Sept. 7, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The third-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team set a team record on Friday night with its 29th consecutive win at home-good for fifth-longest in NCAA history-but it didn’t come easy, as visiting Indiana forced overtime with a goal in the 75th minute before super-sub Kelly Tulisiak (Medina, Ohio) won the game in the eighth minute of OT.
Notre Dame (3-0-0) claimed a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, thanks to a strong individual effort from sophomore midfielder Randi Scheller (Kutztown, Pa.). After receiving a pass with her back to the goal, Scheller pulled the ball back and completed a 180-degree turn to her right before striking a leftfooted shot from the top of the box-with the ball sailing past a stunned IU goalkeeper Shaunna Daugherty and settling into the upper right corner of the net (28:01).
Indiana (2-1-0) gained the equalizer with 15 minutes left to play. Lisa Tecklenberg poked the ball into the upper right corner of the box and Kim Grodek finished her quickly-developing chance, collecting the loose ball in traffic and sending a crossing shot inside the left post as Irish ‘keeper Liz Wagner began to charge out on the play (74:16).
Tulisiak-who had a game-winning assist and game-winning goal in last week’s wins over nationally-ranked Penn State and Hartford-added to her early-season magic, just minutes after returning to the game for the overtime session. Senior defender and South Bend native Lindsey Jones set the sequence in motion by taking the ball from an IU player and sending it to sophomore forward Amy Warner (Albuquerque, N.M.), who quickly chipped a 20-yard pass down the center of the field.
Tulisiak beat her defender to the top of the box, with the ‘keeper Daugherty charging out to make a play on the ball. But Tulisiak timed the bounce and headed the ball over Daugherty from 12 yards out, giving the senior forward eight career goals on just 31 shots (one goal every 3.9 shots).
Notre Dame has not tasted defeat at home since a 3-2, double-overtime loss to North Carolina in the 1999 opener. The previous team record for home winning streak was a 28-game run from 1992-95.
Junior midfielder Ashley Dryer (Salt Lake City, Utah) returned to action for the Irish but still showed some effects from her lingering bout with mononucleosis (which held her out of both preseason games and last week’s Key Bank Classic).
Friday’s scare also nearly ended Notre Dame’s winning streak vs. Big Ten teams, which now stands at 43 games heading into Sunday’s tilt vs. Wisconsin (that streak dates back to 1989). Since losing to Michigan State in 1989, the Irish are 112-3-5 in their last 120 games vs. Midwest teams and are 94-0-3 vs. Midwest teams since a 2-0 loss to Creighton in 1990 (that game remains the only time that an unranked team has beaten the Irish at Alumni Field).
NOTES: Since the 1999 double-OT loss to UNC, Notre Dame is 5-0-2 in its last seven overtime games, with all the wins coming by 2-1 scores: also vs. UConn in 1999, vs. Stanford in 2000 (win on own goal), at West Virginia in 2000 (goal by Amanda Guertin) and vs. Santa Clara in the 2000 NCAA quarterfinals (goal by Meotis Erikson) … ND played to a 1-1 tie at Nebraska in the ’99 NCAA quarterfinals and played an 0-0 tie at UConn last season … ND now leads the IU series 11-1-0 and has won the last 11 meetings (prior to Friday, the Hoosiers had not lost by fewer than thee goals to the Irish) … ND is 24-0-1 in its last 25 regular-season games … the Irish are 102-3-1 in their last 106 home games and own 76 consecutive home wins over unranked teams (83-1-0 overall at Alumni Field vs. non-ranked teams).
ND HEAD COACH RANDY WALDRUM: “Randi Scheller played a great game and Kelly Tulisiak came through again in the clutch. But this game was a struggle and Indiana really came out and battled. We still are pretty banged up and short a little in the personnel department, which has caused some lack of continuity in the lineup. We really need to start playing with better pace and precision and basically need to play at a higher level for more of the game. We just aren’t real sharp right now and we know Wisconsin will be ready for us on Sunday. We’ve still got a lot of things to work on during the coming weeks but I still am very excited about this team’s potential. We have some players stepping into greater roles this season and that usually takes some time for them to grow into those roles. But they are the type of kids who have the talent and maturity to handle the added responsibility and I think you’ll see our overall level of play really start to pick up in the next few games.”
INDIANA (2-1-0) … 0-1-0–1
#3 NOTRE DAME (3-0-0) … 1-0-1–2
ND 1. Randi Scheller 1 (-) 28:01, IU 1. Kim Grodek 2 (Lisa Tecklenburg) 74:16, ND 2. Kelly Tulisiak 2 (Amy Warner, Lindsey Jones) 97:19.
SHOTS: IU 3-7-0-10, ND 7-6-3-13.
SAVES: IU (Shaunna Daugherty) 2-3-0-5, ND (Liz Wagner) 1-2-0-3.
CORNER KICKS: IU 0-2-0-2, ND 1-2-0-3. FOULS: IU 3-3-0-6, ND 4-5-0-9.
OFFSIDES: IU 1, ND 1.
YELLOW CARD: Emily Hotz (IU).