October 9, 1998

NATICK, Mass. — Notre Dame womens soccer senior forward Monica Gerardo (Simi Valley, Calif/Simi Valley) tied the Irish career goals record with two goals on Friday as second-ranked Notre Dame beat Boston College 3-1 at rainy Natick High School. Gerardo scored the first two goals of the game to bring her season goal total to eight and career total to 61, matching the 61 goals former All-American and national player of the year Cindy Daws scored from 1993-96. The win improved Notre Dame to 11-1-0 and 6-0-0 in the BIG EAST while Boston College fell to 7-4-2, 4-2-2.

The record is something Monica really deserves, said Irish head coach Chris Petrucelli. She has been a player that scored goals for us as soon as she came to our campus four years ago. It is not that Monica just scores goals, she scores big goals, like she did today.

It is a great honor to match such an incredible accomplishment, said Gerardo. To be able to score as many goals as a player of Cindys caliber is hard to believe.

Notre Dame outshot Boston College 29-1 as the Eagles were content to play with just one forward and clog Notre Dames scoring opportunities on the narrow football field at Natick High School. The Irish outshot the Eagles 13-0 in the first half but went into halftime with a 0-0 score. Gerardos two goals opened the game up as Notre Dame outshot Boston College 16-1 in the second half.

Gerardo scored her 60th goal and the first of the game at 53:44 with a header from 10 yards out that skimmed off the left post and into the right corner of the net. Junior Jenny Streiffer made a run down the right sideline and beat the defense to the corner. She dribbled along the right endline before finding Gerardo who finished to put Notre Dame ahead 1-0.

Gerardo tied Daws record at 65:53 with a blast from 20 yards out. Sophomore Meotis Erikson centered the ball to Gerardo from the left sideline, and Gerardo found an opening just behind the top of the right corner of the box. She fired a shot into the upper left corner past the helpless Boston College goalkeeper for what would be the game-winning goal.

Boston College scored on its only shot the game at 85:29 when Meghan Moore lofted a ball from the right endline that fell into the left corner of the net to cut Notre Dames lead to 2-1. Streiffer and the Irish struck right back just 1:02 later at 86:31 when junior defender Kara Brown found Streiffer at the top of the box. Streiffers shot deflected off a Boston College defender and into the right corner of the net for the final 3-1 score.

The Irish defense allowed just one shot but had its shutout streak end at six games. The one shot was the fewest Notre Dame had allowed since outshooting Michigan 44-1 in a 5-0 win on Oct. 31, 1997.

Notre Dame continues its BIG EAST road trip at Providence on Sun., Oct. 11, at 1:00 p.m.