May 18, 2001

Notre Dame, coming off a 8-0, five-inning victory over Western Illinois yesterday, will face #5 Illinois State at 7 p.m. tonight.

Illinois State advanced to tonight's game after droppping a 2-1 game to #2 Iowa yesterday, eliminating Western Illinois 4-0 and upsetting #4 Illinois State 1-0 at 2 p.m. today.

Kristin Schmidt will take the mound for the Irish - making her NCAA tournament debut. Nicole Kurth will most likely pitch for the Red Birds, as she threw a perfect game against Western Illinois yesterday and has pitched every inning of the tournament for Illinois State.

You can follow the action of tonight's game via live statistics on the official Notre Dame athletic website, www.und.com.