Sept. 13, 1998
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Top-ranked North Carolina scored five straight goals and outshot second-ranked Notre Dame 33-3 on its way to a 5-1 win in front of 6,024 fans at the Tar Heels’ Fetzer Field, the largest regular-season crowd in school history. Monica Gerardo put the Irish on the board just 55 seconds into the contest when she headed in a Jen Grubb corner kick.
The Tar Heels rallied with two goals in the first half and three more in the second half for the win. The Irish played the game without their All-American midfielder Anne Makinen, who was in Russia for the weekend with the Finnish national team in a World Cup qualifying game.
“They were the better team,” said Notre Dame head coach Chris Petrucelli. “It is a hard loss to take because they just dominated the game. We just booted the ball. We didn’t play soccer the way that I know we are capable of playing.”
The Irish fall to 4-1-0 with the loss, the worst loss since North Carolina beat Notre Dame 5-0 in the 1994 NCAA championship game. North Carolina improves to 4-0-0 with the win. The loss is Notre Dame’s first regular-season loss since a 3-1 loss at Santa Clara on Oct. 13, 1996. The Irish return to action when they play host to Rutgers on Fri., Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
After Gerardo netted the first goal of the game, North Carolina came back to tie the game when Meredith Florance collected a loose ball at the top of the box and fired a shot into the upper left corner of the net. Jena Klugel put the Tar Heels ahead for good with a goal just eight second before halftime.
Rebekah McDowell, Raven McDonald and Anne Remy scored second-half goals for North Carolina. Irish All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene made a career high 12 saves.
#2 Notre Dame 1 0 -1#1 North Carolina 2 3 -5
UND: Monica Gerardo (Jen Grubb) 0:55UNC: Meredith Florance (Unassisted) 17:36UNC: Jena Kluegel (Rakel Karvelsson) 44:52UNC: Rebekah McDowell (Jena Kluegel, Cindy Parlow) 57:35UNC: Raven McDonald (Rakel Larvelsson) 78:39UNC: Anne Remy (Helen Lawler) 88:52Shots: UND 3, UNC 33Corner Kicks: UND 2, UNC 11Fouls: UND 12, UNC 18Offsides: UND 2, UNC 1Goalie Saves: LaKeysia Beene (UND) 12, Siri Mullinix (UNC) 2Back Saves: Jenny Streiffer (UND) 1Yellow Cards: Notre Dame Head Coach Chris Petrucelli 44:50, Monica Gerardo (UND) 44:52Records: Notre Dame 3-1-0, North Carolina 4-0-0Attendance: 6,024