Sept. 13, 2007
ND Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic Preview in PDF Format (includes game program)
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Note: see attached PDF for full-color, 8-page game program, plus ND Classic historical scores and tournament MVPs, opponent capsules, ND stats pack and ND 2007 boxscores.
The Notre Dame women’s soccer team will serve as the host team for its annual four-team tournament this weekend at Alumni Field … the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic will begin on Friday, Sept. 14, when 16th-ranked Oklahoma State (4-0-0) faces Washington State (2-0-1), followed by 9th-ranked Notre Dame (1-2-0) versus Princeton (0-2-1) at 7:30 … Sunday’s games then will feature Princeton-WSU at 11:00 a.m. and ND-OSU at 1:30.
NOTRE DAME INN AT SAINT MARY’S WOMEN’S SOCCER CLASSIC (Sept. 14 and 16, 2007 … Alumni Field; Notre Dame, Ind.)
Tournament Schedule
Friday, Sept. 14 – Washington State vs. #16 Oklahoma State (5:00) … Princeton vs. #9 Notre Dame (7:30)
Sunday, Sept. 16 – Washington State vs. Princeton (11:00) … #16 Oklahoma State vs. #9 Notre Dame – 1:30
see PDF for team rosters (with stats) and ND photo roster
IRISH NOTES – Notre Dame’s exhibition games included a 2-2 tie with preseason #1 North Carolina (in a rare quick rematch of the NCAA title game) and a 3-1 win over #11 Virginia (in Ft. Wayne) … Amanda Cinalli scored in the seventh minute vs. UNC and added a pair of goals against UVa … Kerri Hanks also scored in the UNC game (just moments after the Tar Heels had taken a 2-1 lead) while Lauren Fowlkes added a goal in the UVa game (a header off a Michele Weissenhofer flip-throw) … Weissenhofer’s short cross from the left side also helped set up Cinalli’s goal vs. UNC while Clark’s long free kick sprung Hanks for her goal … Cinalli’s first goal vs. UVa came on a header (assisted by a Hanks free kick) and she later knocked home Weissenhofer’s rebounded shot … the crowd for the UNC game (3,412) was an Alumni Field record for a women’s soccer game and is the biggest crowd at the facility since a 1994 ND-SMU men’s soccer game drew 3,502 … there was an unprecedented 1,318 presold tickets for the ND-UNC game … ND ranked 4th in average home attendance during the 2006 season (1,901), behind Texas A&M, Portland and BYU … the Irish played to a scoreless tie with Michigan in the 2007 regular-season opener, despite a 28-6 edge in shots (10-2 in shots on goal; 10-1 corner-kick margin) … that game ended ND’s home winning streak at 32 games, tied for third-longest D-I history (ND still owns the third-longest home unbeaten streak, at 42 games/40-0-2) … the crowd vs. Michigan (3,264) is the largest ever for an official (non-exhibition) ND women’s soccer home game … the Irish held the Wolverines without a shot for 92 straight minutes of game time, stretching into the second OT … the ensuing 2-0 win at #7 Florida saw newcomer Elise Weber (a transfer from Wisconsin) assist on Brittany Bock’s early diving header … following a long weather delay, Weber scored the first goal of her young Irish career to cap the win over the Gators … that game started 22 minutes late due to an initial downpour and play then was halted after 30 minutes of action (lightning strikes and a steady downpour resulted a long delay that ultimately lasted four-and-a-half hours) … more than half of Bock’s career goals with the Irish (13 of 25) have come on headers, in addition to four rare corner-kick assists in her career … Bock has totaled a team-best seven gamewinning goals over the past two seasons … the win over Florida was the 350th of Randy Waldrum’s career as a college soccer coach (combined men’s and women’s totals) … the Irish have posted 36 straight wins when scoring the game’s first goal (since mid-2005) and have 248 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 lead (dating back to 1991) … ND’s 27-game regular-season unbeaten streak (25-0-2) ended at #3 Santa Clara (7-1; goal by Weissenhofer) … ND then dropped a 2-1 game to Stanford in overtime (goal by Fowlkes), ending the program’s OT unbeaten streak at 21 games (14-0-7) … the Irish had been nearly perfect in Sunday games over the past three seasons (25-1-0; 2005-07) prior to the Stanford loss … Bock and Fowlkes were named to the SCU Classic all-tournament team … ND and SCU now have split 10 regular-season meetings (ND has an 8-5 overall series lead) and the home team is 9-2 in the ND-SCU series … Hanks has 3A this season, making her the 39th player in D-I history to reach 40 career goals and 40 assists (50G-40A, in 56 career games) … ND’s all-time record at Alumni Field (193-14-4/.924, from 1990-2006) includes a .960 win pct. against teams not ranked in the NSCAA top-25 (130-4-3) … the Irish went 32-0-0 during the 2005 and ’06 seasons when Hanks scored at least one goal.
TIGERS NOTES – Princeton returned nine starters and 16 of 20 letterwinners from its 2006 team that went 8-7-1 and finished fifth in the Ivy League standings (3-4-0) … senior All-America midfielder Diana Matheson currently is competing in China at the Women’s World Cup, as a member of the Canadian National Team (her teammates on that squad include ND alums Candace Chapman, Melissa Tancredi and Katie Thorlakson, while former ND players Kate Sobrero Markgraf and Shannon Boxx are playing for Team USA) … the Women’s World Cup games are being televised live on ESPN/ESPN-2 (with early-morning air times) … Princeton joined Notre Dame among the four teams in the 2004 NCAA College Cup semifinals (held in Cary, N.C.) … the Tigers had advanced through the 2004 NCAAs with wins over Central Connecticut (5-0), Villanova (1-0/2 OT), Boston College (2-0) and Washington (3-1) before losing a 2-0 semifinal to UCLA … Matheson is the only Princeton player remaining who played in that 2004 NCAA semifinal … ND beat Santa Clara in its 2004 NCAA semifinal (1-0) and then edged UCLA in penalty kicks (4-3; 1-1 score after OT) to claim the NCAA title … Amanda Cinalli and Ashley Jones are the only remaining ND players who appeared in the 2004 College Cup semifinals or final.
FRIEND OR FOE? – Notre Dame senior D/M Ashley Jones and Princeton junior M/F Aarti Jain were teammates on the Cal-South state ODP (Olympic Development Program) team …
VERSUS THE IVY LEAGUE – Notre Dame has won all four of its previous games against Ivy League teams (each has come during the Randy Waldrum era) … those games include a 2-0 win over Harvard in the first round of the 2000 NCAAs, a pair of wins at Yale (4-0 in 2000; 2-0 in 2001) and the 5-2 win over Yale in he 2005 NCAA round-of-16 … Harvard returned to ND’s Alumni Field in the 2006 season, as a participant in the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic.
FIRST-TIME VISITORS – Since 1993, teams making their first visit to Alumni Field have gone just 3-42-1 (.076) versus the Irish in those games … ND’s all-time record in series openers is 78-25-2 (.745), including 45-5-0 since ’93 and 51-8-0 in all series openers at home (26-3-0 since ’93) … Notre Dame is 27-2-0 in series openers during the Randy Waldum era (since 1999), with an active streak of 18 consecutive wins in series openers (dating back to the start of the 2003 season) … Princeton and Oklahoma State are making their first trips to Alumni Field (and facing ND for the first time) this weekend.
COWGIRLS NOTES – Oklahoma State returns eight starters and 14 of 19 letterwinners from its 2006 team that went 17-3-3, finished second in the Big 12 (8-1-1), reached the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAAs … the Cowgirls beat UNC Greensboro in the first round of the 2006 NCAAs (2-0) but Clemson went on to the third round, via penalty kicks … Oklahoma State is ranked as high as 16th in the nation (per Soccer America), after opening with wins over New Mexico (2-1/OT), Arkansas State (3-0; on the road), Xavier (5-0) and Louisiana-Monroe (7-0).
FRIEND OR FOE? (part II.) – Notre Dame junior midfielder Becca Mendoza and Oklahoma State junior defender Jessica Jarrell were teammates with the Dallas Sting club program … ND junior forward Kerri Hanks and OSU freshman goalkeeper Samantha Summers both are graduates of Allen (Texas) High School.
VERSUS THE BIG 12 – Notre Dame never has lost a women’s soccer game to a Big 12 Conference team (9-0-1), with a 3-0-1 mark versus Nebraska during an intense rivalry period between the Irish and Huskers (1997-2001) … ND also has played single games (all wins) versus Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas Tech (the Irish have yet to face the other Big 12 teams) …. ND ninth-year head coach Randy Waldrum (who previously coached at Tulsa and Baylor) owns a 34-10-3 career record (.755) vs. Big 12 teams: 6-0-0 vs. Iowa State, 4-0-0 vs. Texas Tech, 2-0-0 vs. Kansas, 6-3-0 vs. A&M, 5-1-0 vs. Oklahoma, 3-1-0 vs. both Missouri and Colorado, 3-1- vs. Texas, 2-3-1 vs. Nebraska, 2-0-1 vs. Oklahoma State and 1-0-0 vs. Baylor … Waldrum’s 7-0-1 record vs. Big 12 teams during his ND career includes wins over A&M (1-0, ’99; in Klein, Texas), Nebraska (1-0, ’01), Oklahoma (5-1, ’03), Baylor (7-2, ’04), Texas Tech (3-0, ’04; @TT), Iowa State (9-0, ’06) and Colorado (3-0, ’06 NCAA third round) – plus a 1-1 tie at Nebraska in the 199 NCAA quarterfinals (ND advanced 4-3 on PKs).
WSU NOTES – Washington State returned 10 starters and 19 of 24 letterwinners from its 2006 team that went 9-7-4 and finished fourth in the Pac-10 standings (4-3-2) … the Cougars opened their season with a 2-1 win at Montana, followed by a 2-1 win at Gonzaga (in double overtime) and a 3-3 tie at home with Utah.
COUGAR CONNECTION – Notre Dame sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander and Washington State sophomore midfielder Caeli Abeyta were teammates with the San Diego Surf club program.
NOTRE DAME HOME TOURNAMENT HISTORY – Notre Dame has hosted a women’s soccer tournament every year since 1995 (also in ’92 and ’93), going 22-4-2 (.821) in those games with an 80-26 scoring edge … the only teams that have defeated the Irish in their home tournament are Stanford (1992; 3-0), North Carolina (1999; 3-2, in double-OT), Santa Clara (2002; 4-0) and Portland (2002; 1-0) … ND has won four straight home tournaments (2002-06), with a 30-6 scoring edge in that eight-game span … ND’s past four home tournaments have included wins over Arizona State (3-1), Oklahoma (5-1), Stanford (1-0), Santa Clara (5-2), Florida (4-1), Maryland (6-0), USC (2-0) and Santa Clara again (3-1) … Washington State joins four other Pac-10 teams that have competed in regular-season tournaments at Notre Dame: Stanford (1992, 1995, 2000 2004), Washington (1996), Arizona State (2003) and USC (2006).
PRINCETON PREVIEW
By Andrew Borders (Princeton Sports Info.) Looking for its seventh NCAA tournament bid since 1999, Princeton returns a pair of first team All-Ivy League honorees to a squad that shut out its opponents for nearly 400 minutes to end the 2006 season. That stellar defensive effort helped the Tigers achieve the program’s 10th straight winning season under Julie Shackford, the 2004 Division I coach of the year. In her 13th season, Shackford is the program’s winningest all-time coach and entered the season four wins from becoming the school’s most victorious soccer coach, men’s or women’s, of all-time.
Princeton boasts a diverse roster, with players coming from 13 states and Canada. While the Tigers graduated three seniors from the 2006 team, Princeton returns nine starters and enters a freshman class eight strong.
Diana Matheson, a senior midfielder and three-time first-team All-Ivy honoree, was an NSCAA All-America selection in 2004 while helping guide Princeton to the College Cup semifinals. Princeton’s leading scorer in 2006 with eight goals, Matheson enters 2007 one assist shy of matching a 17-year-old record for career assists (20). The Toronto-area native will spend September continuing her international competition, suiting up for Canada at the Women’s World Cup. Matheson has been playing for the full national squad since 2003 and has played in more than 60 international games in that span, gaining a starting role.
Princeton’s returners accounted for 22 of the 27 goals in 2006, with eight of those goals coming from Matheson and six from current sophomore Vicki Anagnostopoulos, who tied a program record with four goals in the 5-0 win over Harvard (the largest margin of victory in that long-running series). Juniors Aarti Jain (3G), Sarah Peteraf (2G), Numann (1G) and Om (1G), and sophomore Marci Pasenello (1G), also scored in the 2006 season.
Senior goalkeeper and team captain Maren Dale joins junior defender Taylor Numann (a first team all-league performer) as the team’s leaders in the defensive third. Dale logged most of the minutes in Princeton’s eight 2006 shutouts and owns a 1.09 career GAA.
OKLAHOMA STATE PREVIEW
By Wade McWhorter (OSU Sports Information)
The Oklahoma State women’s soccer team in 2006 advanced to the NCAAs for the second time in the program’s 12-year history – followed by a 7-0-1 record in the spring season and a nationally-ranked status heading into the 2007 season. The Cowgirls return eight starters, including six of their top seven scorers and the core of a defense that was among the Big 12’s best in 2006.
One of the team’s international stars, Adriane Radtke, will be looking to cap her standout career. The all-Big 12 forward and German native entered the season with 26 career goals to rank second on OSU’s all-time list (her 18 assists rank third). Sophomore Leah Hope also returns, after tying for second on the 2006 team with five goals. The others in the forward mix include senior Stephanie Lovely (who is coming off an injury), freshman Katie Richardson (a top in-state talent) and fellow newcomer Kelsey Van Sickle.
Seniors Yolanda Odenyo and Sara Jackson lead a veteran midfield. Odenyo is the most highly-decorated player in OSU soccer history and was on the 2007 preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy. The Sweden native’s All-America junior season (5G-8A, after 7G-4A in ’05) included sharing Big 12 player-of-the-year honors. Jackson scored five goals in 2006 while the young midfielders include Siera Strawser (2006 Freshman All-American; 5G-6A) and fellow sophomore Kasey Langdon (3 GWG in ’06) – with junior Jamie Markaverich and redshirt freshman Annika Niemeier also expected to contribute.
The OSU defense – which allowed only 85 shots on goal in 2006 (3.7/gm) – is anchored by senior Niccole Grimaldi, an all-region performer who led the ’06 team with nine assists. Sophomore Bridget Miller was one of the Big 12’s top newcomers in 2006 while junior Jessica Jarrell started 16 games in ’06. Sophomores Lindsay Lawson and Andrea Sartin add experience at the defender spot while a pair of decorated freshman recruits – Allyson Leggett and Whitney Wernimont – could contribute immediately.
Junior goalkeeper Erin Stigler started eight games in 2006 and recorded eight shutouts while leading the Big 12 with a 0.71 GAA – with freshman Kaitlyn Gustaves giving the squad another talented ‘keeper.
WASHINGTON STATE PREVIEW
By Craig Lawson (WSU Information)
With virtually its entire starting lineup returning from a 2006 team that went 9-7-4 and finished fourth in the Pacific-10 Conference, the Washington State women’s soccer team could be on track for one of the top seasons in the program’s history.
WSU’s forward group could produce several combination options, with talented freshman Emma Stolz joining a veteran group that includes sophomore Kiersten Dallstream (who recently trained at a U.S. Under-20 National Team camp) and the senior duo of Brooke Bemis and Kim Bonnes.
The Cougars’ midfield unit likewise will be counted on to perform in a variety of systems while also providing some scoring punch. The veteran midfield is led by senior Anna Miller – who had a team-high six assists in 2006 – and the sophomore trio of Carly Dobratz (a 2006 all-West Region selection), Caeli Abeyta and Elysse Van Leer. Seniors Molly Alexander and Natalie Elkind add further depth to what could be the key position for Washington State during the 2007 season.
WSU’s defensive unit set a team record for fewest goals allowed in 2006 (15), with most of the key defenders set to return for the 2007 season. The top returners include senior Allison Scurich (a second team all-Pacific-10 Conference performer in ’06) and sophomores Jenny Christoph, Maggie Dougher and Laura Powell (each of whom started 18-20 games in ’06). The defense could receive an added boost from the return of junior Shaye Harrel (who missed most of the 2006 season due to injury) and the arrival of freshmen Ashley Johnson, Erin Holzmeister and Nici Patrizi.
The Washington State goalkeepers tied a team record with 10 shutouts in 2006, with current senior Brynn Bemis posting seven. Newcomer Lindsay Parlee led her high school team to the state title and is expected to push Bemis for playing time.
NOTRE DAME SEASON PREVIEW (see media guide PDF and/or earlier posting on und.com for full preview)
By Pete LaFleur
The Notre Dame women’s soccer team is celebrating the program’s 20th season in 2007. The level of satisfaction from that season-long celebration ultimately will hinge on one primary goal: completing the program’s third NCAA championship season, to go along with earlier titles won in 1995 and 2004.
Notre Dame – which compiled the best record in college soccer over the past three seasons (72-5-2, from 2004-06) – has been in the mix for the national title in eight of the past 13 seasons, advancing to the College Cup final weekend five times in the 1990s (1994-97, ’99) and three more in the current decade (2000, ’04 and ’06; plus a 2005 season that is one of six when the Irish have been ranked number one). In addition to taking home the pair of first-place trophies, Notre Dame has been the NCAA runner-up four times (’94, ’96, ’99, ’06) – so shooting for the top is now an annual rite of passage.
Waldrum – who entered the 2007 season with .773 career win percentage that is third-best among active Division I coaches – welcomed back seven starters, four top reserves and 17 total veterans from the 2006 NCAA runner-up squad that went 25-1-1 and held the nation’s top ranking for most of the season. The headline returners include junior forward Kerri Hanks, who in 2005 became the youngest player (female or male) ever to receive the prestigious Hermann Trophy player-of-the-year award – along with junior center back Carrie Dew (the BIG EAST’s 2006 defensive player of the year, with Hanks earning the offensive award) and senior forward/midfielder Amanda Cinalli, a three-time all-BIG EAST performer who will serve as the 2007 team captain.
Hanks and Cinalli have been named to the 2007 Hermann Trophy preseason watch list while joining Dew, junior midfielder Brittany Bock and sophomore forward Michele Weissenhofer among the 13 players who received 2007 preseason first team all-BIG EAST honors. Each of those five also is a current member of the U.S. Under-21/U-23 National Team player pool, with Cinalli and Weissenhofer playing on the U-21 team that won the 2007 Nordic Cup.
Notre Dame returned plenty of firepower from the potent 2006 offense, including all four double-digit goalscorers from a year ago. Hanks (22G-22A in ’06) and Weissenhofer (18G-17A) had a rare 1-2 teammate finish atop the national scoring charts in 2006 (66 and 53 points, respectively) while Cinalli posted her third straight double-digit goal season (11G-4A) and Bock added 12G-5A.
All told, the Notre Dame returners accounted for 87 percent of the team’s goals in 2006 (74 of 85). The four players mentioned above are equally adept at setting up goals as they are at scoring them, with 96 career assists between them to go along with their 123 combined career goals.
Nonetheless, the Irish still must replace their primary playmaker – departed three-year All-America midfielder Jen Buczkowski, who served as the engine for a Notre Dame program that outscored the opposition 337-57 (+280) during her four-year career. Sophomore Courtney Rosen and junior Rebecca Mendoza could use their unique talents to help fill the void created by Buczkowski’s departure.
The biggest question mark resides in the defensive third, as Notre Dame looks to rework its lineup following the graduation of three battle-tested veterans: defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek (a second team all-region performer and a member of the 2006 Hermann Trophy watch list), center back Kim Lorenzen (the ’06 team captain) and four-year all-BIG EAST performer Christie Shaner, who split time in her career as a starter at left back and at one of the center back spots.
Heir apparent to the 5-foot-11 Krivacek could be freshman Lauren Fowlkes, a prep All-American and U.S. Under-17 National Team member who packs plenty of diverse talents into her own 5-11 frame. Tenacious sophomore Amanda Clark also has prototypical defensive midfielder skills but she may be needed more on the back line, where she can serve as a center or right back.
Possibly the one defensive certainty entering the 2007 season is that sophomore Haley Ford will anchor one of the central back positions, a role she filled with veteran-like poise in the 2006 postseason (when Dew was sidelined due to an ACL knee injury). Dew – a first team all-region performer and Hermann Trophy watch list honoree in 2006 – was nearing the completion of her rehabilitation late in the summer of 2007 and, if healthy, could combine with Ford to form an impressive pair of center backs.
Both outside back spots could feature new starters, as senior Academic All-American Ashley Jones (the starting right back in ’06) may return to her natural position of midfielder. Potential candidates to emerge at outside back include an intriguing junior pair of Elise Weber and Kerry Inglis, both of whom are more than competent leftside players. Weber is a rare transfer to the Notre Dame women’s soccer program (after starting the past two years at Wisconsin) while Inglis has played a total of only 224 minutes in her Irish career, due to a chronic ankle injury.
Notre Dame could enjoy the best three-goalkeeper depth in the program’s history, with senior Lauren Karas returning as the starter while freshman Nikki Weiss also should be in the mix, following a prep All-America career and experience with U.S. youth national team programs.
Notre Dame’s 2007 roster includes seven Texas natives – four of them (namely Karas, Hanks and Ford) products of the elite Dallas Texans club – while six others played for the Chicago-based Eclipse Select club that recently has matched the Texans in racking up national titles. Most notably, Bock, Weissenhofer, Clark and Weber all played for the Eclipse before joining the Irish.