Sophomore defender Molly Campbell has registered nine shots, six of them on goal, in her last two games.

#2 Irish Seek To Bounce Back Sunday Against Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Sept. 5, 2009

Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic Tournament Central

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2009 ND Women’s Soccer — Game 4
#2/4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-1-0 / 0-0-0 BIG EAST) vs. #RV/- Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers (2-1-2 / 0-0-0 Horizon)

DATE: September 6, 2009
TIME: 1:30 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Alumni Stadium (2,500)
SERIES: ND leads 4-1-0
1ST MTG: UWM 2-1 (9/8/89)
LAST MTG: ND 1-0 (11/12/06)
AUDIO: UND.com (live) (Michael Scholl, p-b-p / Jason Norman, color)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
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TICKETS: (574) 631-7356 / UND.com/tickets

Storylines

  • Notre Dame closes out its four-game season-opening homestand Sunday.
  • The Irish will be facing their second Horizon League opponent in three games, having defeated Loyola-Chicago, 2-0 on Aug. 28 in the final game at old Alumni Field.

No. 2/4 Notre Dame Looks To Rebound From First Loss Sunday Against Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Following a tough loss, the best way for a team to bounce back is with another game and that’s exactly what No. 2/4 Notre Dame will have. Less than 48 hours after its first setback of the 2009 season, the Fighting Irish will take on Wisconsin-Milwaukee Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium in the final game of the 17th annual Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic. Top-ranked North Carolina will face Marquette in Sunday’s opener at 11 a.m. (ET), with the winner of that contest taking home this year’s tournament title.

Notre Dame (2-1) is coming off a 6-0 loss to UNC on Friday night before a boisterous overflow crowd of 3,007 in the first-ever women’s soccer match at the brand-new, state-of-the-art Alumni Stadium. Defensive miscues early in the contest led to a pair of Tar Heel goals, and while the Fighting Irish outshot the visitors, 13-7 in the second half, the early deficit was too much to overcome.

Junior midfielder Rose Augustin led Notre Dame with a game-high seven shots, while sophomore defender Molly Campbell squeezed off three shots for the Fighting Irish.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is ranked second in the NSCAA poll and fourth in the Soccer America poll.
  • Wisconsin-Milwaukee is receiving votes in the Soccer America poll.

A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
After driving all the way to the doorstep of history in 2008 with a magical 26-1-0 season that culminated just short of a national championship, Notre Dame returns many of the same players that helped propel the Fighting Irish to the top of the college soccer world for much of last year.

Not only does Notre Dame bring back 19 monogram winners and seven starters, but of those 19 returnees, 15 of them have starting experience under their belt. What’s more, the Fighting Irish have more than 60 percent of their goalscoring (52 of 83) back in the fold, along with many of the defenders that were responsible for registering 18 shutouts and a 0.44 goals-against average (both among the top five marks in school history).

Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson (17G-2A in 2008) was tabbed the BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and is one of 45 preseason candidates for the Hermann Trophy after a stellar rookie campaign that included five gamewinning goals, the last coming in overtime of the BIG EAST Championship game against Connecticut.

Junior midfielders Rose Augustin (6G-2A) and Erica Iantorno (5G-7A) also likely will factor in Notre Dame’s offensive attack this season. Meanwhile, junior holding midfielder Lauren Fowlkes (1G), another preseason Hermann Trophy choice, and sophomore defender Jessica Schuveiller (1G-1A) will anchor the Fighting Irish backline.

They will be supported by senior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander, who set a single-season school record with 26 victories last season (and shared another record with 18 total shutouts). Lysander also ranked sixth in the nation last season with a 0.44 GAA and was named to the ’08 NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team.

Scouting The Panthers
Wisconsin-Milwaukee carries a 2-1-2 record into Sunday’s contest with Notre Dame. The Panthers opened the season with back-to-back 0-0 ties at Northwestern (Aug. 21) and Wisconsin (Aug. 24). On the following weekend, they earned wins over Michigan (6-0) and Rice (1-0) to capture the 2009 Milwaukee Cup.

In the opening round of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic, the Panthers suffered their first loss of the season to Marquette, 2-0 on Thursday night. Michelle Compty scored the game-winner for the Golden Eagles in the 12th minute off a cross from Brittany Bares. Marquette then got an insurance goal in the 31st minute, scored by Becky Ryan. For the match, the Panthers held a 19-11 shot advantage (including shots off the crossbar and post by Sarah Hagen and Sarah Talbert, respectively) and a 7-3 edge in corner kicks. Panther goalkeeper Jamie Forbes made two saves in the loss.

Through five games, senior midfielder Kate Megna leads Milwaukee with seven points on two goals and three assists. Hagen is second on the team with a goal and two assists for four points. In addition, sophomore forward Laurel Ragalie and senior midfielder/forward Erin Kreuser have chipped in with a game-winning goal apiece. Forbes has played all 490 minutes in the Panther net while recording four shutouts, a 0.37 GAA and 14 saves.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee is coached by Michael Moynihan, who is in his 13th season as the Panthers’ head coach. Five games into his 13th season, Moynihan carries a 152-69-35 (.662) record at UWM and has helped guide the Panthers to six NCAA postseason appearances (1997, 2001, ’01, ’02, ’05, ’06 and ’08).

The Notre Dame-UWM Series
The Irish boast a 4-1-0 mark against Wisconsin-Milwaukee all-time, dating back to the 1989 season. In that inaugural meeting, Notre Dame lost in Milwaukee, 2-1. The Irish rebounded to post three consecutive wins versus the Panthers in the early 1990’s including: a 3-0 home win in 1990, a 3-0 road win in 1991 a 6-0 home win in 1993.

After a 13-year hiatus in the series, the Irish defeated the Panthers in NCAA tournament second round action by a 1-0 score on Nov. 12, 2006 at Alumni Field. Current Notre Dame senior captain Michele Weissenhofer scored the game-winning goal at 4:37 (with assists going to Kerri Hanks and Jen Buczkowski) to help the Irish continue their run to the NCAA College Cup championship match.

Quite A Stretch
Since beginning the 2007 season with a tough 3-4-1 start, the Irish are 44-3-1 in their last 48 games overall, with the only losses coming to No. 14 Florida State (3-2) in the 2007 NCAA College Cup semifinals and to No. 5 North Carolina (2-1) in the 2008 NCAA College Cup final and 6-0 on Friday night. The lone tie occurred at No. 12 West Virginia (1-1) in the ’07 BIG EAST tournament final (WVU won the title on penalty kicks, 5-3).

With a victory over Toledo in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Championship on Nov. 14, Notre Dame matched the best 40-game stretch in school history (38-1-1), previously set from Oct. 2, 2005-Dec. 1, 2006.

Beasts Of The BIG EAST
With a win over Connecticut in the 2008 BIG EAST title game (1-0 in OT), Notre Dame now owns a school-record 52-game unbeaten streak (50-0-2) against BIG EAST opposition (second-longest in NCAA Division I history) dating back to a 4-1 loss at No. 15 Marquette on Sept. 30, 2005. In that time, the only ties were a 0-0 draw at Connecticut (Oct. 13, 2006) and a 1-1 deadlock at No. 12 West Virginia in last year’s BIG EAST final on Nov. 11 (WVU won 5-3 on PKs, but the game is recorded as a tie).

Since joining the BIG EAST, the Irish are 123-8-4 (.926) all-time in regular-season conference games, 32-2-1 (.929) in the BIG EAST Tournament, and hold a 682-81 scoring edge dating back to that first league season in ’95.

What’s more, Notre Dame maintains a 13-year, 87-game home unbeaten streak (86-0-1) versus BIG EAST teams, with Connecticut the lone conference team ever to defeat the Irish at Alumni Field (5-4 in OT on Oct. 6, 1995).

Senior Moments
The 2009 Irish senior class ranks as the second-most successful group in the country, with a four-year record to date of 72-8-3 (.886) that includes three consecutive trips to the NCAA College Cup and appearances in the 2006 and 2008 national title games.

The 72 victories compiled by the Notre Dame seniors also are second on the national scene.

The Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic
This weekend marks the 17th edition of Notre Dame’s home tournament, currently called the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic. Since its inception in 1992, the event has been played almost annually (except for 1994), with the Irish posting a 26-5-2 all-time record and a 91-36 scoring margin in the tournament.

Notre Dame has won 12 of the previous 16 Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic titles, including last year’s crown by virtue of wins over Loyola Marymount (4-0) and Santa Clara (2-0). The other four tournament championships have gone to Stanford (1992), North Carolina (1999), Santa Clara (2002) and Washington State (2007). This season, Marquette and North Carolina will essentially play a title game when they square off on Sunday at 11 a.m. (ET).

UNC is making its third appearance in the event. The Tar Heels placed second (on goal differential) in the high-powered 1997 event (then termed the adidas/Lady Foot Locker Classic) that featured four of the nation’s top six teams, tying second-ranked Notre Dame, 2-2 and defeating No. 6 Portland, 1-0. North Carolina then won the 1999 tournament (then called the KeyBank/adidas Classic) with victories over seventh-ranked Notre Dame (3-2 in double overtime) and No. 4 Connecticut (3-1).

Both Marquette and Wisconsin-Milwaukee are competing in the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic for the first time. For a full historical recap of the tournament, please see pp. 98 in this year’s Notre Dame women’s soccer media guide.

Pick Three For The Hermann Watch
Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson, junior defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes and senior midfielder Courtney Rosen have been named to the 45-player watch list for the 2009 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, it was announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA).

The Hermann Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I women’s soccer player, with Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks earning the prestigious crystal ball trophy last year. In the process, Hanks became the fourth Fighting Irish player to collect the award, not to mention just the fourth two-time Hermann Trophy honoree since the award debuted in 1988, as well as the first two-time national player of the year (in any sport) in the 122-year history of Notre Dame athletics.

Game #3 Recap: North Carolina
The second-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team saw three impressive streaks come to an end on Friday night, as the Fighting Irish had their 30-game regular-season winning streak, 27-game home winning streak and 54-game goal scoring streak all snapped with a 6-0 loss to No. 1 North Carolina on the first day of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic before a boisterous overflow crowd of 3,007 fans in the first women’s soccer match played at the brand-new, state-of-the-art Alumni Stadium.

Jessica McDonald had two goals and an assist for the Tar Heels, while Casey Nogueira added a goal and an assist for North Carolina (4-0-0), which rang up at least six goals against a top-three opponent for the second time this season. UNC scored twice in the first seven minutes against Notre Dame (on scores by Courtney Jones and McDonald), putting the hosts on the defensive for the remainder of the night.

North Carolina finished with a 19-15 shot advantage in the game, although Notre Dame outshot the Tar Heels, 13-7 in the second half. UNC also earned an 11-4 spread in shots on goal, a 6-3 edge in corner kicks and a 16-9 margin in fouls.

Irish goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander made four saves in the first half for Notre Dame, while junior goalkeeper Nikki Weiss did not record a save in the final 45 minutes. Ashlyn Harris got the victory in the North Carolina goal, working the first 70:42 and making four saves, before giving way to Hannah Daly, who did not make a save in the last 19:18 of the contest.

The Henderson Effect
Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson has made quite an impact on the Notre Dame offense since arriving on campus last fall, netting 19 goals (including seven gamewinners) and adding three assists for 41 points in her first 30 games with the Irish.

In fact, through a season and three games, Notre Dame is 14-0 when Henderson scores a goal and 16-0 when she picks up a point.

Irish Debuts
In Notre Dame’s season-opening victory over Wisconsin on Aug. 21, four of the five active Fighting Irish freshmen made their collegiate debuts. Lindsay Brown, Leah Fisher, Jazmin Hall and Tereza Stastny all saw time on the pitch as Notre Dame blanked the Badgers, 3-0. A week later, Stastny made her first career start in the 2-0 win versus Loyola-Chicago, proving instrumental in the buildup to Notre Dame’s first goal, scored by Melissa Henderson.

Your 2009 Captains
The 2009 Notre Dame squad features three first-time captains, with seniors Michele Weissenhofer and Courtney Rosen and sophomore Jessica Schuveiller all selected via a vote of their teammates.

Schuveiller’s selection is noteworthy, in that she is the first non-senior to serve as a team captain since Amy Warner was one of Notre Dame’s three captains in 2002 (her junior season). This year’s triumvirate also marks the first time since 2004 (Mary Boland, Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and Melissa Tancredi) that the Irish have named three captains.

Schuveiller Goes To Camp
Sophomore defender Jessica Schuveiller was among a group of 24 players invited by head coach Bill Irwin to compete at the United States Under-23 Women’s National Team Training Camp in suburban Cleveland this past summer (June 12-19).

Schuveiller made her first appearance at a U.S. National Team training camp, joining an extensive list of Notre Dame players who have competed for Team USA at the U-23 level. Most recently, three current Irish players — senior forward Michele Weissenhofer, junior defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes and sophomore forward Melissa Henderson — were part of the U-23 player pool, along with two recent Notre Dame graduates and current WPS players Brittany Bock (now with the Los Angeles Sol) and defender Elise Weber (competing for Saint Louis Athletica). Fowlkes also struck gold with the U.S. U-20 National Team at last December’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Chile.

Rosen Sidelined
Senior midfielder/tri-captain Courtney Rosen is out indefinitely after breaking her left foot during preseason training. Rosen underwent successful corrective surgery on Aug. 13 and is in the midst of rehabilitating her injury.

Our Fearless Leader
Eleventh-year Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum reached a career milestone with last season’s 3-1 win over No. 17/16 Penn State on Sept. 21. With the win, he became the eighth active Division I head coach to record 300 career wins. He now has a record of 320-81-20 (.784) in 20 seasons (including six at Tulsa and three at Baylor). His winning percentage ranks fourth among active coaches, while his 320 wins are fifth on the NCAA Div. I career list.

Three … Is The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with a 279-3-1 (.988) record in those games, including a 181-1-0 (.995) mark since Oct. 6, 1995. The Irish also are 376-9-15 (.959) when holding the opposition to 0-1 goals.

Most impressively, Notre Dame is 304-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and is unbeaten in its past 281 contests when going ahead 2-0 (dating back to a 3-3 tie with Vanderbilt on Sept. 15, 1991, in Cincinnati). In fact, just two of the past 192 Irish opponents to face a 2-0 deficit have forced a tie, something achieved by four opponents in Notre Dame history: Duke on Oct. 17, 1993, in Houston (Irish won 3-2), Connecticut on Nov. 10, 1996, in the BIG EAST final at Alumni Field (ND led 2-0, later tied 2-2 and 3-3, ND won 4-3), Duke on Nov. 30, 2007, in the NCAA quarterfinals at Alumni Field (Irish won 3-2), and most recently, Villanova on Oct. 12, 2008 in Villanova, Pa. (Irish won 3-2 in OT).

Golden Domers Golden In OT
Overtime has usually been the right time for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish are 18-3-8 (.759) all-time in the Randy Waldrum era (since ’99) when going to an extra period or two.

Notre Dame went to OT in three games last season and emerged victorious all three times. On Oct. 12, Rose Augustin potted the gamewinner at 6:58 of the first overtime for a 3-2 win at Villanova.

On Nov. 9, Melissa Henderson followed Augustin’s model and scored at 6:58 of the first OT to give the Fighting Irish a 1-0 victory in the BIG EAST Championship final at Alumni Field. It was the first “golden goal” in BIG EAST postseason history.

On Nov. 21, Alumni Field was once again the site, as Kerri Hanks slotted home a penalty kick at 6:54 of the first overtime for a 1-0 win over No. 22/24 Minnesota in the third round of the NCAA Championship. It was the first “golden goal” for the Fighting Irish in the NCAA tourney since 2000, when Meotis Erikson’s goal at 4:59 of the first OT gave Notre Dame a 2-1 win over Santa Clara in the NCAA quarterfinals at Alumni Field.

Last season marked the first time Notre Dame had ever played multiple overtime games in the postseason (BIG EAST/NCAA Championship).

Our New Digs
Located just east of the Joyce Center and approximately 500 yards west of its predecessor, Alumni Stadium is the new home for Notre Dame soccer, having opened its doors Friday night to an overflow crowd of 3,007 for its debut match against top-ranked North Carolina.

A state-of-the-art facility built at a cost of $5.7 million, Alumni Stadium has a permanent seating capacity of approximately 2,500 fans, along with grass berm seating on the east end of the grounds. The stadium also offers upgraded and expanded restroom and concession areas, elevator access to the main concourse level, as well as numerous amenities for both Fighting Irish soccer programs (expansive locker rooms with custom-made wood lockers, spacious team lounges with flat-screen plasma TVs and high-speed Internet access, and a fully-equipped athletic training center).

What’s more, Alumni Stadium features an LED scoreboard (installed by industry leader Daktronics), enhanced lighting structures and top-of-the-line sod for the pitch (cultivated in Fort Morgan, Colo., at Graff’s Turf Farms, which also provided the turf for the new Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, home of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake).

In addition, media members will enjoy the spacious new air-conditioned press box, which includes power and high-speed Internet portals at every seat (along with wireless Internet capability), three individually-wired broadcast booths and an expansive, unblocked midfield vantage point, all of which make Alumni Stadium unlike any other on-campus facility in college soccer.

The construction of Alumni Stadium was made possible because of numerous generous donations, including those by lead benefactors Tom Crotty and Rob Snyder, both former Fighting Irish men’s soccer players.

Crotty was a three-year monogram winner from 1977-79, earning team MVP honors in 1979 before graduating the following spring with a degree in finance. He currently is general partner at Battery Ventures LP in Wellesley, Mass., while he and his wife, Shari, live in Southborough, Mass.

Snyder earned two monograms from 1980-83, piling up 23 goals and 22 assists (the latter figure ranking seventh in school history). He also potted a team-high 12 goals in 1981. A 1984 graduate of Notre Dame, Snyder went on to become founder and CEO of Stream Energy in Dallas, Texas.

Taking It To The Next Level
Notre Dame had 10 players appearing on opening-day rosters for the inaugural season of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2009, ranking second among all colleges in that category. Four of those 10 (all members of the ’08 Fighting Irish NCAA runner-up squad) were selected in the league’s first-ever college draft back in January — Brittany Bock (first round, fifth overall, Los Angeles Sol), Kerri Hanks (first round, sixth overall, Saint Louis Athletica), Carrie Dew (second round, 12th overall, FC Gold Pride) and Elise Weber (third round, 21st overall, Saint Louis Athletica).

That quartet was joined by: Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol), Jen Buczkowski and Christie Shaner (Sky Blue FC), Candace Chapman (Boston Breakers), and Amanda Cinalli and Melissa Tancredi (Saint Louis Athletica).

In addition, Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf was assigned to the Chicago Red Stars as part of the U.S. National Team draft, but sat out the ’09 season while on maternity leave (she gave birth to twins in June). Kelly Lindsey began the season as an assistant coach at Sky Blue FC, then took over as interim head coach at midseason before resigning late in the year.

Midseason trades saw Hanks sent to Sky Blue FC, while Shaner went out to Los Angeles. Shaner subsequently was sidelined for the season with a broken leg.

Of the 10 active Notre Dame alums in WPS, eight saw their teams advance to the league playoffs (all but Chapman and Dew). Led by arguably the world’s top defensive midfielder in Boxx and one of WPS’ top rookies in Bock (who played center back after never playing that position at Notre Dame), Los Angeles won the regular season title and the right to host the first-ever WPS Championship Game.

In the end, five Fighting Irish alums (tying North Carolina for the most representatives from one college) worked their way into the WPS final — Bock, Boxx and Shaner for L.A., along with Hanks and Buczkowski for Sky Blue FC. The New Jersey-based club then capped an amazing string of three playoff road wins in eight days with a 1-0 upset of Los Angeles to win the inaugural WPS Championship.

Boxx was subsequently named a starter for the first WPS All-Star Game, which took place at Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in suburban St. Louis on Aug. 30.

Next Up: Santa Clara adidas Classic
The Irish hit the road for the first time this season as they head to the West Coast next weekend to take part in the Santa Clara adidas Classic in Santa Clara, Calif.

Notre Dame opens the tournament with a 7:30 pm (PT) game versus the host Broncos on Friday, Sept. 11 at Buck Shaw Stadium. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 13, the Irish take on Stanford at 11 a.m. (PT) in a rematch of last year’s NCAA College Cup semifinal won by Notre Dame, 1-0, on a goal by current sophomore forward/midfielder Courtney Barg in the 15th minute.

Notre Dame will play against a ranked opponent in both games, as Santa Clara is currently 22nd in the NSCAA poll and Stanford is fourth in the NSCAA poll and second in the Soccer America poll.

— ND —