Sept. 22, 2000
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Freshman Amy Warner (Albuquerque, N.M.) gave Notre Dame an early 1-0 lead but her classmate Amanda Guertin (Grapevine, Texas) saved the day with a goal in the sixth minute of overtime, as the top-ranked Irish survived in a 2-1 game at West Virginia, in BIG EAST Conference women’s soccer action Friday night at the Mountaineer Soccer Complex.
Notre Dame (8-0-0)-playing its first game as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team since the current seniors were seniors in high school (1996)-outshot its opponent for the eighth time this season, 25-8, while holding an 8-2 edge in corner kicks.
West Virginia (7-2-0)-which entered the week on the fringe of the national top-25 rankings-forged a tie early in the second half, when junior forward Katie Barnes converted a penalty kick into the lower left corner, after Irish junior defender Lindsey Jones had taken down a WVU player on a crossing pass from the left wing (56:50).
Guertin’s fourth goal of the season came after a scramble for the ball in the WVU end, with Guertin dribbling down the center of the field and eluding several WVU players before striking a low shot inside the left post (95:53).
A quick counterattack gave Notre Dame its first-half lead, with sophomore midfielder Nancy Mikacenic crossing the ball from the right flank, just moments after entering the game. The speedy Warner slanted in behind the WVU defense and one-timed a leftfooted shot into the net for her sixth goal of the season (28:18).
“We knew that West Virginia would be a tough team to break down and we also had some concern with fatigue after the tough stretch of games and travel we’ve experienced during the past two weeks,” said second-year Irish head coach Randy Waldrum, whose squad just completed a stretch of four games versus teams currently ranked in the top 25 before enduring a 15-hour return trip from Portland, Ore. (via Dallas due to a canceled flight, followed by an early-morning bus trip from Chicago).
“We had several chances to break open the game but just weren’t sharp enough when we needed to be. We had strong play from our central defenders and our goalkeeper and Nancy provided a good spark off the bench, but we need to have more consistency throughout the lineup in order to win these type of games.”
WVU sophomore goalkeeper Melissa Haire kept her squad in the game with 10 saves and several other plays that broke up Irish scoring chances.
Notre Dame junior goalkeeper Liz Wagner saw her shutout streak end at 285 minutes, when Barnes scored on the penalty kick for her seventh goal of the season. Aside from that PK score, Wagner has not allowed a “traditional” goal in her last 318 minutes of action.
The Irish return to Alumni Field for a game on Sunday versus Pittsburgh, in doubleheader action with the Notre Dame men’s soccer team (the men face UConn at 1:00 p.m., followed by the Irish women and the Panthers at 3:00).
GAME NOTES: Notre Dame appeared to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Meotis Erikson midway through the first half but the goal was waved off due to an offside call … WVU’s Christy Abbott sent a 40-yard shot on goal with 12 minutes to play but Wagner picked the ball out of the air for the save … ND then had a combination play that led to a header chance but Haire was there for the save, before making another stop moments later … ND had consecutive corner kicks with five minutes to play but failed to convert … Warner and Guertin have provided a spark to the young ND offense, as the freshman duo has combined to score 10 of the 29 Irish goals this season … Makinen was held without a point for just the second time this season … ND leads the all-time series with WVU 6-0-0, but the previous five games had included a 31-1 Irish scoring edge (with the closest game being 3-0) … ND now owns a 219-48 shot edge for the season (27-6 average) and a 61-21 corner kick edge (8-3 average) … the Irish have allowed just 26 shots on goal (3.3 per game) while attempting 130 (16.3 per game).
WEST VIRGINIA (7-2-0) 0 1 0 – 1
#1 NOTRE DAME (8-0-0) 1 0 1 – 2
ND 1. Amy Warner 6 (Nancy Mikacenic) 28:18
WVU 1. Katie Barnes (penalty kick) 56:50
ND 2. Amanda Guertin 4 (unassisted) 95:53.
Shots: ND 25, WVU 8.
Saves: ND 4 (Liz Wagner 3, team 1), WVU 12 (Melissa Haire 10, team 2).
Corner Kicks: ND 8, WVU 2.
Fouls: ND 10, WVU 8.
Offsides: ND 1, WVU 1.
Yellow Card: Kelly Lindsey (ND, third of season) 27:21.