Aug. 26, 2005
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Katie Thorlakson set a Notre Dame record for points in a season opener (eight, with two goals and four assists) while Kerri Hanks became the program’s first freshman in 13 seasons to register a hat trick in the opener, as top-ranked Notre Dame downed New Hampshire, 11-1, in Friday’s action at the Vermont Banknorth Classic.
The 11 goals mark the third time in the program’s 18-year history that the Irish have registered double-digit goals in the season opener and are the most in an opener since the 14-0 win at Providence in ’96. Just five previous games in the program’s storied history (spanning nearly 400 games) have seen the Irish score more goals – with Friday’s output representing the most goals by a Notre Dame women’s soccer team in 205 games (since an 11-0 win over West Virginia, on Oct. 25, 1996).
South Bend native Susan Pinnick – who scored to break a 1-1 tie in the preseason exhibition win at Butler (8-1) and added the late-game clincher in the 2-0 exhibition with 4th-ranked Virginia – scored another key goal in her first official game with the Irish, tapping home a pass from Hanks in the 30th minute to end an early tie with UNH.
Another newcomer, freshman Brittany Bock, added a pair of late goals while senior forward Maggie Manning had a strong day off the bench (1G-2A). Sophomore forward Amanda Cinalli (1G-2A) also factored into three of the goals while junior midfielders Jill Krivacek (G) and Lizzie Reed (A) and senior forward Amber McMillin (A) each chipped in points on the high-scoring day.
Notre Dame racked up a 30-1 shot edge (22-1 in shots on goal) while attempting all 10 of the game’s corner kicks. A miscommunication in the Irish defense produced UNH’s only shot of the day and the goal that tied the game for 12 minutes, before Pinnick came off the bench and scored to give the Irish the lead for good. Notre Dame held UNH without a shot for the game’s final 73 minutes while utilizing all 19 players on the travel roster.
Notre Dame’s dominating possession continues to be led by its veteran midfield core (senior Annie Schefter, junior Jen Buczkowski and Krivacek) plus a back line that includes third-year starters Kim Lorenzen and Christie Shaner, who have been joined by freshman Carrie Dew (among others, including fifth-year veteran Candace Chapman).
The Irish held a 3-1 lead at halftime before erupting for 18 shots (16 on net) and eight goals in the final 45 minutes. Hanks, who did not even start the game, had scored shortly before halftime and then scored the first two goals of the second half, yielding her hat trick in a span of 13:12 in game time. Thorlakson – who had scored the opening goal and assisted on the Pinnick score – went on to assist on the final two Hanks goals and had the corner-kick assist on Cinalli’s goal before scoring her own second goal of the game. That four-goal stretch, featuring 1G-3A from Thorlakson, covered just 5:13 on a scoreboard that saw the Irish lead jump from 3-1 to 7-1.
Thorlakson – who ended the 2004 NCAA championship season on an 11-game point streak – now has tied the Notre Dame record by registering a point in 12 straight official fall games with the Irish. Anne Makinen had points in 12 consecutive games during the 1999 season but (like Thorlakson) did so in only 11 straight team games, as she missed four games that year while playing with the Finland National Team (she had a point in the game before departing for national-team duty and then recorded points in the 11 games after returning to action with the Irish).
Notre Dame players have posted 8-plus points in a game 12 times in the program’s 18 seasons, led by three from Thorlakson (most by any player). She holds the Irish record with 10 points in a game (4G-2A, vs. St. John’s on 10/31/04) and earlier that season had an 8-point game vs. #4 Santa Clara on Sept. 5, 2004 (3G-2A). Monica Gerardo and Jenny Streiffer are the only other players ever to register 8-plus points in multiple games during their Irish career (each did so twice).
Notre Dame has won six straight season openers and 11 of its past 12 season-opening games, with the lone loss coming in double-overtime vs. North Carolina during the first game under current head coach Randy Waldrum (in ’99). The Irish have won their past three season openers by a combined score of 27-4, including the 2004 win over Baylor (7-2) that saw Thorlakson factor into each of the first five goals en route to a 7-point day (2G-3A).
Hanks – who technically is a second-semester freshman, after joining the Irish last spring (she played with the U.S. Under-19 National Team in the fall of ’04) – became just the second Notre Dame freshman to score a hat trick in a season opener. Rosella Guerrero had been the only player to hold that distinction, after scoring three times in a 4-3 loss to North Carolina State in the 1992 opener. Hanks also now owns the earliest hat trick by a Notre Dame freshman (in terms of date), besting the mark previously held by Amy Warner (who had 3G vs. Providence on Sept. 3, 2000).
The 21 all-time Notre Dame players who have scored hat tricks (full list below) include 14 who have done so as freshmen – but Hanks joins Warner as the program’s only freshmen to record hat tricks since 1997. If she can add another hat trick in the ’05 season, Hanks would join Susie Zilvitis (’88) and Meotis Erikson (’97) in sharing the Notre Dame record for hat tricks by a freshman (2).
Thorlakson scored or assisted on six of Notre Dame’s first seven goals vs. UNH and could have tacked on more, with the final four Irish goals coming after she had gone to the bench. Stretching back to the 3-1 win over Seton Hall late in the 2004 regular season, Thorlakson now has scored or assisted on 30 of Notre Dame’s past 39 official fall-season goals. She scored the first (and only) Irish goal in the 2004 NCAA title game vs. UCLA and opened the scoring in both ’05 preseason games before notching the game’s first goal once again vs. the Wildcats.
Thorlakson remains 14th on Notre Dame’s career scoring charts with 120 points (39G-42A) but now is just one goal shy of joining an elite group of five previous Irish players who have reached the 40G-40A plateau.
(Check back for link to game stats.)
SCORING RECAP – Cinalli’s thru-ball put Thorlakson behind the defense and she beat `keeper Julie Randall for the early lead (12:45) … a miscommunication in the Irish defense allowed Ashlee Cieslak to squeak through, with Bohn having little chance to stop UNH’s only shot of the day (17:06) … the tie lasted 12 minutes before Thorlakson’s pass sprung Hanks down the left flank … Hanks passed up her own chance and sent a pass to Pinnick for the tap-in (29:40) … nine minutes later, Manning took a pass from Krivacek and sent the ball on for Hanks, who slipped in for a one-timer inside the far-left post (38:52) … a long ball from Lorenzen set up a score early in the second half, with Thorlakson adding the thru-ball as Hanks scored inside the left post (48:13) … the lead grew to 5-1 four minutes later, when junior midfielder Claire Gallerano played a ball over the top down the right side Thorlakson beat her defender and played back a pass from the endline, with Hanks finishing again, at 52:04) … Thorlakson showed her corner-kick accuracy moments later, serving the ball from the right flag as Cinalli snapped a header back into the right side of the net (54:37) … Cinalli returned the favor 49 seconds later, one-timer a ball near mid-field that put Thorlakson in for the 7-1 cushion (55:26) … Reed later played a thru-ball from the midfield and Manning touched it past the `keeper at 73:40 … McMillin set up the next goal two minutes later on a rightside corner, with Bock scoring on the far-post header (75:53) … Gallerano’s pass set up the 10th Irish goal, with Bock driving past her defender on the right side before smacking a 25-yard shot into the upper left corner of the net (83:36) … Manning went down the right side moments later and served a low pass back to Krivacek for the tap-in that capped the scoring (85:49).
NOTES – Senior goalkeeper Erika Bohn (a native of Brookfield, Conn., who now resides with her family in Rutland, Vt.) played the first 57 minutes before yielding to sophomore Lauren Karas … since the 11-0 win over West Virginia in the middle of the ’96 season, the Irish had reached double-digit goals just once (10-0 vs. Georgetown, on 10/1/99) prior to the UNH game … it was the 16th double-digit scoring game in the program’s history … the only ND openers with more goals have been the ’96 game at PC (14-0) and a 12-0 win at LaSalle to open the ’93 season … ND now is 16-2 all-time in season openers (the other loss was the ’92 game vs. N.C. State) … Thorlakson’s 39 goals tie her with current U.S. National Team standout Shannon Boxx (’99) for 14th in ND history while her 42 assists now rank 10th in the Irish record book, passing ’97 grad. Kate Fisher’s 41 … ND now is 69-25-2 vs. first-time opponents (36-5 since ’93) … with her next goal, Thorlakson will join Streiffer (70G-71A), Cindy Daws (61G-57A), Makinen (65G-56A), Erikson (59G-46A) and Gerardo (73G-44A) in ND’s 40G-40A club … the 4-assist game marked the first of Thorlakson’s ND career … Thorlakson now has assisted on 11 game-winning goals in her career (tied for 6th in ND history) and is tied for 9th with 37 game-winning points (her 13 GWG rank 8th) … she also closed the ’04 season with 4 GWAs in the NCAAs (6 GP) … 21 ND players now have combined to score 3-plus goals 54 times … Hanks joins Heft, Streiffer, Warner, Erikson, Mary Boland and Katie Thorlakson as the 7th ND player in the Waldrum era to record a hat trick (those to do so pre-1999 include Zilvitis, Shannon Sullivan, Margaret Jarc, Tasha Strawbridge, Stephanie Porter, Guerrero, Michelle McCarthy, Alison Lester, Stacia Masters, Gerardo, Boxx, Amy Van Laecke, Daws and Makinen) … of the 21 hat-trick players listed above, only seven did not register a 3-goal game during their freshman seasons (Sullivan, Lester, Van Laecke, Daws, Streiffer, Boland and Thorlakson) … the only times ND has scored more goals in a game: 17-0 vs. Tri-State (’89), 14-0 vs. PC (’96), 12-0 at Loyola and at LaSalle (both in ’93) and 12-1 vs. Valparaiso (’90) … the seven different goalscorers equal the most in a Waldrum-era game at ND (also in ’01 vs. SJU and ’03 vs. North Texas) … ND continues to play without three injured players – senior D/M Jenny Walz (meniscus), freshman M/D Kerry Inglis (ankle) and sophomore M/F Jannica Tjeder (out for season due to knee surgery) – while freshman M Becca Mendoza is back on campus, arriving earlier in the week after completing summer play with the Mexican National Team (she likely could make her debut with the Irish next week).
#1 Notre Dame (1-0-0) 3 8 – 11
New Hampshire (0-1-0) 1 0 – 1
ND 1. Katie Thorlakson (Amanda Cinalli) 12:45; UNH 1. Ashlee Cieslak (-) 17:06; ND 2. Susan Pinnick (Kerri Hanks, Thorlakson) 29:40; ND 3. Hanks (Maggie Manning) 38:52; ND 4. Hanks (Thorlakson) 48:13; ND 5. Hanks (Thorlakson) 52:04; ND 6. Cinalli (Thorlakson) 54:37; ND 7. Thorlakson (Cinalli) 55:26; ND 8. Manning (Lizzie Reed) 73:40; ND 9. Brittany Bock (Amber McMillin) 75:53; ND 10. Bock (-) 83:36; ND 11. Jill Krivacek (Manning) 85:49
Shots: ND 12-18 – 30, UNH 1-0 – 1
Corner Kicks: ND 5-5 – 10, UNH 0-0 – 0
Saves: ND 0 (Erika Bohn 56:37, Lauren Karas 33:23), UNH 11 (Julie Randall)
Fouls: ND 7, UNH 4
Offsides: ND 3, UNH 0