May 2, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Home games with Santa Clara and Stanford, a road trip to Portland and the BIG EAST Championship at Alumni Field highlight the 2000 Notre Dame women’s soccer schedule, head coach Randy Waldrum announced Tuesday. The Irish will begin the 2000 season with their earliest season opener ever when Detroit visits Alumni Field on Sun., Aug. 27, for a 1:00 p.m. game.

“We are really excited about the high level of teams on our 2000 schedule,” said 1999 BIG EAST coach of the year Randy Waldrum. “We will be playing another difficult schedule against a number of NCAA championship or ranked teams. Our home schedule should be really exciting for our fans with teams like Connecticut, Santa Clara and Stanford coming to Alumni Field, in addition to the BIG EAST Championship.”

The nine-game BIG EAST schedule features six games against Mid-Atlantic division opponents and three cross-divisional games against Northeast opponents will comprise the conference schedule. The Irish will play host to Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Boston College and travel to West Virginia, Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse and Connecticut. Five-time defending champion Notre Dame will be the host of the BIG EAST Championship on Fri., Nov. 3, and Sun., Nov. 5. The Irish first played host to the event in 1996.

Notre Dame’s adidas/KeyBank Classic will feature Santa Clara and Stanford – two teams the Irish defeated on their way to the 1999 NCAA championship game — in addition to BIG EAST rival Connecticut. The Huskies and Cardinal will meet in the opening game at 5:00 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 8, with the Irish and Broncos to follow at 7:30 p.m. Santa Clara and Connecticut will play at 11:00 a.m. on Sun., Sept. 10, before Notre Dame and Stanford wrap up the weekend at 1:00 p.m.

The Irish make their first trip to Portland since 1997 where they will play Washington in addition to the host Pilots. First-time opponents Tulsa and Yale, also the first-ever Ivy League opponent for the Irish, and regional opponent Michigan round out the non-conference schedule.

The 13th season of women’s soccer at Notre Dame will see the Irish play four teams that made the NCAA tournament last year, including semifinalist Santa Clara. The Irish coming off a 21-4-1 season in which they won their fifth consecutive BIG EAST championship and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA tournament for fourth time in last six years.

Day Date Opponent Location Time

Sun. Aug. 27 DETROIT Alumni Field 1:00 p.m.

Fri. Sept. 1 TULSA Alumni Field 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Sept. 3 PROVIDENCE * Alumni Field 1:00 p.m.

Fri. Sept. 8 Connecticut vs. Stanford Alumni Field 5:00 p.m.

Notre Dame vs. Santa Clara Alumni Field 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Sept. 10 Connecticut vs. Santa Clara Alumni Field 11:00 a.m.

Notre Dame vs. Stanford Alumni Field 1:00 p.m.

Sat. Sept. 16 vs. Washington Portland, Ore. 12:00 p.m.

Sun. Sept. 17 at Portland Portland, Ore. 2:15 p.m.

Fri. Sept. 22 at West Virginia * Morgantown, W.V. 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Sept. 24 PITTSBURGH * Alumni Field 3:00 p.m.

Fri. Sept. 29 SETON HALL * Alumni Field 5:30 p.m.

Sun. Oct. 1 RUTGERS * Alumni Field 1:00 p.m.

Fri. Oct. 6 at Georgetown * Washington, D.C. 4:00 p.m.

Sun. Oct. 8 at Villanova * Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m.

Fri. Oct. 13 BOSTON COLLEGE * Alumni Field 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Oct. 15 at Syracuse * Syracuse, N.Y. 1:00 p.m.

Wed. Oct. 18 at Yale New Haven, Conn. 7:00 p.m.

Sat. Oct. 21 at Connecticut * Storrs, Conn. 1:00 p.m.

Tues. Oct. 24 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. 3:00 p.m.

Fri.-Sun. Oct. 27-29 BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals TBA TBA

Fri.-Sun. Nov. 3-5 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP Alumni Field TBA

Wed. Nov. 8 NCAA first round TBA TBA

Sat.-Sun. Nov. 11-12 NCAA second round TBA TBA

Fri.-Sun. Nov. 17-19 NCAA third round TBA TBA

Fri.-Sun. Nov. 24-26 NCAA quarterfinals TBA TBA

Fri.-Sun. Dec. 1-3 NCAA Women’s College Cup San Jose, Calif. TBA

* indicates BIG EAST Conference game.

Caps indicates home game.

All times are local.