Oct. 8, 2000
VILLANOVA, Pa. – The top-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer squad tied a team record Sunday for the best start to a season but it didn’t come without some anxious moments, as the Irish emerged with a 1-0 victory at Villanova after a corner kick led to an own goal with 10 minutes left to play.
Notre Dame (13-0-0)-which posted its fifth straight shutout and ninth overall-equaled the start of the 1996 Irish squad and now owns the third-longest single-season winning streak in team history, behind a 17-game winning streak in 1997 and a 14-game streak in ’94.
Villanova (7-7-0) resorted to an extreme defensive strategy that often included 10 players packed into the defensive third. The result was another commanding edge for the Irish in shots (22-4), shots on goal (9-2) and corner kicks (7-1).
Notre Dame senior midfielder Anne Makinen nearly scored on a leftside corner kick in the game’s 80th minute. Makinen showed her shooting skill by bending the corner kick over goalkeeper Janel Schillig, with the ball angling toward the far side of the net. VU’s Colleen Keneally was guarding the far post and tried to sweep the ball off the goal line but shanked her rightfooted kick into the net for the game’s only goal (79:59).
Schillig made nine saves, including a handful that thwarted quality scoring chances. Irish senior forward Meotis Erikson-who had a hat trick in Friday’s 8-0 win at Georgetown-had several solid chances, including one in the 65th minute in which she sent a strong shot from the top of the box that was destined for the upper left corner of the net before Schillig tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Notre Dame-already playing for the third straight game without injured freshman forward Amy Warner-was forced to play the entire second half without senior defender and two-year team captain Kelly Lindsey, who was injured late in the first half (her status will be determined later in the week).
The Irish have concluded BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic Division play with an undefeated record (6-0-0) for the second consecutive season and now own a 52-2-1 (.955) all-time record in BIG EAST regular-season play (including cross-divisional games). Villanova (1-4-0) has been eliminated from the BIG EAST playoff picture.
NOTES: The current five-game shutout streak has seen the Irish allow just 11 combined shots (five on goal) and three corner kicks … the shutout streak has spanned 483:10, dating back to West Virginia’s penalty kick on Sept. 22 (that’s the only goal allowed by ND in the last eight-plus games and 768 minutes, since Stanford scored on Sept. 10) … ND’s 0.30 team goals-against average (4 GA) is on pace to best the team record (0.36) set in 1997, when the Irish allowed just five goals in the regular season and nine overall … ND returns home on Friday night for a game versus Boston College before closing the regular season with four straight road games … ND will face Miami (Fla.) in the BIG EAST quarterfinal round for the second consecutive season (that game will be played at ND, on Oct. 28 or 29) … Seton Hall (3-2-0) also has clinched a playoff spot from the Mid-Atlantic, with Georgetown (2-1-1), Rutgers (2-2-1) and WVU (2-3-0) battling for the other two spots … the four playoff teams from the Northeast Division will be UConn, BC, Syracuse and Miami … Sunday’s game marked just the third time this season that Makinen did not register a point … ND continues to add to its dominating statistical edges, including: 47-4 in scoring, 360-59 in shots ( avg. 28-5), 208-30 in shots on goal (avg. 16-2) and 98-24 in corner kicks (avg. 8-2) … ND now has allowed 0-2 shots on goal in nine games while Santa Clara (7) remains the only team to uncork more than four shots on goal vs. the Irish this season … 12 of the 13 ND opponents have been limited to 0-3 corner kicks (Portland had 7).
#1 NOTRE DAME (13-0-0, 6-0-0) 0-1 - 1VILLANOVA (7-7-0, 1-4-0) 0-1 - 0
ND 1. Own goal (79:59).
Shots: ND 22, VU 4. Corner Kicks: ND 7, VU 1.
Saves: ND 2 (Liz Wagner), VU 9 (Janel Schillig).
Fouls: ND 13, VU 5. Offsides: ND 2, VU 2.