Oct. 19, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The sixth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team fell to 11-3-0 with a 4-2 loss at top-ranked Santa Clara on Sunday, Oct. 17. The Irish complete their 1999 regular-season home schedule with a pair of BIG EAST cross-divisional games against eighth-ranked Connecticut and Miami.
BIG EAST Standings
Mid-Atlantic Division
School '99 BIG EAST '99 overall1. Notre Dame * 6-0-0 11-3-02. Villanova # 4-2-0 11-6-03. Seton Hall # 3-3-0 8-7-04. Georgetown # 2-3-1 8-6-15. West Virginia 2-4-0 8-8-16. Rutgers 2-4-0 7-8-07. Pittsburgh 1-4-1 5-9-1
Northeast Division
School '99 BIG EAST '99 overall1. Connecticut * 5-0-0 11-4-02. Syracuse # 3-1-1 9-5-03. Boston College # 2-2-0 9-5-04. Miami # 2-3-0 9-6-05. Providence 1-4-0 5-8-06. St. John's 0-3-1 8-4-2
* clinched division title
# clinched championship berth
THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame concludes its 1999 regular-season home schedule with a pair of BIG EAST Conference cross divisional games at Alumni Field. The Mid-Atlantic division champion Irish will take on Northeast division champion and eighth-ranked Connecticut on Friday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m., in the 11th meeting between the two teams. Notre Dame leads the series 7-2-1, with the last meeting a 1-0 Irish win at Connecticut in the 1998 BIG EAST Championship game. The Huskies enter the game with an 11-4-0 record and, after starting the season 0-4-0, have won 11 straight consecutive games, the fourth-longest active streak in the country. Connecticut will be making its second trip to Notre Dame after losing to Duke and North Carolina in season-opening games at the KeyBank Soccer Classic at Alumni Field. Sophomore Mary-Frances Monroe leads Connecticut with nine goals, while junior Jen Carlson has six goals and 10 assists for 22 points.
The Irish will play Miami for the first time on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 12:00 p.m. at Alumni Field. The Hurricanes enter the week with a 9-6-0 record and will play Pittsburgh on Friday before travelling to Notre Dame. Alison McWhinney leads Miami with eight goals and five assists for 21 points.
NOTRE DAME-MIAMI PART II: Just nine days after Sunday’s game between the Irish and Hurricanes, Miami will return to Alumni Field to meet the four-time defending BIG EAST champion Irish in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST championship at 7:30 p.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Notre Dame claimed the BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic division title with a 6-0-0 record to set up its game with Miami, the fourth-place team from the Northeast division. The Irish averaged 5.33 goals per game in the six wins, outscoring their Mid-Atlantic opponents 32-3. The complete pairings are as follows:
Game 1: #4 NE Miami at #1 MA Notre Dame
Game 2: #3 MA Seton Hall at #2 NE Syracuse
Game 3: #3 NE Boston College at #2 MA Villanova
Game 4: #4 MA Georgetown at #1 NE Connecticut
Game 5: Games 1 and 2 winners (semifinal)
Game 6: Games 3 and 4 winners (semifinal)
Game 7: Games 5 and 6 winners (final)
IRISH FALL TO NO. 1 SANTA CLARA: The Irish allowed four goals in a 9:19 span in the first 20:39 of the game in a 4-2 loss at top-ranked Santa Clara on Sunday in front of 4,051 fans. The Broncos’ Aly Wagner scored twice and Mandy Clemens and Devvyn Hawkins each added goals during the scoring spree. Senior Jen Grubb (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and junior Anne Makinen (Helsinki, Finland) scored second-half goals for the Irish. After falling behind 4-0 in the first half, Notre Dame regrouped in the second half. Junior Meotis Erikson (Kennewick, Wash.) nearly gave Notre Dame’s its first goal in the third minute of the second half but her header bounced off the crossbar. Makinen put the Irish on the board at 65:04 when freshman Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) beat Bronco defender Danielle Slaton around the top of the right corner of the box and served the ball to Makinen, who scored from eight yards out into the lower right corner of the net. Grubb pulled Notre Dame within 4-2 when she blasted a free kick from the top left corner of the box into the upper corner of the net at 68:43. Santa Clara’s defense kept the Irish out of the net the rest of the way after Grubb’s goal as the Broncos won for the 25th straight time at Buck Shaw Stadium.
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.
STREIFFER ONE GOAL FROM 60-60 PLATEAU: All-American and two-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American Jenny Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) needs one goal to join former Irish All-American Cindy Daws (1993-96), UC Santa Barbara’s Carin Jennings (1983-86) and North Carolina’s Mia Hamm (1989-90, 1992-93) in becoming the only players in NCAA women’s soccer history to score at least 60 goals and assist on 60 goals. Her two goals and one assist against Pittsburgh brought her career totals to 59 goals and 64 assists for 182 points, behind only Monica Gerardo (190) and Daws (189) on the Notre Dame career scoring list. Streiffer scored against West Virginia on Friday to move into third place, ahead of the 176 points of four-time All-American Holly Manthei (1994-97).
HEFT ONE GOAL FROM IRISH SCORING RECORD: Senior forward Jenny Heft (Germantown, Wis.) needs just one goal to tie Monica Gerardo’s (1995-98) Notre Dame school record of 73 career goals. Heft scored her 69th and 70th against Michigan and West Virginia before scoring twice against Pittsburgh to move within one goal of Gerardo. Heft, who has 12 goals in 13 games in ’99, scored an Irish single-season record 28 goals in 1998 to enter her senior year with 60 goals.
Heft’s hat trick against Georgetown on Oct. 1, 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 34 goals in the eight games after her return. She is tied for third on the team in scoring with eight goals, four of them gamewinners, and five assists for 18 points, despite playing in just 10 of 14 games. Makinen has at least one point in the last nine games she has played, just two games short of tying the school record of 11. After no points against North Carolina in the season opener, Makinen scored against Duke prior to her four-game absence. She has seven goals and five assists for 19 points in those eight games since her return.
BEENE CONTINUES RECORD-SETTING PACE: Irish senior All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene continues her record-setting pace in goal for Notre Dame with her 0.59 career goals against average. That average currently stands tied for eighth-best all-time in NCAA history, just behind 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 MATCHES GOAL TOTAL: Irish senior All-American defender Jen Grubb’s six goals in 1999 equal 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. She also has four assists to go along with her five goals for 16 points, placing her fifth on the team in scoring.
FROSH SPARK IRISH: Notre Dame’s class of 2003 has given the Irish major contributions this season. Freshmen Nancy Mikacenic (Seattle, Wash.) and Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) have started all 14 games. Mikacenic scored the game-winning goal against Butler and has five assists. Pruzinsky has assisted on three Irish goals. Ashley Dryer has started six games and played in 13 games total with six assists, while Ali Lovelace (Dallas, Ga.) has played in 11 games and recorded her first career point with an assist against Santa Clara. Kate Morrel (Carmel, Ind.) and Emily Barnes (Redmond, Wash.) also have played in four games, with Morrel scoring her first career goal against Georgetown and adding an assist against West Virginia.
Goalkeeper Sani Post (Davis, Calif.) has played 135:42 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.
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.
FOUR NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS: Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer and junior All-American Anne Makinen have been named four of the 15 finalists for the ninth annual Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Collegiate Player of the Year award. Notre Dame leads all schools with four players among the finalists, while North Carolina, with two players, is the only other school with more than one finalist. With Seton Hall’s Kelly Smith and Connecticut’s Mary-Frances Monroe also among the finalists, the BIG EAST Conference accounts for more finalists with six than any other conference. Beene, Grubb, Makinen and Streiffer will be looking to become Notre Dame’s first winner of the M.A.C. award since former Irish All-American Cindy Daws was selected as the recipient following the 1996 season. Beene, Grubb and Streiffer also were finalists for the 1998 award, while Grubb and Streiffer were finalists as sophomores in 1997.
Three Irish women’s soccer players also have been selected as three of 15 finalists for the 1999 Hermann Trophy, to be presented December 11, in Charlotte, N.C. Beene, Makinen and Streiffer 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.
IRISH HAVE BUSY SUMMER ON NATIONAL TEAMS: A number of current and former Irish women’s soccer players had busy summers with national teams. Senior All-Americans LaKeysia Beene, Jen Grubb and Jenny Streiffer were part of the U.S. under-21 national team that won the 1999 Nordic Cup in Iceland. Streiffer, who tallied the game-winning goal in the ’97 championship game against Norway, scored the game-tying goal in the championship game against Norway in the 85th-minute of the 2-1 overtime win. She also scored in the 22nd minute to lead the Americans to a 1-0 win over Finland in the opening round. Streiffer finished as the team’s leading scorer with three goals and one assist in four games.
Former three-time Irish All-American Kate Sobrero played a key role in helping the U.S. claim its second FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999 as one of the youngest players on the roster. She started five of the six games the Americans played, missing only the Korea game when she rested a sore ankle after the U.S. already had clinched the top spot in its pool. Sobrero starred for the U.S. as the youngest starting defender on team.
Junior Monica Gonzalez (Richardson, Texas) and all-time Irish leading scorer Monica Gerardo represented Mexico in that country’s first appearance in the World Cup in ’99. The Irish pair both started Mexico’s first World Cup game against Brazil, while Gerardo, who wrapped up her career at Notre Dame following the 1998 season, also started against Italy.
NSCAA Top 25
(10/18)
Team Record Points LW 1. Santa Clara * 15-0-0 300 1 2. Florida 14-1-0 286 2 3. North Carolina * 12-2-0 274 3 4. Nebraska 14-1-1 268 4 5. Penn State 12-2-1 251 5 6. NOTRE DAME 11-3-0 238 6 7. USC 11-3-0 216 12 8. Connecticut * 11-4-0 205 11 9. Virginia 11-4-0 202 810. Stanford 11-3-0 179 1611. Wake Forest 10-3-0 166 1312. Texas A&M * 12-4-0 157 2113. Kentucky 12-2-1 136 1914. Clemson 10-4-0 131 915. UCLA 11-2-1 129 716. Harvard 10-1-1 123 1717t. Missouri 11-4-0 113 1817t. William & Mary 11-3-0 113 1519. Michigan * 11-4-1 69 1420. San Diego 11-2-0 64 2521. Duke * 9-6-0 58 2222. Hartford 8-3-2 54 NR23. SMU * 10-5-0 49 1024. Fresno State 12-3-0 36 NR25. Baylor 11-5-0 32 24
* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents
Soccer Times Top 25
(10/18)
Team Record Points LW 1. Santa Clara * (12) 15-0-0 300 1 2. North Carolina * 12-2-0 276 2 3. Nebraska 14-1-1 273 3 4. Florida 14-1-0 270 4 5. Penn State 12-1-1 259 5 6. Notre Dame 11-3-0 237 6 7. Virginia 11-4-0 214 9 8. USC 11-3-0 211 10 9. UCLA 11-2-1 208 710. Connecticut * 11-4-0 176 1111. Stanford 11-3-0 175 1212. Clemson 10-4-0 161 813. Wake Forest 10-3-0 152 1114. Duke * 9-6-0 116 16t15. Harvard 10-1-1 107 2216. William&Mary 11-3-0 106 1417t. Michigan * 11-4-1 102 1517t. Texas A&M * 12-4-0 102 1919. BYU 14-3-0 98 1320. Kentucky 12-2-1 81 2321. Missouri 11-4-0 74 2022. San Diego 11-2-0 60 2123. Hartford 8-3-2 48 2424. SMU * 10-5-0 36 1825. Baylor 11-5-0 18 NR
* indicates 1999 Notre Dame opponents