Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Women's Soccer Plays Host To West Virginia, Travel To Pittsburgh

Oct. 7, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The sixth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team improved to 9-2-0 and 4-0-0 in the BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division with wins over Georgetown, Villanova and 16th-ranked Michigan at Alumni Field. The Irish close out their four-game homestand with a game against West Virginia on Fri., Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Field, before traveling to Pittsburgh on Sun., Oct. 10, for a 1:00 p.m. game at Sewickley Academy.

IRISH LOOK TO CLINCH BIG EAST MID-ATLANTIC DIVISION: Notre Dame can clinch the 1999 BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division title with a win against West Virginia on Friday night. The Irish currently have a 4-0-0 division record and a win against the Mountaineers would give the Irish a head-to-head tiebreaker against Villanova and West Virginia, regardless of the outcome of Notre Dame’s game at Pittsburgh. A win would give the Irish the top seed for the Mid-Atlantic division in the BIG EAST championship and match them against the fourth seed from the Northeast division in a BG EAST quarterfinal game at Alumni Field on Tues., Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

THIS WEEKEND FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame wraps up its Mid-Atlantic division schedule with a home game against West Virginia and a road game at Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers bring a 8-4-0 record into Notre Dame and a 2-1-0 mark in Mid-Atlantic games. Sophomore Katie Barnes leads West Virginia with 10 goals and three assists for 23 points in 12 games. Sophomore goalkeeper Tara Berardi has allowed 13 goals in 12 games for a 1.18 goals against average. The game will mark the fifth meeting between the Irish and the Mountains, with Notre Dame leading the series 4-0-0.

The Irish travel to Sewickley Academy in Sewickley, Pa., to take on Pittsburgh on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Panthers enter the week with a 3-7-1 and 0-3-1 record before playing Seton Hall on Friday. Freshman Kirstin Gellatly leads Pittsburgh with five goals and one assist for 11 points, while goalkeepers Jen Huzvar and Nicole Bashor have shut out four opponents, including the last two. Notre Dame has won both previous meetings with Pittsburgh.

HEFT NAMED BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior forward Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) was named the BIG EAST Conference offensive player of the week after scoring five goals in Notre Dame’s two wins last weekend, including the game-winning goals against both Georgetown and Villanova. She scored her sixth career hat trick against Georgetown to set the Notre Dame record for career hat tricks. Against Villanova, Heft scored the game’s first two goals and her second goal gave the Irish a 2-0 lead after leading 1-0 at halftime. She shares the honor with West Virginia’s Katle Barnes. The offensive player-of-the-week award marks the third in Heft’s career after being a two-time selection in 1998. She currently leads the sixth-ranked Irish with eight goals and four assists for 20 points.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Irish used a pair of goals in each half and a pair from junior All-American Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) to beat 16th-ranked Michigan for the fourth time in three years by a 4-1 score on Tuesday at Alumni Field. Irish senior Jenny Heft opened the scoring in the 28th minute and junior forward Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.) closed out the scoring in the 73rd minute. Irish senior All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene (Gold River, Calif.) made four saves for the Irish, who recorded their 37th consecutive victory against a Big 10 team.

Notre Dame outshot Michigan 16-11 in the game and 6-3 in the first half while playing against a stiff wind. The physical first half saw the Wolverines commit five fouls before the Irish recorded their first shot in the 22nd minute on a header by senior All-American Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) that was high over the crossbar. Heft converted Notre Dame’s next shot when she won the ball at the top of the box, turned and fired a shot into the lower left corner of the net past Michigan goalkeeper Carissa Stewart for a 1-0 lead at 27:23. Makinen scored twice in a 4:30 span at the end of the first half and beginning of the second as the Irish pulled away 3-1 after Michigan scored in the 35th minute. Erikson closed out the scoring in the 73rd minute from two yards when she booted a cross from sophomore Lindsey Jones (South Bend, Ind.) that slipped through Stewart’s hands.

Heft scored the game’s first two goals to lead the Irish to a 4-0 win over Villanova in battle of unbeaten teams in the BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division on Sunday at Alumni Field. Beene and Elizabeth Wagner (Spring, Texas) combined to record Notre Dame’s third consecutive shutout and fifth consecutive against the Wildcats. Notre Dame out shot Villanova 42-4 in the contest. The Irish took a 1-0 lead into halftime after out shooting the Wildcats 21-2 in the first half. Heft made it 2-0 at 50:07 with a shot from 20 yards out on the right side that sailed into the upper right corner of the net beyond Villanova goalkeeper Janel Schillig. Erikson and senior Kara Brown (Avon, Conn.) added goals to complete the scoring.

Six different players scored as Notre Dame beat Georgetown 10-0 on Friday night at Alumni Field. Heft scored a hat trick, while senior defender Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Erikson added a pair of goals for the Irish. The 10 goals marked the most for the Irish since an 11-0 win over West Virginia on Oct. 25, 1996. Notre Dame outshot Georgetown 44-0, marking the 12th time the Irish have held an opponent without a shot and the first time since holding Seton Hall shotless on Sept. 24, 1995.

STREIFFER APPROACHES RARE 60-60 PLATEAU: All-American and two-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American Jenny Streiffer needs just four more goals to join former Irish All-American Cindy Daws as one of just four players in NCAA history to reach 60 goals and 60 assists. Streiffer became just the ninth player in NCAA women’s soccer history to score 50 goals and record 50 assists as a junior in 1998. Streiffer currently has 56 goals and 62 assists in her career.

HEFT EYES SCORING RECORD, SET HAT TRICK MARK: Thanks to a single-season school record 28 goals last year and with eight goals in ’99, senior Jenny Heft needs 11 more goals in her senior season to become just the 11th player in NCAA women’s soccer history to score 80 career goals. She entered her final year with 60 goals and 21 assists for 141 points, the seventh-most points in Irish history. Heft’s 69 goals are second most in Notre Dame history. Her 62nd goal against St. John’s moved her past Cindy Daws’ 61 goals for second place. She remains on pace to break the record of 73 career goals that Monica Gerardo set just last year.

Heft’s hat trick against Georgetown marked the sixth time in her career she scored three goals in a game, setting the Notre Dame record for career hat tricks. Monica Gerardo (1995-98) and Rosella Guerrero (1992-95) each had five hat tricks in their Irish careers. In addition to Heft, current Irish players who have recorded hat tricks are Meotis Erikson (two), Anne Makinen (three) and Jenny Streiffer (two).

MAKINEN SPARKS IRISH OFFENSE: Since junior All-American midfielder Anne Makinen missed four games from Sept. 12-19, while playing with the Finnish national team, the Irish have scored 22 goals in the five games after her return. She is third on the team in scoring with six goals, three of them gamewinners, and four assists for 16 points despite playing in just seven of 11 games. Notre Dame, who won the ’98 NCAA scoring title last year with 3.96 goals per game, entered the week third in the country in goals per game with 3.80 and has upped that to 3.82 after scoring four goals against Michigan.

IRISH VERSUS BIG 10: Notre Dame’s win against Michigan extended its winning streak against Big 10 teams to 37 games, a stretch that now spans 10 years after a 3-0 loss to Michigan State on Sept. 22, 1989. The Irish have recorded 25 shutouts in the 37 wins and have outscored their Big 10 opponents 169-16 during the winning streak, an average margin of 4.57-0.43 goals per game.

HEAD COACH RANDY WALDRUM: Randy Waldrum, a seven-year member of the United States national team coaching staff, is in his first year as head coach of the Irish after leading Baylor to the ’98 NCAA championship second round in just the third year of the program that he started in 1996. He comes to Notre Dame after being named 1998 National Soccer Coaches Association Central Region coach of the year and Big 12 Conference coach of the year. His 107-50-12 (.669) women’s soccer career record in three seasons coaching the Baylor women’s soccer program and six seasons with the Tulsa women’s soccer program has him listed 13th on the NCAA winningest coaches list by career winning percentage and 26th by wins. The Irving, Texas, native also has coached men’s teams at Tulsa, Texas Wesleyan and Austin College and boasts an overall career record of 183-105-19 in 17 total seasons before coming to Notre Dame.

THREE NAMED HERMANN TROPHY FINALISTS: Three Irish women’s soccer players have been selected as three of 15 finalists for the 1999 Hermann Trophy, to be presented December 11, in Charlotte, N.C. Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene and Jenny Streiffer and junior All-American Anne Makinen join three players from North Carolina in leading the ballot. Makinen was a finalist for the ’98 award, while Beene is the only goalkeeper among the finalists. Notre Dame has had one Hermann Trophy recipient in its history, Cindy Daws, who won the award in 1996.

BEENE CONTINUES RECORD-SETTING PACE: Irish senior All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene continues her record-setting pace in goal for Notre Dame with her 0.53 career goals against average. That average currently stands sixth-best all-time in NCAA history, just ahead of former Massachusetts goalkeeper and current U.S. national team goalkeeper Brianna Scurry’s 0.56 from 1990-93. Former Irish All-American Jen Renola stands 11th on the NCAA list and first in Irish history with a 0.69 career goals against average.

GRUBB ON THE OFFENSIVE: Irish senior All-American defender Jen Grubb’s five goals in 1999 are just one shy of the six career goals she had scored entering her senior year. Grubb scored three as a freshman, two as a sophomore and one as a junior for a total of six goals.

FROSH SPARK IRISH: Notre Dame’s class of 2003 has given the Irish major contributions in their 11 games this season. Freshmen Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) and Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) have started all 11 games. Ashley Dryer (Salt Lake City, Utah) has started the last five games and played in 10 games total, while Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) has played in eight games. Kate Morrel (Carmel, Ind.) and Emily Barnes (Redmond, Wash.) also have played in three games, with Morrel scoring her first career goal against Georgetown.

Goalkeeper Sani Post (Davis, Calif.) has played 110:54 behind LaKeysia Beene and has yet to allow a goal. She has two shared shutouts with Beene after playing the final 38:54 of Notre Dame’s 5-0 win against Butler and the entire second half against Rutgers. She also played against Duke, making two saves, including a diving save, in the 4-1 win.

IRISH NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Notre Dame leads the 1999 College Soccer Online Preseason All-America first team with four players selected to the 11-member team, more selections than any other school. Seniors LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer and junior Anne Makinen were selected to the team. Beene and Makinen also were named to Soccer America first team, with Grubb and Streiffer placed on the second team.

BIG EAST Standings

Mid-Atlantic Division

School ’99 BIG EAST ’99 overall
1. Notre Dame 4-0-0 9-2-0
2. Villanova 3-1-0 10-3-0
3. West Virginia 2-1-0 8-4-0
4. Rutgers 2-3-0 6-5-0
5. Seton Hall 1-2-0 5-6-0
6. Georgetown 0-2-1 6-5-1
7. Pittsburgh 0-3-1 3-7-1

Northeast Division

School ’99 BIG EAST ’99 overall
1. Connecticut 3-0-0 7-4-0
2. Boston College 2-1-0 8-3-0
3. Miami 1-2-0 7-4-0
4. Providence 1-2-0 3-6-0
5. Syracuse 1-1-0 7-4-1
6. St. John’s 0-2-0 7-3-1

NSCAA Top 25 (10/4)

Team Record Points Last Wk.
1. Santa Clara * 11-0-0 300 1
2. Florida 11-0-0 286 2
3. North Carolina * 9-2-0 274 3
4. Nebraska 10-1-1 267 4
5. Penn State 8-2-1 249 5
6. NOTRE DAME 8-2-0 236 6
7. Texas A&M* 10-2-0 227 8
8. UCLA 8-2-0 217 9
9. BYU 11-1-0 201 12
10. Clemson 7-3-1 188 15t
11. Hartford 7-1-2 177 13
12. Virginia 7-3-0 172 10
13. Wake Forest 7-2-0 156 11
14. USC 7-3-0 132 7
15. SMU * 8-3-0 126 25
16. Michigan* 8-2-1 118 15t
17. Connecticut* 7-4-0 98 19
18. San Diego 9-2-0 91 24
19. William & Mary 8-2-0 82 23
20. Stanford 7-3-0 65 17
21. Duke* 7-5-0 55 NR
22. Missouri 8-3-0 47 20
23. Harvard 4-1-1 39 NR
24. Kentucky 8-2-1 35 21
25. Richmond 8-3-1 29 18

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents

Soccer Times Top 25 (10/4)

Team Record Points Last Wk.
1. Santa Clara * (12) 11-0-0 300 1
2. Florida 11-0-0 286 2
3. North Carolina * 9-2-0 273 3
4. Nebraska 10-1-1 260 5
5. Penn State 8-2-1 258 4
6. Notre Dame 8-2-0 242 6
7. Texas A&M * 10-2-0 207 10t
8. UCLA 8-2-1 205 89
9. Clemson 7-3-1 186 14
10. BYU 11-1-0 172 10t
11. USC 7-3-0 167 7
12. Hartford 7-1-2 163 12
13. Virginia 7-3-0 162 9
14. Wake Forest 7-2-0 150 13
15. Stanford 7-3-0 149 15
16. Michigan * 8-2-1 105 20
17. Connecticut * 7-4-0 101 17
18. Duke * 7-5-0 84 21
19. Missouri 8-3-0 55 18
20. William & Mary 8-2-0 52 NR
21. Richmond 8-3-1 51 19
22. SMU * 8-3-0 47 NR
23. Baylor 8-4-0 46 16
24. San Diego 9-2-0 42 NR
25. Kentucky 8-2-1 40 NR

* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents