Nov. 3, 1998

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Seniors Monica Gerardo and Shannon Boxx combined for three goals to lead the fifth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team to a 5-0 win over West Virginia in a BIG EAST championship quarterfinal game at Alumni Field on Tuesday. Boxx scored the game-winning goal at 22:01 in the first half, and Gerardo added two second-half goals to send the second-seeded Irish into the BIG EAST semifinals on Fri., Nov. 6, at Connecticut. Notre Dame will take on the winner of Wednesday’s quarterfinal game between third-seeded Syracuse and sixth-seeded Pittsburgh. The Irish improve to 17-2-1 with the win, while the Mountaineers, making their first postseason appearance in their third season of varsity soccer, end the year at 11-6-2.

Clinging to a 1-0 lead at halftime, Notre Dame scored three goals in a 15-minute span to build a 4-0 lead in the 64th minute. Junior Jenny Streiffer finished a give-and-go with Gerardo at 48:05 for a 2-0 lead. Gerardo then headed in two crosses from sophomore Laura Vanderberg and Streiffer for scores at 58:53 and 63:14. Sophomore Kerri Bakker closed out the scoring with the first goal of her career at 87:39 with a volley from a cross by freshman Lindsey Jones.

Boxx put the Irish on the board first at 22:01 with what would be the game-winning goal. Junior defender Jen Grubb served a free kick from the right endline into the box where Boxx headed in the ball from seven yards out. For Grubb, the assist was her team-leading 17th of the season after entering the week with the fifth-most assists according to the latest NCAA statistics.

Streiffer up her career totals to 51 goals and 54 assists with her goal and two assists against West Virginia after becoming just the eighth player in NCAA women’s soccer history to scored 50 goals and record 50 assists in her career last week. Gerardo upped her career total to 68 goals, already the Notre Dame record, and pushed her career-point total to 180 points, past former Irish four-time All-American Holly Manthei for second place and into 17th place in the NCAA women’s soccer recordbook. Gerardo is just nine points behind Cindy Daws’ Notre Dame record of 189 career points.

Notre Dame outshot West Virginia 17-3 in the first half and 20-1 in the second half for a 37-4 advantage in shots. The Irish took nine corner kicks, while West Virginia had none. Mountaineer goalkeeper Stacy Adams made 13 saves, including several saves from point-blank shots.

In other BIG EAST championship quarterfinal games on Tuesday, fifth-seeded Boston College beat fourth-seeded and host Seton Hall 2-1 to set up a match with top-seeded Connecticut. The Huskies blanked eighth-seeded Villanova 5-0 on Tuesday afternoon.