Irish shut out twice against Santa Clara and Portland in Notre Dame Classic
By: JOE LICANDRO
Sports Writer
It was a tough weekend for the womens soccer team at the annual Notre Dame Classic as the Irish were shutout twice in three days. Friday night, the Irish suffered the worst home loss in school history, dropping a 4-0 contest to defending national champion Santa Clara. The shutout ended a streak of 31 games where the Irish scored at least one goal.
Two days later, the Irish returned to the field against 2001 Final Four participant Portland, hoping to avenge Friday's loss, but Notre Dame (2-2) came up short again losing 1-0.
The lone bright spot for Notre Dame was the play of Candace Chapman. The versatile sophomore was named the tournament's top defensive player for her effort over the weekend.
Chapman, who missed the Irish's first two games while playing with the Canadian national team in the Under-19 World Championships, saved a young Irish defense time and time again. Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum placed Chapman at all three field positions in an effort to try to get her the ball and let her speed take over.
"It's hard for us out there because we were playing without three of last year's starters on defense," Chapman said. "I just had to pick it up and try to lead out there."
The first half of Friday nights game was closely contested as neither team was able to dictate the game. The second half was a different story.
The visiting Broncos dominated thanks to the brilliant play of sophomore forward Megan Kakadelas. The reigning Pac-10 Rookie of the Year for USC last year made quite an impression on her new teammates in her first game in a Broncos' uniform.
When Notre Dame All-American defender Vanessa Pruzinsky left the field five minutes into the second half with leg injury, the Irish could no longer contain the speed of Kakadelas. The transfer added two second half goals and an assist to propel the Broncos to victory.
Eight minutes into the second half, Kakadelas chased down a loose ball and took a strong shot on goal. Irish goalkeeper Lauren Kent denied the speedy forward's first effort, but Kakadelas' rebound shot beat Kent for the game's first goal.
Five minutes later, Santa Clara struck again when Kakadelas switched fields and tapped a lead pass to an onrushing Kristi Candau who promptly shot the ball to the lower right corner of the net.
"People underestimate Megan's speed and quickness all the time," Santa Clara coach Jerry Smith said. "This was her first game for Santa Clara University. She was obviously really pumped up. I think she has an acceleration that most people just don't anticipate. It reminds me of when we came out here and played Notre Dame two years ago and Amy Warner was a freshman. We lost 6-1, and Amy Warner beat us to every ball we went after. We just didn't have an understanding of her speed.
"Today was Megan's day to be in that situation."
Santa Clara added a third goal off an incredible shot by Micaela Esqivel. The freshman midfielder chipped a ball from 20 yards out of the goalie box that swerved past the outstretched arms of Kent. With ten minutes remaining in the game, Kakadelas' put the finishing touches on the Broncos' victory with her second goal of the game.
"These games are great for us and Notre Dame. Notre Dame's in the same situation as we were a week ago," Smith said. " Stanford handed our heads to us and we had to regroup. You look at yourself and see where you need to improve. Notre Dame will regroup from this. Randy and I have the same philosophy when we put together our schedules and that is you want to play as many top teams as possible so you can expose all of your weaknesses at the beginning of the season."
The Notre Dame defense recovered Sunday to shut down the high powered Portland attack for nearly the entire game. With a little under eight minutes remaining, All-American Christine Sinclair finally broke free from the Irish defense and scored the game winning goal.
Sinclair, last weekend's MVP of the U-19 World Championships as a member of the Canadian national team, tracked down a deflected pass, creating a prime scoring opportunity for herself.
For the second game in a row, the Irish offense struggled. Notre Dame's only real opportunity to score was when freshman Maggie Manning broke loose from the Portland defense, but Pilot goalie Lauren Arase made a kick-save to deny the shot.
After Sunday's game, the Irish players were trying to figure out what went wrong this weekend.
"We just need to work on maintaining the ball and spreading the ball around on offense," said Chapman. "We need to get tougher."
All Sports Stories for Monday, September 9, 2002
