October 6, 1998
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s soccer team wrapped up its six-game homestand with two more shutouts. The Irish blanked Butler 5-0 and Georgetown 8-0. Notre Dame begins a six-game road trip at Boston College and Providence this weekend.
This Week for the Irish: Notre Dame will play its first BIG EAST road games this weekend when it travels to Boston College and Providence. The Irish are 5-0-0 in the conference in five home games. Notre Dame and Boston College have met three times with the Irish winning all three games, including a 6-0 win at Boston College in 1996. The Eagles stand in fourth place in the BIG EAST with a 4-1-2 conference record and 7-3-2 mark overall. Sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Schaeffer, a three-time BIG EAST goalkeeper of the week selection, has the lowest goals against average in BIG EAST games with a 0.13 average. The Eagles have shut out six of their seven BIG EAST opponents.
The Irish have won all five meetings with the Friars with the first two wins coming prior to Notre Dame’s joining the BIG EAST. Providence enters the week with a 2-8-0 record and 2-5-0 mark in the BIG EAST, placing them eighth in the standings. Senior forward Patricia Moore leads Providence with five goals, while freshman Caitlyn Welsh has four assists. Goalkeeper Shayna Ross has made 107 saves for the Friars and is third in the country with 10.70 saves per game.
Last Week for the Irish: Four different players scored two goals each as the Irish blanked Georgetown 8-0 for its sixth consecutive shutout in six home games. Sophomore Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.), senior Monica Gerardo (Simi Valley, Calif.), junior Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) and sophomore Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) all scored a pair of goals for the Irish, who outshot the Hoyas 40-3.
Notre Dame launched 12 shots before connecting on the 13th shot of the game at 36:38. Senior Shannon Boxx (Torrance, Calif.) collected a failed clear at the top of the box and touched the ball to Heft on the left wing who scored from 10 yards out for the game-winning goal. Gerardo put the Irish ahead 2-0 at halftime when she angled a shot from the top of the box from the right wing into the lower left corner of the net at 39:40.
Heft then scored her team-leading 15th goal of the season just 19 seconds into the second half. Boxx crossed the ball past the extended goalkeeper from the right endline and found an unmarked Heft in front of the goal. Gerardo then broke the game open with the fifth goal when she volleyed in a cross from Makinen at 67:47.
Makinen and Erikson both added two goals in the final 18 minutes of the game. Makinen had two blasts from the right corner of the top of the box into the lower left corner at 72:09 and 80:36. Erikson stripped the defender of a goal kick just 12 seconds after Makinens first goal and scored at 72:21. She closed out the scoring with a volley from a cross by junior Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) at 83:47.
Notre Dame scored four goals in the first 20 minutes of the game as the Irish rolled to a 5-0 win over visiting Butler on Friday. Notre Dame outshot Butler 22-6 for the game. Erikson scored the game-winning goal for the Irish at 9:43 when she collected a loose ball from 15 yards from the left wing and angled in a shot into the right corner. Irish sophomore defender Kelly Lindsey (Omaha, Neb.) lofted a service over the backline, and Butler goalkeeper E.B. Larson knocked the ball down but was unable to control it. Erikson pounced on the ball for the score.
Streiffer made it 2-0 at 13:59 when she booted in a failed clear from an Irish corner kick. Streiffer settled the ball and scored into the upper middle of the net from 20 yards. Erikson scored her second goal of the game when she headed in a Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) corner kick at 16:25.
Boxx closed out the scoring in the first half with a blast from the top of box. Freshman Lindsey Jones (South Bend, Ind.) started the sequence with a cross over from the right endline to Streiffer on the left endline who centered the ball at the top of the box for Boxx. Heft scored at 59:55 when she tapped in a rebound from Gerardos header off the right post.
Gerardo Eyes Record: Senior forward Monica Gerardo has scored six goals this season to up her career goal total to 59. She continues to inch her way towards Cindy Daws’ school-record of 61 career goals.
Irish 39-0-1 At Alumni Field: Notre Dame extended its school-record, 40-game unbeaten streak at Alumni Field this past weekend with two more wins. Since a 5-4 loss to Connecticut in 1995, the Irish have gone 39-0-1 at Alumni Field with 30 wins by shutout and 14 wins over ranked teams. The previous streak had been a 27-game unbeaten streak from Oct. 7, 1992, to the loss to the Huskies on Oct. 6, 1992.
The six consecutive shutouts for the Irish at Alumni Field are the most since Notre Dame shut out eight consecutive teams during the 1995 and 1996 seasons. The all-time Irish home shutout record is nine set by the 1992 and 1993 teams.
World Cup Qualifying: In addition to playing key roles in Notre Dame’s lineup, Monica Gerardo and sophomore Anne Makinen have been helping Mexico and Finland in their efforts to qualify for the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Gerardo, whose Mexican heritage qualified her to join the Mexican national team, helped the Mexicans to a second-place finish at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament in September.
Following Notre Dame’s 4-0 win at Michigan State, Gerardo flew from East Lansing, Mich., to Toronto for the CONCACAF qualifying. She scored in the 2-2 tie with Trinidad and Tobago and scored two goals in an 8-0 win over Guatemala, but Canada edged Mexico 1-0 to earn the first place and a spot in the World Cup. Mexico will play a home-and-home series with Argentina later in the fall with the winner qualifying for the World Cup. Gerardo missed Notre Dame’s 7-0 win over West Virginia and 9-1 win over Pittsburgh.
Makinen traveled to Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 12 for the first game of a home-and-home series with Russia. She assisted on Finland’s only goal as Russia edged Finland 2-1. She missed Notre Dame’s 3-0 win over Duke and 5-1 loss at North Carolina. Makinen returns to Finland this weekend for the second game of the series. Finland will need to win this weekend 1-0 or win by more than two goals to qualify for the World Cup.
Head Coach Chris Petrucelli: Chris Petrucelli is in his ninth season as head coach of Notre Dame’s women’s soccer team after leading the Irish to their fourth straight NCAA championship weekend appearance in 1997. Petrucelli was named NSCAA coach of the year for the second consecutive year after guiding Notre Dame to its first NCAA women’s soccer title in 1995, becoming the first coach to win the honor two straight years. The Orange, N.J., native owns a 164-20-9 record with an .873 winning percentage that is second best among all NCAA Division I women’s soccer coaches, active and nonactive. During his eight seasons as head coach, Petrucelli has coached his players to 21 NSCAA All-America selections, including 18 since 1994, the most in the country during that span.
Corner Kick Efficiency: The ’98 Irish have been lethal on corner kicks as they have scored on 10 of their 97 corner kicks this season. Jen Grubb has taken over the corner kick duties which were handled by four-time All-American Holly Manthei from 1994-97. The combination of Grubb to Anne Makinen has connected on four of the 10 corner kicks. In 1997, Notre Dame scored on just seven of 246 corner kicks. The 1996 Irish converted on 14 of 186, with former national player of the year Cindy Daws contributing seven of those 14 goals.
Irish in Among NCAA Leaders: Notre Dame is second in the lastest NCAA national statistics in scoring offsense and shotouts per game. The Irish offense is averaging 4.64 goals per game, behind North Carolina’s 4.90 goals per game. Notre Dame’s nine shutouts in 11 games is second only to Penn’s seven shutouts in eight games and its 0.55 scoring defense is ninth in the country.
Individually, Jenny Heft is third in goals per game with 15 goals in 11 games for a 1.36 average while Anne Makinen is 16th with one goal per game. Makinen and Heft are fourth and sixth in points per game with 3.11 and 3.00, respectively. Makinen is third in assists with 10 in nine games (1.11) while Jen Grubb is sixth with 11 assists, an average of one per game.
Irish in Among BIG EAST Leaders: Notre Dame once again is leading the BIG EAST in numerous categories. In all games played, the Irish have scored the most goals (51) and recorded the most shutouts (9) and tied with Connecticut for most assists (57) and fewest goals allowed (6).
Individually, Anne Makinen and Jenny Heft are the top two scorers in BIG EAST games with 20 and 18 points each. Despite playing in just five conference games, Heft leads with eight goals in five conference games.
BIG EAST Standings (10/5)Team BIG EAST Overall 1. Connecticut 6-0-0 11-0-0 2. Notre Dame 5-0-0 10-1-0 3. Pittsburgh 5-2-0 6-5-0 4. Boston College 4-1-2 7-3-2 5. Syracuse 3-2-1 6-4-1 6. West Virginia 3-3-1 6-3-1 7. Seton Hall 2-2-1 5-3-1 8. Providence 2-5-0 2-8-0 9. Rutgers 1-2-2 3-6-210. Villanova 1-4-1 4-6-211. Georgetown 1-6-0 3-6-012. St. John's 0-6-0 1-9-0
NSCAA Top 25 (10/5)
Team Record Pts Last Wk. 1. North Carolina * 10-0-0 300 1 2. NOTRE DAME 10-1-0 280 2T 3. Santa Clara 10-0-1 277 2T 4. Connecticut * 11-0-0 268 4 5. Florida 10-0-0 253 5 6. Penn State 10-0-1 236 7 7. Portland 9-0-1 234 6 8. Vanderbilt 8-3-0 201 17 9. Stanford 6-1-2 194 1510. Dartmouth 6-1-1 192 1311. William & Mary 7-1-1 174 812. Clemson 7-3-0 154 1413. Nebraska 8-2-0 151 1914. San Diego State 8-1-0 150 10T15. Hartford 7-3-0 131 1616. Indiana * 7-3-0 119 NR17. Virginia 7-3-1 100 10T18. Northwestern 9-1-1 92 919. Texas A&M 6-4-0 91 1220. UCLA 9-1-1 86 1821T.Harvard 5-2-1 50 2221T.Wake Forest * 7-3-1 50 NR23. Baylor 8-3-0 31 NR24. Maryland 6-4-0 29 2025. BYU 8-2-0 25 NR
* indicates 1998 Notre Dame opponents
Soccer America Top 20 (10/5)
Team Record Last Week 1. North Carolina * 10-0-0 1 2. NOTRE DAME 10-1-0 2 3. Santa Clara 10-0-1 3 4. Florida 10-0-0 4 5. Connecticut * 11-0-0 5 6. Penn State 10-0-1 6 7. Portland 9-0-1 7 8. Hartford 7-3-0 10 9. UCLA 10-1-1 1210. Stanford 6-1-2 1311. Dartmouth 6-1-1 1412. Nebraska 8-2-0 1513. Clemson 7-3-0 1714. Vanderbilt 8-3-0 NR15. Texas A&M 6-4-0 1616. William & Mary 7-1-1 817. Northwestern 9-1-1 1118. Indiana * 7-3-0 NR19. San Diego State 8-1-0 1920. Virginia 7-3-2 9
* indicates 1998 Notre Dame opponents