Aug. 19, 2010
Full Game Notes Package in PDF Format 
2010 ND Women’s Soccer — Games 1-2
#4/4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-4-1 / 10-0-1 BIG EAST in ’09) vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-5-3 / 5-3-2 Big Ten in ’09)
DATE: August 20, 2010
TIME: 5:30 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Alumni Stadium (2,500)
SERIES: Series tied 1-1-0
1ST MTG: MINN 1-0 (9/13/89)
LAST MTG: ND 1-0, ot (11/21/08)
STATS/BLOG: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDsoccernews
#4/4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-4-1 / 10-0-1 BIG EAST in ’09) vs. Milwaukee Panthers (12-6-3 / 8-0-0 Horizon League in ’09)
DATE: August 22, 2010
TIME: 2:30 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Alumni Stadium (2,500)
SERIES: ND leads 5-1-0
1ST MTG: UWM 2-1 (9/8/89)
LAST MTG: ND 3-0 (9/6/09)
STATS/BLOG: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDsoccernews
Storylines
- All-time, Notre Dame holds a 19-2-1 (.886) record in season openers including a 12-1-1 (.893) record at home.
- In the Randy Waldrum era, Notre Dame owns a 9-1-1 mark in season openers with a 59-8 scoring margin.
#4 Irish Open 2010 Season This Weekend
After advancing to the NCAA College Cup for the fourth consecutive season in 2009, the challenge begins anew for Notre Dame as the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish kick off the 2010 campaign this weekend by welcoming Minnesota (5:30 p.m. ET, Friday) and Milwaukee (2:30 p.m. Sunday) to Alumni Stadium.
Notre Dame returns 16 monogram winners, including nine starters from last year’s 21-4-1 team that also earned the program’s 12th BIG EAST regular-season title and 11th conference postseason crown.
Rankings
- Notre Dame is ranked No. 4 in both the preseason NSCAA and Soccer America polls.
- Minnesota is not ranked in either poll.
- Milwaukee is not ranked in either poll.
A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
Experience and depth will be the driving forces for Notre Dame, if the Fighting Irish intend to continue their current run of four consecutive NCAA College Cup appearances (and five in the past six years). And, with 16 returning monogram winners, including nine starters, the prospects for meeting those two criteria would seem to be quite good.
Leading the way for Notre Dame will be the “thunder and lightning” offensive tandem of senior Lauren Fowlkes and junior Melissa Henderson that ranked fifth in the nation with 28 combined goals a year ago. Fowlkes (10G-4A in 2009), an NSCAA third-team All-American and ESPN The Magazine second-team Academic All-American, is coming off her best offensive season after moving from her customary defensive role on the Fighting Irish back line.
Meanwhile, Henderson (18G-5A) rebounded from a slow start to fashion one of the finest individual postseason efforts in school history, scoring a program-record 10 goals in the BIG EAST and NCAA tournaments, highlighted by a pair of hat tricks. In her first two seasons at Notre Dame, Henderson has scored 35 goals, ranking fourth among active Division I players.
Junior midfielder Courtney Barg (1G-2A) was a calming presence in the middle of the Fighting Irish system and was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy on the way to earning NSCAA first-team All-America honors. She and junior defender Jessica Schuveiller (2G-3A) will join Fowlkes and Henderson to form the backbone of a strong Notre Dame attack in 2010.
Scouting Minnesota
Minnesota returns 16 letterwinners, including all 11 starters from last year’s squad that posted a 12-5-3 overall record and tied for fourth in the Big Ten Conference with a 5-3-2 mark.
The Golden Gophers did not play an exhibition game this year, with Friday’s contest at Notre Dame kicking off a season-opening four-game road trip (with additional stops at Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky and Belmont during an extended stay in Nashville next weekend).
Senior forward/midfielder Katie Bethke is Minnesota’s top returning scorer (11G-7A), while senior defender Jennie Clark was named to this year’s Hermann Trophy watch list.
Head coach Mikki Denney Wright is beginning her seventh season at her alma mater, owning a 68-44-9 (.599) career record.
The Notre Dame-Minnesota Series
This will mark just the third time Notre Dame and Minnesota have met, with the teams splitting their prior two games, both in South Bend and both by 1-0 scores.
The Golden Gophers claimed the first meeting on Sept. 13, 1989, at old Moose Krause Stadium (partially located on the site where Alumni Stadium now stands), and it would be another 19 years before the teams clashed again, this time in the third round of the NCAA Championship at old Alumni Field. On a frigid late fall evening (Nov. 21, 2008), Notre Dame pulled out the overtime victory, courtesy of Kerri Hanks’ penalty kick at 96:54.
Scouting Milwaukee
Milwaukee returns 17 letterwinners, including eight starters from last season’s Panther squad that posted a 12-6-3 overall record and went a perfect 8-0-0 to win the Horizon League regular season and tournament titles. UWM fell in the first round of the NCAA Championship, losing to UCF by a 3-0 score in Madison, Wis.
The Panthers are led by last year’s national goalscoring leader, junior forward Sarah Hagen (24G-5A in ’09). She also has played on the United States Under-23 National Team, including just last month when she was a teammate of Notre Dame’s Lauren Fowlkes, Melissa Henderson and Jessica Schuveiller as the USA won the Four Nations Tournament in England.
Sunday’s game is the back end of an opening weekend road trip for Milwaukee, which kicked off its season Friday night at Ohio State.
Head coach Michael Moynihan is in his 14th season at UWM, entering this weekend’s action with a 162-74-36 (.662) career record.
The Notre Dame-Milwaukee Series
Notre Dame and Milwaukee will be playing for the seventh time, with the Fighting Irish owning a 5-1-0 series lead over the Panthers, including a 4-0-0 record in South Bend.
UWM won the first matchup, 2-1 on Sept. 8, 1989, in Milwaukee, but since then, Notre Dame has won the past five series games by a combined 16-0 score. The teams are meeting for the second consecutive season and the third time in five years.
Last year, the Fighting Irish earned a 3-0 victory over the Panthers on Sept. 6 at Alumni Stadium on the second day of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic, with Melissa Henderson scoring twice in the first 14 minutes and Lauren Fowlkes adding a goal in the 24th minute to support a combined shutout from Nikki Weiss and Maddie Fox.
Season Openers
All-time, Notre Dame holds a 19-2-1 (.886) record in season openers including a 12-1-1 (.893) record at home. Additionally, under 12th-year head coach Randy Waldrum, Notre Dame carries a 9-1-1 mark in season openers and has outscored the opposition by a 59-8 margin in those 11 games.
Pick Three For The Hermann Watch
Senior defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes, junior midfielder Courtney Barg and junior forward Melissa Henderson have been named to the 45-player watch list for the 2010 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, it was announced Aug. 11 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). The Hermann Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I women’s soccer player.
Notre Dame was one of only five schools (along with Boston College, Portland, Stanford and UCLA) to place three players on this year’s Hermann Trophy watch list. Both Fowlkes and Henderson also appeared on last year’s Hermann Trophy preseason chart, while Barg was a midseason addition to the candidate list and wound up being selected as one of 15 semifinalists for the ’09 award.
The BIG EAST Conference had a total of five players named to the 2010 Hermann Trophy watch list, tying the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences for the third-most selections from one league behind the Atlantic Coast Conference (9) and Pac-10 Conference (7).
Notre Dame is one of only two programs to field four or more different recipients of the prestigious Hermann Trophy since its inception in 1988, with Cindy Daws (1996), Anne Makinen (2000) and Kerri Hanks (2006 & 2008) taking home the crystal ball award. The 2010 Hermann Trophy winner will be selected by Division I head coaches who are current members of the NSCAA. The list of 15 semifinalists will be chosen by a coaches committee, with the three finalists revealed in early December. All three will be invited to a news conference on Jan. 7, 2011, at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, where the winner will be announced, with a presentation banquet to follow.
Beasts Of The BIG EAST
With a 2-1 win over Marquette in last year’s BIG EAST Championship final, Notre Dame now owns an NCAA Division I-record 66-game unbeaten streak (63-0-3) against BIG EAST opposition, dating back to a 4-1 loss at No. 15 Marquette on Sept. 30, 2005. In that time, the only ties were scoreless draws at Connecticut (Oct. 13, 2006) and Pittsburgh (Oct. 4, 2009), and a 1-1 deadlock at No. 12 West Virginia in the 2007 BIG EAST final (won by the Mountaineers on penalties, 5-3, but the game is recorded as a tie).
Since joining the BIG EAST 15 years ago, the Fighting Irish are 134-8-5 (.928) all-time in regular-season conference games, 35-2-1 (.934) in the BIG EAST Championship, and hold a 713-85 scoring edge dating back to that first league season in 1995.
What’s more, Notre Dame maintains a 15-year, 94-game home unbeaten streak (93-0-1) against BIG EAST teams, with Connecticut the lone conference team ever to defeat the Fighting Irish at home (5-4 in overtime on Oct. 6, 1995, at old Alumni Field). The only result separating Notre Dame from a 94-game conference home winning streak has been a 0-0 draw with Rutgers on Oct. 22, 2004, also at old Alumni Field.
Our Fearless Leader
Now in his 12th season at Notre Dame, head coach Randy Waldrum ranks fourth on the NCAA Division I all-time winning percentage list with a .787 (339-84-21) mark in his first 20 years in the women’s game. He also is third among active coaches, while his 339 career wins rank fifth on the all-time NCAA Division I charts.
A two-time National Coach of the Year (2008 by the NSCAA, 2009 by Soccer America), Waldrum has led Notre Dame to seven NCAA College Cups, four NCAA finals and the 2004 national championship. He is second in NCAA Division I history with seven College Cup appearances and four title-game berths in his storied career.
The 2-0 Guarantee
Notre Dame is 316-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and is unbeaten in its past 293 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 205 Fighting 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 old 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 old Alumni Field (Irish won 3-2), and most recently, Villanova on Oct. 12, 2008 in Villanova, Pa. (ND won 3-2 in OT).
Three … Is The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with a 286-3-1 (.988) record in those games, including a 188-1-0 (.995) mark since Oct. 6, 1995. The Fighting Irish also are 390-10-15 (.958) when holding the opposition to 0-1 goals.
Golden Domers Golden In OT
Overtime has usually been the right time for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish are 20-3-9 (.766) all-time in the Randy Waldrum era (since 1999) when going to an extra period or two, including an active seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) dating back to the 2007 season.
Last year, Notre Dame went to overtime on three occasions, defeating West Virginia (3-2 on Oct. 2) and St. John’s (2-1 on Nov. 6 in the BIG EAST semifinal in Storrs, Conn.) and ending in a scoreless draw at Pittsburgh (Oct. 4).
Four current Fighting Irish players have scored “golden goals” in their college careers — senior midfielder Rose Augustin (Oct. 12, 2008 at Villanova), junior forward Melissa Henderson (Nov. 9, 2008 vs. Connecticut in BIG EAST final), senior forward Taylor Knaack (Oct. 2, 2009 at West Virginia) and junior defender Jessica Schuveiller (Nov. 6 vs. St. John’s in BIG EAST semifinal).
ND Supporters Group Debuts In 2010
Fans are encouraged to be a part of the new unofficial Notre Dame soccer supporters’ group, The Rakes of Mallow. This student-based organization will attend all Fighting Irish home games this year and is aiming to create a special home pitch atmosphere unlike any in college soccer. To learn more, visit The Rakes of Mallow web site (www.rakesofmallow.net).
Next Up: Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic
Following nearly two weeks off, Notre Dame will return to action Sept. 3 & 5 when it plays host to the 18th annual Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic at Alumni Stadium. The tournament’s featured matchup will see the Fighting Irish take on No. 9/10 Santa Clara at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on Sept. 3 in the nightcap of the first-day doubleheader that also will feature Ole Miss tangling with Texas Tech (5 p.m.).
On Sept. 5, Ole Miss and Santa Clara will play in the opener at 11 a.m., followed by Notre Dame squaring off with Texas Tech at 1:30 p.m.
— ND —