Aug. 30, 2000

HOME WEEKEND: The Notre Dame women’s soccer team (1-0-0)-which opened its season last week with a 6-0 win over Detroit-remains at home this weekend for games versus the University of Tulsa (Fri., Sept. 1, 7:30 p.m.) and BIG EAST foe Providence College (Sun., Sept. 3, 1:00 p.m.).

SERIES NOTES: Notre Dame and Tulsa will be meeting for the first time in women’s soccer while the Irish have won all six of their previous games versus Providence, including single games from 1995-98 after joining the BIG EAST (ND and PC did not meet in ’99) … the Irish own a 40-0 all-time scoring edge vs. PC, including 36-0 since joining the BIG EAST.

IN THE POLLS: Notre Dame was ranked second in the preseason National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and checks in at fourth in this week’s Soccer America poll.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE: Tulsa returns nine starters and 13 letterwinners from its 1999 team that posted an 8-10-0 overall record and finished fifth in the Western Athletic Conference (5-5-0) … top returning players for Tulsa include sophomore F Julie Twellman (9G-5A) and senior D Julie Davidson (6G-5A) … the Golden Hurricane opened last week with a pair of wins over Oklahoma (2-0) and Oklahoma State (5-0) … Twellman currently leads Tulsa in scoring with 2G-2A while senior F Kelly Noonan also has scored twice in the young season … freshman Pam Devore has played the bulk of the minutes in the nets, making seven saves while posting the pair of shutouts.

SCOUTING THE FRIARS: Providence returns seven starters and 16 letterwinners from its 1999 team that posted a 6-11-1 overall record and went 1-4-0 in the BIG EAST … PC’s top returning players include junior F Caitlyn Welsh (5G-0A), sophomore M/F Kyle McAuley (2G-2A) and senior F Melissa Crowley (2G-2A) … PC heads into the weekend with a 2-1-0 record, after opening with wins over Marist (2-0) and Iona (4-0) before losing a home game to Connecticut (4-0) … Welsh (1G-2A) and McAuley (2G) currently lead PC in scoring.

TULSA TIES: Second-year Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum was head coach of the Tulsa women’s and men’s soccer teams from 1989-94 while current Irish assistant coach Amy Edwards played at Tulsa from 1988-91 before serving as a graduate assistant women’s soccer coach at Tulsa from 1992-93 and a full-time assistant in ’94 … Edwards then was head coach at Tulsa from 1995-98 before joining Waldrum at Notre Dame prior to the 1999 season.

HOMESTANDERS: Notre Dame’s home record in 10-plus seasons at Alumni Field is 104-7-1 (.933), including an 81-3-1 mark in the last 85 games highlighted by a 27-game winning streak from 1992-95 (the fifth-longest home winning streak in NCAA women’s soccer history) … ND’s last three home losses have been at the hands of fifth-ranked Connecticut in ’95 (5-4, OT), sixth-ranked Portland in the ’98 NCAA quarterfinals (2-1) and top-rated North Carolina in the ’99 opener (3-2, OT) …the Irish carry an 11-game home winning streak into the Tulsa game … Notre Dame’s all-time record at Alumni Field versus teams not ranked in the NSCAA poll is 71-1-0, with 65 straight home wins over unranked teams dating back to a 1990 loss to Creighton (2-0) … Notre Dame played at Moose Krause Field in the program’s first two seasons (1988 and ’89) , with a home record of 19-5-1 during that span (all vs. unranked teams).

IRISH OPEN WITH 6-0 WIN OVER DETROIT: Notre Dame used a 49-2 shot margin and contributions from throughout the lineup to post a 6-0 victory over Detroit on Aug. 27 at Alumni Field, in the season opener for both teams … six Irish players recorded a goal-including scores by freshmen Amanda Guertin (Grapevine, Texas) and Randi Scheller (Kutztown, Pa.)-while senior midfielder, three-time All-American and leading national player-of-the-year candidate Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) had a hand in half of the Notre Dame goals.

ANOTHER TYPE OF SHUTOUT: Detroit nearly scored the game’s first goal during an early flurry but Notre Dame responded by holding the Titans without a shot for the game’s final 83 minutes … the final shot margin (49-2) ranks as one of the largest in Notre Dame women’s soccer history (the team record for shots in a game is 59).

WALDRUM ON THE DETROIT GAME: “We set some goals before the game in terms of things like we wanted to give up five shots or less and we wanted to score off a set piece and we did that off a corner kick. I think we met all of our goals. The disappointing thing was to have 49 opportunities like we did and to not convert more. It’s going to have to be better against better competition.”

FILLING THE VOID: Notre Dame entered the season searching for answers at several positions, after losing five starters from the 1999 NCAA runner-up squad … the starting lineup vs. Detroit featured sophomore Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) at the central defender spot formerly occupied by All-American Jen Grubb … Pruzinsky’s spot on the flank was filled by versatile senior Monica Gonzalez (Richardson, Texas)-who previously has played up front-while sophomore Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) and freshman Amy Warner (Albuquerque, N.M.) started at forward on the wings … other newcomers to the starting lineup included junior defender Lindsey Jones (South Bend, Ind.)-who started 17 games as a freshman midfielder and has taken the spot held by 2000 grad. Kara Brown-and junior midfielder Mia Sarkesian (Canton, Mich.), who shared starting time with current sophomore Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) in the ’99 season … junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Wagner (Spring, Texas) drew her first career start with the Irish but had a fairly uneventful day, with one save, two shots faced and two Detroit corner kicks … senior Kerri Bakker (Washington, N.J.) also saw significant time at central defender and remains a candidate at that position … Bakker has appeared in 29 career games at Notre Dame (with three starts) and has more experience reading the game from the central defender position while Pruzinsky is one of the quickest players and best all-around athletics on the Irish team.

VERSATILE VETERANS: Several Irish players showed their wide-ranging skills in the Detroit game … junior D Lindsey Jones streaked down the right side to set up the third Irish goal, senior D Monica Gonzalez played some quality minutes at her traditional forward spot and senior M Anne Makinen was used for a stretch in the back.

INJURY REPORT: Sophomore F Ali Lovelace started the Detroit game but did not factor into any of the scoring, after leaving the game late in the first half due to injury (her status still is being determined) … sophomore G Sani Post (Davis, Calif.) remains day-to-day as she returns from a stress fracture in her leg … Notre Dame will play during the 2000 season without the services of promising freshman Melissa Tancredi (Ancaster, Ontario), who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament during the summer (she was being considered as a candidate in the back).

DETROIT SCORING RECAP: Senior M Anne Makinen opened the scoring with her 52nd career goal (11:36), one-timing a low shot from the top of the box after a feed from senior F Meotis Erikson (Kenniwick, Wash.) … Erikson then found the net eight minutes later, turning near the top of the box and gaining separation from a pair of defenders for her 47th career goal (19:44) … junior D Lindsey Jones pushed forward down the right side to set the third goal in motion, with a cross to the far side of the box for Makinen … Detroit’s Erika Rust stopped Makinen’s shot for one of her 24 saves but junior F Kelly Tulisiak (Medina, Ohio) angled in from the left and knocked the rebound into the net for her third career goal (38:08) … freshman F Amanda Guertin scored unassisted early in the second half, after winning the ball off the backline and converting a 15-yard chip shot (50:12) … freshman F Amy Warner later carried the ball down the right side and fed freshman M Randi Scheller, who turned and scored from 12 yards (64:44) … sophomore M Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) capped the scoring with her second career goal, on a well-placed header after Makinen’s leftside corner kick.

DETROIT (0-1-0) 0 0 – 0

NOTRE DAME (1-0-0) 3 3 – 6

ND 1. Makinen (Erikson, Jones) 11:36, ND 2. Erikson (-) 19:44, ND 3. Tulisiak (Makinen) 38:08, ND 4. Guertin (-) 50:12, ND 5. Scheller (Warner) 64:44, ND 6. Mikacenic (Makinen) 82:54.

SHOTS ON GOAL: DET 2, ND 49 … SAVES: DET 26 (Rust 24, team 2), ND 2 (Wagner 1, team 1) … CORNER KICKS: DET 2, ND 14 … FOULS: DET 4, ND 9 … OFFSIDE: DET 2, ND 6.

THE NATION’S BEST TOURNAMENT: Notre Dame’s KeyBank Classic (Sept. 8, 10) ranks as the nation’s premier regular-season women’s soccer tournament and is the only Division I tournament in the 2000 season that features four teams from Soccer America’s preseason top 20: Notre Dame, Santa Clara, Stanford and Connecticut.

VIVA BRAZIL!: Notre Dame returned on Aug. 21 from a 10-day tour of Brazil, with the trip including five games versus local professional clubs … the tour provided the Irish with a chance to evaluate different options as they pertain to replacing five starters lost to graduation … senior D and team captain Kerri Bakker provided daily diary entries from the Brazil trip and they are posted on the Notre Dame website at www.und.com .

WALDRUM ON THE BRAZIL TRIP: “The trip was of tremendous value in terms of evaluating new players and seeing how they fit into the team. We still are concerned after replacing the kind of players-particularly goalscorers-that we lost to graduation. Somebody, or a group of players, needs to step up and pick up the slack in that area. This was a great year to do the tour and it eases our minds a little bit heading into the season. Having three games before the big KeyBank Classic games versus Santa Clara and Stanford also is helpful because that will allow us time to answer some of the personnel questions we have and help the new players ease into college soccer.”

RETURNING STARTERS: Notre Dame returns six starters from the 1999 team that posted a 21-4-1 record and advanced to the NCAA title game … the returning starters include senior F Meotis Erikson, All-America senior M Anne Makinen, senior D and second-year team captain Kelly Lindsey, sophomore D Vanessa Pruzinsky and sophomore midfielders Ashley Dryer (salt Lake City, Utah) and Nancy Mikacenic.

LOTS OF MIDFIELD OPTIONS: Notre Dame returns plenty of experience in the midfield, led by three-time All-American and leading national player-of-the year candidate Anne Makinen … top candidates on the outside include junior Mia Sarkesian and sophomores Ashley Dryer and Nancy Mikacenic (each of those three were starters at some point in the ’99 season) while promising freshman Randi Scheller should be in the mix as well.

CALLING ALL FINISHERS!: One of Notre Dame’s primary tasks in 2000 is replacing the firepower lost in graduates Jenny Heft (80 career goals, 20 in ’99) and Jenny Streiffer (70, 19 in ’99)-with senior M Anne Makinen (51, 13 in ’99) and senior F Meotis Erikson (46, 14 in ’99) among the top candidates to boost their goalscoring … those players combined to score the first two goals in the win over Detroit … Makinen has been urged by the coaching staff to become more selfish with her scoring opportunities and will be looking to have a season similar to her freshman campaign, when she scored 23 goals (she had 15 in ’98 and 13 in ’99).

CORNER KICKER: Despite being one of Notre Dame’s most dangerous players in the penalty box area, senior M Anne Makinen took the bulk of the corner kicks in the Detroit game and is considered the team’s top option for that role due to her strong leg and pinpoint accuracy.

“TRIPLE-A” OFFENSE OFF AND RUNNING: Notre Dame’s “triple-A combination”-sophomore Ali Lovelace and freshmen Amanda Guertin and Amy Warner-turned in an impressive debut in the win over Detroit and have provided the Irish with a new-and needed-dimension up front due to their speed … Lovelace created several chances in the first half before leaving the game shortly before halftime du to injury … Warner was a threat throughout the game, streaking down both wins and buzzing around the goalmouth (her run down the right side set up a goal by classmate Randi Scheller) … Guertin provided a spark off the bench and put her all-around skills on display, including a late goal on a 15-yard chip shot.

NEW FACES IN THE NETS: Three-year starter and Notre Dame career goals-against average leader (0.63) LaKeysia Beene has moved on to the coaching ranks as a current Irish graduate assistant, leaving the goalkeeping position open to three capable players … junior Liz Wagner made her first career start in the Detroit game while sophomore Sani Post is day-to-day as she returns from a stress fracture in her leg. … freshman Lauren Kent (Laguna Nigel, Calif.) showed surprising development during the Brazil trip and could see some game time in the earlygoing (she played the final 13 minutes of the Detroit game).

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS: The following promotional offerings are on tap for upcoming Notre Dame women’s soccer games:

* Sept. 1 vs. Tulsa – the first 500 fans will receive a schedule magnet and any fan showing a ticket from the Texas A&M football game will receive free admission.

* Sept. 3 vs. Providence – Any fan showing a ticket from the Texas A&M football game will receive free admission.

* Sept. 8 vs. Santa Clara (KeyBank Classic) – The first 500 fans will receive a mini soccer ball.

* Sept. 24 vs. Pittsburgh – The first 200 fans will receive the No. 1 and No. 2 cards in the 2000 Notre Dame women’s soccer cards series

* Sept. 29 vs. Seton Hall – The first 200 fans will receive the No. 3 and No. 4 cards in the 2000 Notre Dame women’s soccer cards series.

* Oct 1 vs. Rutgers – The first 200 fans will receive the No. 5 and No. 6 cards in the 2000 Notre Dame women’s soccer cards series