Oct. 1, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A two-goal flurry and a strong defensive stand again were the names of the game, as the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team downed visiting Rutgers, 2-0, to creep closer to the Mid-Atlantic Division title in BIG EAST Conference action Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Notre Dame (11-0-0, 4-0-0 in BE divisional play) erupted for 20 shots in the second half en route to a 32-0 shot margin, plus an 8-1 edge in corner kicks. The Irish posted their seventh shutout of the season, with the current 309-minute shutout streak including just three shots allowed (one on goal) in the last three games.
Rutgers fell to 5-4-2 overall and 1-1-1 in divisional play.
The Irish failed to cash in on 12 first-half shots before scoring twice in a four-minute span, early in the second half. A hand-ball violation led to the first goal, with senior All-America midfielder Anne Makinen stepping forward for the penalty kick. Makinen struck a high shot to the left side and a leaping sophomore Angel Hadaway-whose busy day included 15 saves-managed to get her right hand on the ball before it sailed into the net (52:56).
The goal was Makinen’s team-leading ninth of the season and the 60th of her career. Her 26 points this season include team-bests in game-winning goals (5, for 15 in her career) and first goals (5).
Just minutes after the PK, a pair of crisp passes set up the fifth goal of the season from freshman forward Amanda Guertin. Sophomore defender Vanessa Pruzinski set the play in motion down the left flank before freshman midfielder Randi Scheller threaded a pass into the left side of the box. Guertin had a tough angle but placed a low crossing shot inside the right post for the 2-0 cushion (56:39).
Notre Dame rested many of its regulars for the final 20 minutes while playing the entire game without its second-leading scorer, as freshman forward Amy Warner (7 goals, 4 assists) was held out on a precautionary measure after suffering a leg injury in Friday’s 6-0 win over Seton Hall.
NOTES: ND’s weekend included significant margins in scoring (8-0), shots (66-2), shots on goal (34-1) and CKs (16-2) … the Irish have allowed just one shot (off net) in the last 176 minutes … ND has allowed no shots in 13 all-time games, doing so six times in the last six seasons … Makinen’s 60 goals move her past ’96 grad. Michelle McCarthy into fifth on the ND all-time list, one behind ’97 grad. Cindy Daws … the Irish have allowed just one goal (a PK by West Virginia) in the last 588 minutes … ND continues to pad its season margins for scoring (38-4), shots (312-51, avg. 28-5), shots on goal (181-27, avg. 17-2) and CKs (87-23, avg. 8-2) … ND’s current team goals-against average (0.36) is on pace to equal the team record set in ’97, when the Irish allowed just five goals in the regular season and nine overall … ND entered the day as one of just four remaining undefeated teams in Div. I women’s soccer (out of 274), with the others being Clemson, Nebraska and Brown … ND is two wins shy of equaling the best start in team history (13-0-0, in ’96) … the Irish have clinched a spot in the eight-team BIG EAST Championship and would clinch the Mid-Atlantic Division title with a win Friday at Georgetown.
ND HEAD COACH RANDY WALDRUM: “Compared to last weekend, I was pretty pleased with this weekend. Our ball movement was better and teams are just going to be that way. We’ve just got to learn to have some patience with it. We played a lot of different players. It’s a good stretch to get them some time. Physically, we needed to rest some people. … Nancy (Mikacenic) is coming around to where she was last year and that adds depth to the back. Monica Gonzales also had a great weekend. So now we’re about six players deep in the back. … Randi Scheller had a very good weekend. She’s starting to do the things offensively that we knew she could do. She was so worried early on about the x’s and o’s. We told her ‘Just go play your game.’ We want to improve her a little defensively, but she’s going to be a great player for us. … Amanda is the one player from that angle who can hit a ball left or right-footed and score that kind of goal for us. … Things are really coming around for us and I’m really pleased with the weekend. … We really don’t talk about (the No .1 ranking). We’ve approached it more from the perspective of what we need to do in regards to positioning within the BIG EAST rankings and assuring a top-four seed for the NCAA Tournament.”
RUTGERS HEAD COACH GLENN CROOKS: “We came out wanting to play. We didn’t plan on sitting back and I think that’s a credit to Notre Dame when they kind of push you back. … We were trying to do things that weren’t there and I think that fed into a lot of their counterattacks and a lot of the shots they got. … As soon as that (first) goal was scored, we let up and it took us too long to recover.”
RUTGERS (5-4-2) 0 0 - 0
#1 NOTRE DAME (11-0-0) 0 2 - 2
ND 1. Anne Makinen 9 (penalty kick) 52:56,ND 2. Amanda Guertin 5 (Randi Scheller, Vanessa ruzinsky) 56:39SHOTS: RU 0, ND 32. CORNER KICKS: RU 1, ND 8.SAVES: RU 15 (Angel Hadaway), ND 0 (Elizabeth Wagner, Lauren Kent).FOULS: RU 11, ND 19. OFFSIDES: RU 0, ND 4.