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Women's Soccer Travels to Notre Dame Before Hosting IPFW
DePaul at #21/14 Notre Dame DePaul vs. IPFW Weekly Notes CHICAGO - The DePaul women’s soccer team starts BIG EAST action on Friday night at Notre Dame. Following the conference tilt against the Irish, the Blue Demons return to Wish Field to host IPFW in a non-conference game. DePaul enters the weekend at 2-4-1 while the Irish are 2-3-1. Despite holding a losing record, Notre Dame is ranked No. 21 in this week’s NSCAA rankings and 14th in the Soccer America top 25. Following this weekend’s play, the Blue Demons jump in to BIG EAST action with 10 straight league games to close the regular season. DePaul travels to Cincinnati next Friday before hosting Louisville on Sunday, Sept. 30. The 2007 BIG EAST Championship starts Nov. 1 with the top five teams from each division qualifying for the tournament. Noting the Blue Demons: DePaul returns 10 players from last season and welcomes 14 newcomers to Lincoln Park this season... Jennifer Dyer is the top returner after totaling nine points on three goals and three assists in 2006... with an assist at Cleveland State on Sept. 2, she moved into sole possession of sixth all-time with 31 points and second all-time with 13 assists... Shannon Williams entered this season with one goal and has scored three in seven games this season... the win over Ohio to start the 2007 campaign ended a 12-match winless streak (0-11-1)... head coach Erin Chastain is in her first season at DePaul and the third coach in program history... she is the first coach in program history to win the first match... the 2007 season is the 12th year of women’s soccer as a varsity sport at DePaul University... the Blue Demons are 23-18-3 in the last five-plus seasons in matches at Wish Field... on the flip side, the program is 17-27-8 on the road in that same span. Undefeated Start Just Second All-Time: The 2-0 start for the Blue Demons is just the second undefeated beginning to a season in program history. The 2001 squad holds the best start to a season at 5-0-0 in the program’s 12 years while the Blue Demons are 4-8 all-time in season-opening matches. Chastain Begins First Season: Following five seasons at Santa Clara as an assistant coach, Erin Chastain was named DePaul’s third head coach on Mar. 1, 2007. While at Santa Clara she helped the Broncos claimed four West Coast Conference titles and a pair of NCAA Championship National Semifinal appearances. The 2002 team finished second in the NCAA Championship while in 2004 Santa Clara reached the national semifinals followed by a quarterfinal appearance in 2005. Prior to Santa Clara, Chastain served as an assistant coach at Northwestern and played collegiately at Minnesota where she was a two-time All-Big Ten honoree. The Chastain name is familiar to soccer fans as Erin’s sister-in-law, Brandi, led the United States to the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Scouting Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish stand at 2-3-1 after a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 21/16 Oklahoma State on Sept. 16... Notre Dame has lost three of the four matches with all three defeats to nationally-ranked teams... the Irish fell, 7-1, at No. 8/3 Santa Clara on Sept. 7 followed by a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 5/10 Stanford on Sept. 9... Kerri Hanks, the 2006 Hermann Trophy winner, leads the team with eight points on two goals and four assists... head coach Randy Waldrum is in his ninth season at Notre Dame. The Series: Friday is the third all-time meeting between the two programs... Notre Dame won 6-0 in 2005 and 5-0 in 2006. Checking on IPFW: The Mastodons enters the weekend at 0-6-0... they host Toledo on Friday night... IPFW lost, 4-0, to Detroit on Tuesday night... Danielle Orlandella leads the team with five points on two goals and an assist... head coach Margaret Saurin is in her first season with the Mastodons. The Series: DePaul has claimed both meetings between the two teams... the Blue Demons posted a 5-0 win in 2002 after winning, 3-0, in 2001. 2007 BIG EAST Championship: The semifinals and championship of the 2007 BIG EAST Women’s Soccer Championship will take place in Morgantown, W. Va., on the campus of the West Virginia University. The first round and quarterfinal matches will be hosted by the higher-seeded team on Nov. 1 and Nov. 4. The champion receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship.
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