#16/11 Irish, Oakland Kick Off 2014 Alumni Stadium Slate On Sunday

Aug. 23, 2014

Match Notes

2014 Notre Dame Women’s Soccer – Match 2
#16/11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-0-0) vs. Oakland Golden Grizzlies (0-1-0)

DATE: Aug. 24, 2014
TIME: 3:30 p.m. ET
LOCATION: Notre Dame, Ind. (Alumni Stadium – cap. 3,007)
LAST MEETING: ND 4-0 (8/30/13 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

· Notre Dame improved 23-3-1 (.870) all-time in season openers with a 3-1 victory at Illinois.

· Friday’s comeback win was the first Notre Dame rally on opening day since the first win in program history (5-1; 9/1/88 against IU-South Bend).

Taking a grueling season on a game-by-game basis, it was mission accomplished for the University of Notre Dame women’s soccer team on Friday during the 2014 season opening match at Illinois. The Fighting Irish bounced back from early adversity, shaking off a one-goal deficit to score the final three goals in a 3-1 victory at the Illinois Soccer Stadium.

Focus now shifts to protecting home field when No. 16/11 Notre Dame (1-0-0) officially begins its regular season home schedule at Alumni Stadium against Oakland on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Live streaming of the match will be carried on WatchND.tv and through the WatchND app, with live stats available at .

Notre Dame welcomes Oakland (0-1-0) to Alumni Stadium for the third straight season, previously hosting the Golden Grizzlies in non-conference contests in both 2012 and 2013. The Fighting Irish own a 3-0 series lead over Oakland entering Sunday’s match, outscoring the Golden Grizzlies by an aggregate 14-1 goal margin.

Head coach Theresa Romagnolo made the most of her Notre Dame debut on the sideline Friday at Illinois, earning her first Fighting Irish win after her team completed just the second opening day comeback in program history (first since 9/1/88 against IU-South Bend, 5-1 Notre Dame win). Following a grueling fall training schedule and two challenging preseason exhibition matches against Illinois State (4-0, Aug. 11) and Northwestern (T 2-2, Aug. 16), Romagnolo said the ebbs and flows of the regular season opener were to be expected.

“Any time you go into the first match of the season, the intensity level is different than what you’ve trained at or even what you had in your scrimmages,” Romagnolo said. “I think there is an adjustment there for everybody, (and for us) it got better in the second half.”

Before the end of the first period, however, Notre Dame was able to counter a fast Illinois start with the match-tying goal in the 40th minute. Freshman midfielder Taylor Klawunder (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) sprung free on a Fighting Irish run deep in the Illini zone, and a touch pass from sophomore midfielder Morgan Andrews (Milford, N.H./Milford) set Klawunder up for her first collegiate shot. A true strike found the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1, making a bit of history in the process.

Klawunder became just the fifth freshman in team history to tally the first Fighting Irish regular season goal, and the first to do so since Amanda Cinalli against Baylor in 2004. Her first game, her first shot and her first goal, not bad for the first weekend of Klawunder’s collegiate soccer journey.

“It’s really special to me,” Klawunder said about her historic goal following Friday’s win. “I just hope to go out there and make more of an impact on the field as the season continues.”

Oakland returns 18 letterwinners, including eight starters, from last season’s team that posted a 10-9-2 final record. The Golden Grizzlies were shut out 4-0 on Friday by Western Michigan in the first game under new head coach Margaret Saurin.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is ranked No. 16 in the NSCAA and 11th in the Soccer America preseason polls.
• Oakland is unranked in both the NSCAA and Soccer America polls.

Oakland returns 18 letterwinners and eight starters that helped the team to a 10-9-2 finish in 2013. The Golden Grizzlies fell to Western Michigan 4-0 on Friday in the regular season’s opening match.

Senior forward Kyla Kellerman is the team’s leading offensive returner after scoring eight goals and adding total 20 points in 2013, while senior forward/midfielder Joan Sieja contributed a team-high eight assists last season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Stephanie Bukovec is the team’s only experienced returner between the pipes, appearing in six contests in net during her freshman season in 2013. Bukovec logged a 2-1-1 record and a 1.27 goals against average, recording two shutouts in limited duty.

Head coach Margaret Saurin is in her first season at the helm of the Golden Grizzlies after spending the last seven seasons at IPFW. Saurin enters Sunday’s match with a 35-85-6 career record, and was previously named the Summit League Coach of the Year in 2012.

Notre Dame holds a 3-0 edge in its brief series history with Oakland, with all three matches having been played on the Notre Dame campus. The Fighting Irish defeated the Golden Grizzlies 4-0 on Aug. 30, 2013 at Alumni Stadium the last time the teams met.

Notre Dame blitzed Oakland 7-1 in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Championship (Nov. 10, 2006) at old Alumni Field in the inaugural series meeting. The seven Fighting Irish goals scored were the second-most in program history during an NCAA Championship match (eight, Indiana in 1996, UCLA in 1997).

Forward Lauren Bohaboy had a goal and an assist, and forward Crystal Thomas delivered her second consecutive two-assist outing as Notre Dame earned a methodical 4-0 victory over Oakland before a crowd of 1,836 fans at Alumni Stadium on Aug. 30, 2013.

Bohaboy not only scored a goal for the third match in a row, but she also started the Fighting Irish scoring for the third consecutive contest, with all three opening goals coming in the first five minutes of play. Bohaboy’s lidlifter against Oakland came after just 2:06, courtesy of Thomas’ first assist.

Forward Karin Simonian and midfielder Morgan Andrews added their first goals of the season (and for Andrews, her initial college score) early in the second half, and forward Anna Maria Gilbertson capped the Notre Dame scoring output with her second goal of the year in the 69th minute, slightly more than two minutes after the teams returned from the locker room following a 35-minute lightning delay.

Freshman goalkeeper Kaela Little capitalized on the bounty of offensive production in front of her, making it stand up with four saves, including a brilliant diving stop on Serena San Cartier’s mini-breakaway in the final minute, for her first career shutout.

Notre Dame finished with a 19-9 shot advantage, including an 11-4 margin in shots on goal. Each side attempted one corner kick, while the Fighting Irish nearly doubled up the Golden Grizzlies in the foul column (13-7), and both teams had a player receive a yellow card in the second half.

Shaking off an early Illinois goal in the 23rd minute, No. 16/11 Notre Dame struck back for three unanswered scores to secure a 3-1 victory over the Illini on a rainy afternoon Friday at the Illinois Soccer Stadium in the first match of the 2014 regular season.

Freshman midfielder Taylor Klawunder scored the first Notre Dame goal of the season at 39:18 of the first half to tie the match at 1-1. Junior tri-captain Katie Naughton added the game-winner a little more than two minutes later, burying a header off a corner kick from classmate Brittany Von Rueden at 41:47. Junior forward Anna Maria Gilbertson completed the Notre Dame scoring in the 75th minute, blasting a shot on the breakaway from the right wing past Illinois goalkeeper Claire Wheatley to provide an insurance tally.

– Friday’s comeback win over Illinois was the first Notre Dame rally on opening day since the first game and win in program history (5-1; 9/1/88 against IU-South Bend at Moose Krause Stadium).

– Theresa Romagnolo is just the third head coach in team history to win a debut match, joining Dennis Grace (1988) and Chris Petrucelli (1990).

– Midfielder Taylor Klawunder became just the fifth freshman in team history (the first since Amanda Cinalli against Baylor in 2004) to tally the first Fighting Irish goal of a season. Klawunder’s 40th minute goal tied Friday’s match with Illinois at 1-1.

– Junior tri-captain Katie Naughton scored her second career game-winning goal (sixth overall goal) in the 42nd minute of Friday’s match at Illinois. Naughton’s first match-winning tally came in a BIG EAST Conference home victory over Seton Hall on Oct. 5, 2012.

– Junior defender Brittany Von Rueden extended her active lead on the Notre Dame career assists list (14) with the corner kick service on Naughton’s game-winning goal on Friday at Illinois.

Senior tri-captain Sammy Scofield put together an impressive streak of endurance through her first three seasons at Notre Dame entering 2014, seeing action in all 67 matches (58 starts) since joining the Fighting Irish in 2011. Scofield entered the new season tied with classmate Lauren Bohaboy for the active lead in career games played at Notre Dame.

Scofield’s streak officially ended on Friday at Illinois, as the Fighting Irish defender was forced to sit out the contest on a one-game suspension after receiving a red card in last November’s third round NCAA Championship match at Michigan.

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