Oct. 9, 2007
Notre Dame junior Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill.) has been named the national and BIG EAST women’s soccer player of the week, after totaling four goals and an assist in wins at Syracuse and St. John’s on Oct. 5 and 7. Bock – a midfielder who has shifted to forward in the past few weeks – became the 23rd different Notre Dame player ever to post a hat trick in a game (vs. Syracuse) but is one of only six Irish players ever to score the first three goals in a game. Both the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Top Drawer Soccer named Bock their national player of the week, while the BIG EAST Conference recognized her as the league’s offensive player of the week and two other soccer sources – Soccer America and Soccer Buzz – named Bock to their respective national teams of the week. Junior left back Elise Weber also was honored by the league office, earning a spot on the BIG EAST weekly honor roll.
Brittany Bock became the sixth different Notre Dame women’s soccer player ever to score the first three goals in a game.
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Bock currently leads the BIG EAST with five goals in conference play while also ranking second in league points (11; 5G-1A) and fifth in shots during BIG EAST games (19). Her overall season stats include six goals (fourth-most among BIG EAST players), 13 points (5th; 6G-1A) and 35 shots (8th). Bock (30G-17A) is tied with former teammate Jen Buczkowski for 22nd on the Notre Dame career points list (77; six behind Jen Grubb). Her 30 goals are 19th in Irish women’s soccer history (one behind Stephanie Porter) and she needs three assists to become the 24th all-time ND player to reach 20G-20A.
Notre Dame joins Villanova as the only teams to produce both an offensive and defensive player of the week this season, as junior center back Carrie Dew received the defensive honor the previous week. Four different Irish players have received national and/or BIG EAST honors this season, as junior forward Kerri Hanks was named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll on Sept. 24 while Weber was tabbed for the Soccer Buzz “elite feet” national team of the week on Sept. 3.
Weber helped set up goals in the wins over Syracuse an St. John’s while playing a lead role for the Irish defense that limited the two opponents to one goal,12 combined shots, four shots on goal and only three corner kicks. One of five Notre Dame players to start all 12 games this season, Weber ranks seventh on the team with five points and is fourth on the squad in assists (3) while her 981 minutes played (82/gm) are sixth-most on the team.
Bock – who has shifted to forward in recent weeks, due to injuries suffered by her teammates Taylor Knaack, Michele Weissenhofer and Amanda Cinalli – opened the scoring at Syracuse 32 seconds before halftime. Weber took a pass from Ashley Jones and sent a low cross from the left side, with Bock then sending a 10-yard shot into the upper left corner of the net. Early in the second half, Jones supplied the lead pass that sprung Bock for a breakaway shot into the right side of the net. Bock completed her hat trick less than two minutes later, sending the ball past the charging ‘keeper after taking a leftside pass from freshman Erica Iantorno. Bock beat the Syracuse defenders to the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and slid her shot past the ‘keeper Eliza Bennett-Hatton for the 3-0 lead.
Two days later at St. John’s, Bock extended her goal streak to three games (matching the longest of her career) while reaching the 30 career goals milestone. Dew initiated the first goal sequence at SJU with a 75th-minute pass to Jones in the 75th minute. Jones then crossed the ball from the left side and Bock converted a short flick near the left edge of the box, assisting on a shot by Hanks inside the near-left post. Bock found the net 11 minutes later, after short passes from the left provided by Jones and Hanks – with Bock drilling a 15-yard shot into the far-right side of the net.
Five different Notre Dame women’s soccer players have been named national players of the week during the past two seasons, with the others including Cinalli, Dew, Weissenhofer and Hanks A9ll in 2006). Bock is the first Notre Dame women’s soccer player ever to receive the NSCAA player-of-the-week honor, which made its debut during the 2006 season.
HAT TRICK HISTORY – The first 54 hat tricks in ND history had featured only four times when an Irish player scored the first three goals of the game, but five of the past six ND hat tricks now have seen the same player score goals 1-2-3 (also Hanks at Vermont in ’05, vs. Seton Hall in ’06 and vs. DePaul in ’07, and Weissenhofer vs. Penn State in the ’06 NCAA quarterfinals) … Hanks (Sept. 21, vs. DePaul) and Bock are the first ND teammates to post hat tricks in the same regular season since Amy Warner (vs. Providence) and Meotis Erikson (vs. Georgetown) did so during the 2000 season … Weissenhofer (Nov. 24, 2006), Hanks and Bock each have turned in hat tricks over the span of ND’s past 15 games, stretching back to the late stages of the 2006 postseason … Michelle McCarthy scored the first three goals vs. Loyola Chicago in 1992, as did Rosella Guerrero vs. SMU in 1993 and Jenny Heft twice in her career (1997 vs. UCLA; 1998 vs. Wake Forest) … Hanks (at UVm) and Bock are the only ND players ever to score goals 1-2-3 in a road game … the 23 ND players who have combined on the 60 all-time hat tricks include: Heft (6), Hanks (5), Guerrero (5), Monica Gerardo (5), McCarthy (4), seven players with three each (Susie Zilvitis, Stephanie Porter, Alison Lester, Cindy Daws, Anne Makinen, Jenny Streiffer and Erikson) and three with two HTs each (Amy VanLaecke, Warner and Katie Thorlakson), plus single hat tricks from Shannon Sullivan, Margaret Jarc, Tasha Strawbridge, Stacia Masters, Shannon Boxx, Mary Boland, Weissenhofer and Bock.
THREE WITH 30 – The depth of Notre Dame’s potent offense can be seen in the fact that the Irish now have three players with 30-plus career goals, the first Notre Dame team since 1999 that can make that claim … Hanks has totaled 58 goals in her three seasons while Cinalli has compiled 34 goals in four seasons with the Irish and Bock 30 in her three years … the first season of the Randy Waldrum era (1999) featured four different players who had 30-plus career goals: Heft (finished season with 80), Streiffer (70), Makinen (46) and Erikson (46) … ND had three or more players with 30-plus career goals on its team every season from 1995-99 (also three in ’95 and ’96, four in ’97 and six in ’98) … the record-setting 1998 offense finished the season with six players who had 30-plus career goals: Gerardo (73), Heft (60), Streiffer (51), Boxx (39), Makinen (38) and Erikson (32) … the current team could add a fourth 30-goal scorer, with Weissenhofer owning 22 career goals (she has been slowed the past few weeks with an ankle injury).
Brittany Bock – who is riding a three-game goalscoring streak – has the all-around skills to impact the game in several ways, whether it be in the midfield or at forward.
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POLL POSITION – Notre Dame currently is ranked as high as 17th in the national polls (per Soccer America) while Top Drawer Soccer has the Irish slotted 11th for the 2007 NCAA field … last week’s soccerratings.com power rankings had ND listed 14th (still to be updated this week) … the NCAA was supposed to release its first RPI (ratings percentage index) on Oct. 8 (now expected on Oct. 10), with Notre Dame’s strong strength of schedule likely to produce an RPI number better than its #17 ranking … 10 different teams on ND’s 2007 schedule (or potential opponents) currently are ranked in the national top-25 of at least one poll (including the TDS projected NCAA field and soccerratings.com, plus the NSCAA, Soccer America, Soccer Times and Soccer Buzz rankings) … Stanford currently is ranked first in several polls while North Carolina is high as #2, Virginia and Santa Clara both as high as #3, Penn State as high as #4, with others ranked in the top-25 including (highest rank indicated): Connecticut (8), Villanova (13), Florida (19), West Virginia (21), Marquette (22) and Oklahoma State (23) … ND faced UNC and UVa in the preseason while WVU and Marquette are potential BIG EAST Tournament opponents.
BIG EAST STANDINGS – Notre Dame (5-0-0; 15 pts) already owns a six-point cushion atop the BIG EAST National Division standings, followed by Louisville (9; 3-2-0), Seton Hall (7; 2-2-1), Georgetown (6; 2-2-0), Villanova (6; 1-1-3), Rutgers (5; 1-2-2), Cincinnati (3; 1-4-0) and DePaul (3; 1-4-0) … two wins this weekend would all but clinch a spot for the Irish in the BIG EAST Tournament, which features the top-four finishers from each division.
NATIONAL STAT LEADERS – Despite its slow start offensively this season, Notre Dame currently ranks 27th in the nation with 2.33 goals per game … Hanks is one of four players in the nation with seven-plus goals and seven-plus assists while ranking 11th in assists (7),17th in points (23) and 22nd in goals (8).
BIG EAST STAT LEADERS – Notre Dame ranks second among BIG EAST teams in goals (2.33/gm) and shots (17.7/gm), plus sixth in goal margin (+11) and corner kicks (4/7.gm), seventh in shutouts (5) and 11th in goals-against avg. (1.38) … the Irish already have played four games this season vs. teams that were ranked in the NSCAA or Soccer America top-25 at the time of the game (the other 15 BIG EAST teams have combined to play nine games vs. NSCAA or SA top-25 teams) … Notre Dame has an average home attendance this season of 2,442 per game, best in the BIG EAST and likely to rank among the national leaders (ND was 4th among the 2006 national attendance leaders, at 1,901/gm) … Hanks leads the BIG EAST in points (23) and goals (8) while ranking second in assists (7) and gamewinning goals (3) and third in shots (47) … Bock is fourth among BIG EAST players in goals (6), fifth in points (13) and eighth in shots (35), while Cinalli and Jones are tied for eighth in assists (4) … ND is the only BIG EAST team with four players who have four-plus assists and joins West Virginia as the only BIG EAST teams with multiple players who have six-plus goals … senior Lauren Karas ranks eighth in the BIG EAST with a 0.84 season GAA and is 10th in solo shutouts (3) … ND players (Hanks and Bock) have accounted for two of the four hat tricks by BIG EAST players this season … ND’s six goals vs. Cincinnati are the second-most by a BIG EAST team this season … in league play this season, the Irish lead the BIG EAST in scoring (3.60 goals/gm) and goal margin (+16; 18-2) while ranking second in shots (19.8/gm) and shutouts (3), fourth in GAA (0.40) and ninth in corner kicks (3.60/gm) … Hanks leads the BIG EAST with 13 points, five goals and 25 shots in league play, also ranking second with a pair of GWG and third with 3A … Bock shares the BIG EAST lead with five goals in conference games, plus second in points (11) and fifth in shots (19) … other ND players among the BIG EAST leaders during conference play include Jones (1st with 4A, 6th with 6 pts), senior F Susan Pinnick (8th with 5 pts, 6th with 2G), Weissenhofer (6th with 2G), Cinalli (7th with 2A), freshman F/M Rose Augustin (6th with 2G) and Iantorno (7th with 2A) … Karas leads the BIG EAST with a 0.00 GAA and 1.000 save pct. in league play (also 4th with a pair of solo shutouts).