory came in the championship game of the ’96 BIG EAST tournament when Notre Dame defeated the Scarlet Kngihts 1-0.

FORSTNER, RILEY EARN BIG EAST WEEKLY HONORS Sophomore Andreas Forstner was honored as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week and freshman Chad Riley was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week after leading the Irish to a 1-0 victory over 10th-ranked St. John’s. Riley scored the game-winning goal at the 82:52 mark of the contest off an assist from another Irish rookie, Justin Detter. Forstner was intrumental in Notre Dame’s backfield play in helping his team register its first-ever shutout of the Red Storm. He and the Notre Dame’s defense limited St. John’s to only eight shots in the contest, including just three in the second half.

RILEY TIED FOR TEAM-HIGH SCORING HONORS Chad Riley’s game-winning goal against St. John’s was the first game-winner for the Irish freshman who is tied for team-high scoring honors with two goals and a team-leading four assists (eight points). He is the only Irish rookie who has started all 12 games this season and one of only 12 four-game starters.

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. 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.

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 12 games and made 11 starts.

DETTER RECORDS FIRST MULTIPLE-GOAL GAME Freshman Justin Detter recorded the first multiple-goal game of his career, and the first by an Irish player this season, when 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 GETTING BACK IN THE SCORING GROOVE Sophomore Erich Braun, who battled a hamstring injury at the start of the season and missed the first three games, has a goal and three assists (four points) on the season in the nine games he has played. Braun tallied his first goal of the season in the loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. His goal came at the 50:22 mark of the contest when he tied the game at 1-1. He has started the last eight games for the Irish and is the fourth leading scorer.

HOWARD LEADS IRISH WITH FOUR GOALS Senior Griffin Howard (San Diego, Calif.) tallied his fourth goal of the season in Notre Dame’s loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. Howard leads the Irish in scoring with four goals, three of those coming off 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 play four of its five remaining regular-season contests on the road. Following its three-game road swing this week, the Irish will are at home against West Virginia on Fri., Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the regular-season home finale before closing out the 2000 campaign at IUPUI on Tue., Oct. 31.

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.

NOTRE DAME-RUTGERS LIVE ON THE INTERNET The Notre Dame-Rutgers contest on Sunday, Oct. 22 can be heard live via the internet at www. internetsoccer.com/handler.cfm/events, main/. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. EDT.