Freshman defender Sabrina Flores has earned a start in her first two career matches at Notre Dame this season

#11/10 Irish, #16/12 Texas Tech Square Off On Friday

Aug. 28, 2014

Match Notes Get Acrobat Reader

2014 NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – MATCH 3
Notre Dame Invitational Match 2

#11/10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0-0) vs. #16/12 Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-0-0)

DATE: Aug. 29, 2014
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET
LOCATION:
Notre Dame, Ind. (Alumni Stadium – cap. 3,007)
LAST MEETING: ND 2-0 (9/5/10 at ND)
BROADCAST: WatchND.tv
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @NDsoccernews
TEXT ALERTS: Sign up at UND.com
TICKETS: Call (574) 631-7356, visit UND.com/tickets, or stop by the Alumni Stadium tickets windows on match night ($5 adults/$3 youths-seniors/free for all ND/Saint Mary’s/Holy Cross students)

Storylines

· The Fighting Irish are 33-7-2 (.810) all-time during the Notre Dame Invitational.

· Notre Dame is a combined 4-0 all-time against both of this weekend’s opponents (2-0 vs. Texas Tech; 2-0 vs. USC).

For more than two decades, the University of Notre Dame Invitational has been one of the nation’s premier early-season collegiate soccer showcases, and the 22nd annual event should prove no different when it kicks off this weekend at Alumni Stadium. No. 16/12 Texas Tech, Southern California, Iowa State and Eastern Michigan join the No. 11/10 Fighting Irish in the Notre Dame Invitational field, which will not be contested under a tournament format for the first time in its history.

The event will kick off on Friday at 5 p.m. (ET) when USC and Iowa State square off at Alumni Stadium. Notre Dame and Texas Tech are tentatively scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. Live stats for both matches will be available through CBS Gametracker at UND.com, and at the Notre Dame Invitational Microsite.

Live video coverage for the Notre Dame-Texas Tech match will be streamed at WatchND.tv, and through the WatchND app.

“We have two great opponents this weekend (Texas Tech and USC),” Notre Dame head coach Theresa Romagnolo said. “They are going to play very different styles, so it will be a challenge for us to adjust to different systems, figure out the spaces on the field, defend with great discipline and organization and see who steps up in this type of an environment.”

Notre Dame (2-0-0) emerged from its opening weekend of the 2014 regular season with a 3-1 rally at Illinois last Friday and a 3-0 shutout of Oakland last Sunday at Alumni Stadium. Along with the matching number of team goal totals in each of the season’s first two matches, the first Notre Dame goal scorers in both contests share a closer familiarity than any previous players who have found the score sheet in program history.

Freshman midfielder Taylor Klawunder (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) etched her name into the Fighting Irish record books last Friday at Illinois by becoming the fifth Notre Dame freshman to score the first regular season goal in the team’s 27 years at the varsity level. Two days later, twin sister Kaitlin Klawunder (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) added the first 2014 Notre Dame goal at Alumni Stadium in the first half against Oakland.

Already the first twins to officially suit up for the Fighting Irish women’s soccer program, the Klawunders added the distinction of the first goal scoring sisters in team history to their early collegiate resume all in one weekend. A total of six of Notre Dame’s 11 freshmen on this season’s roster appeared in at least one match during opening weekend, with some making seamless transitions into the Fighting Irish lineup.

“Both of the Klawunders had huge goals for us last weekend,” Romagnolo said. “Sabrina Flores (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) has played a great role on the back line, and other players have come off the bench out of the freshman class as well. There is definitely talent in that class and sometimes it takes a little bit of an adjustment to get used to the speed of play, but we also have a great returning group as well. The freshmen are learning from our training sessions about the speed of the game and the mentality that they need to bring to the game.”

Following this weekend’s Notre Dame Invitational, the Fighting Irish will flip coasts bound for California, squaring off with fellow top 25 foes Santa Clara (Sept. 5) and Stanford (Sept. 7). Even with two crucial opponents on the immediate horizon, Romagnolo and her team are focused on the here and now.

“We are taking the schedule opponent by opponent, and are constantly evaluating where we are at and what we need to work on,” Romagnolo said. “We are still very early in the season, and just like the two opening games, we continue to learn a lot about ourselves. What we’re doing well, what we need to do a little bit better, and we are trying to get better at that every day.”

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is ranked 11th in the NSCAA and 10th in the Soccer America polls.
  • Texas Tech is ranked 16th in the NSCAA and 12th in the Soccer America polls.

SCOUTING TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech returns 20 letterwinners (seven starters) from last season’s team that posted an 18-2-3 record (6-0-2 in the Big 12) and reached the second round of the NCAA Championship.

Junior forward Janine Beckie is the leading returner in goals (12), points (28) and game-winning goals (5) from 2013, and enters the weekend tied with four other players for the team lead with one goal already this season. Junior midfielder Alli Murphy earned the primary assist on four of the five Red Raider goals in a 5-0 shutout win over Oral Roberts last Sunday.

Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Watson made two saves in the season opener to claim the shutout.

Head coach Tom Stone is 79-50-14 (.601) in his eighth season at Texas Tech, leading the Red Raiders to the first two NCAA Championship appearances in program history in 2012 and 2013.

THE NOTRE DAME-TEXAS TECH SERIES
Notre Dame is 2-0-0 all-time against Texas Tech, with the Fighting Irish winning one match apiece at home and in Lubbock.

In the most recent meeting between the team on Sept. 5, 2010, Notre Dame posted a 2-0 win over Texas Tech at Alumni Stadium, which coincidentally also took place during the Notre Dame Invitational.


THE LAST TIME NOTRE DAME AND TEXAS TECH MET
Notre Dame forwards Melissa Henderson and Rose Augustin scored goals 47 seconds apart midway through the first half, propelling the Fighting Irish to a 2-0 victory over Texas Tech on Sept. 5, 2010 at Alumni Stadium on the second day of the 18th annual Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic. With the win, Notre Dame claimed the tournament title for the 13th time, and the second in three seasons.

Augustin, who netted her team-high fourth goal of the season, was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic. Henderson joined her on the all-tournament team, along with senior defender Lauren Fowlkes, who was named the tournament’s Defensive MVP, and senior goalkeeper Nikki Weiss, who took home the Goalkeeper MVP award.

Notre Dame outshot Texas Tech, 19-10 on the afternoon, including an 11-3 margin in the first half. The Fighting Irish also held a 6-4 edge in shots on goal, as well as an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks — fouls were even at 14 apiece.

Weiss made four saves in the Notre Dame nets to record her fourth consecutive solo shutout to open the 2010 season.

LAST TIME OUT: OAKLAND
Senior forward Lauren Bohaboy scored two goals and sophomore midfielder Morgan Andrews dished out two assists as No. 16/11 Notre Dame opened its 2014 home schedule on a winning note with a 3-0 victory over Oakland last Sunday at Alumni Stadium.

The Fighting Irish held a dominant 27-2 shot advantage on the Golden Grizzlies during the match, including a 12-0 margin in shots on goal.

Head coach Theresa Romagnolo won her official Notre Dame debut at Alumni Stadium after previously shutting out Illinois State 4-0 on Aug. 11 to begin the preseason exhibition slate.

Notre Dame controlled the run of play from the outset of the match, and following a shot attempt by Oakland’s Alice Palmer that sailed high in the 16th minute, limited the Golden Grizzlies to just one additional shot attempt over the final 74 minutes. Sophomore goalkeeper Kaela Little did not have to make a save in collecting her first shutout of the season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE: OAKLAND

– Senior
Lauren Bohaboy has been on a tear in the month of August over the past three seasons. In the Notre Dame forward’s last nine games played in the month dating back to 2012, Bohaboy has scored seven of her 22 career goals.

– Freshman Kaitlin Klawunder joined her twin sister Taylor Klawunder in the 2014 goal scoring column against Oakland, driving home her first career goal and providing Notre Dame with its winning margin of the match in the 27th minute last Sunday.

– The Klawunders made Notre Dame program history this season by not only being the first twins to ever officially suit up for the Fighting Irish women’s soccer team, but also the first sisters to both score at least one career goal at Notre Dame.

– In her last five games played, dating back to a 2013 NCAA Championship first round contest against Iowa (Nov. 15), sophomore midfielder Morgan Andrews has posted a team-high seven points. Andrews has scored two goals and added three assists in her past five starts for the Fighting Irish.

– Freshman goalkeeper Kaela Little recorded her seventh career solo shutout (ninth total shutout) in 24 starts at Notre Dame in last Sunday’s win over Oakland. The clean sheet was Little’s third in a Fighting Irish uniform without logging an official save (8/30/13 vs. Oakland; 9/29/13 vs. Pittsburgh).

To purchase a season pass or single-match tickets for the 2014 Notre Dame women’s soccer season, call the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, visit the official Notre Dame athletics ticketing web site, UND.com/tickets or stop by the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office windows during normal business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday). Tickets also can be purchased at Alumni Stadium on match days.

For more information on the Fighting Irish women’s soccer program, follow Notre Dame on Twitter (@NDsoccernews or @NDSoccer), like the Fighting Irish on Facebook (facebook.com/NDWomenSoccer) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the main page at UND.com.


–ND–

— Tony Jones, Media Relations Assistant