Sept. 24, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – On a Friday night when three of the most prolific offensive players in Notre Dame women’s soccer history – Monica Gerardo, Jenny Heft and Holly Manthei – all were “in the house” at Alumni Field, the top-ranked Irish relied on the efforts of their potent “Canadian Connection” to surge past visiting Pittsburgh, 3-1. Melissa Tancredi, Katie Thorlakson and Candace Chapman each found the net and combined for two assists, as the Irish erased a rare deficit with a pair of goals over a three-minute stretch en route to their 51st straight home win over a BIG EAST opponent (dating back to ’95).
Notre Dame (9-0-0, 3-0-0 BIG EAST) again dominated statistically, finishing with a 26-3 edge in total shots and 10-2 in shots on goal while attempting all eight corner kicks in the game.
Thorlakson entered the week as one of the nation’s leading scorers and now has totaled 23 points (7 goals, 9 assists) in nine games. She provided the Irish program with some big news at Thursday’s practice, as she has decided not to compete with Canada in the Under-19 World Championship (Nov. 10-27, in Thailand). That event falls during the early rounds of the NCAAs and potentially would have forced the national player-of-the-year candidate to miss the first four rounds of the NCAAs. (See quotes below and also see release on the announcement posted earlier today on und.com).
Pittsburgh (3-3-0, 0-0-1) had claimed the lead in the 32nd minute, when Erin Hills tracked down a loose ball off a header and ripped a shot from outside the top of the box. The surprising shot carried over the head of junior goalkeeper Erika Bohn and tucked under the post for Hills’ first goal of the season and just the second deficit faced by the Irish this season (31:06).
Junior goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi made seven saves (several of the impressive variety) to keep the Panthers in the game, with the Irish also hitting the posts twice – including a first-half shot by Thorlakson that grazed the bottom of the crossbar and kicked straight down.
Gerardo (’99) – in her second year as an assistant at Pittsburgh, working alongside former ND assistant and current Panthers head coach Sue-Moy Chin – was known for scoring goals in bunches and ended her career with an ND-record 73 goals. Heft, possibly the best pure finisher in the program’s storied history, then eclipsed that mark a year later with 80 career goals. And Manthei … well, if anyone ever comes close to her NCAA record of 129 career assists, she may be the first person in line to shake that player’s hand (for perspective, Jenny Streiffer is second on the ND career assists list with “just” 71).
Notre Dame sixth-year head coach Randy Waldrum probably would have jumped at the chance to suit up any of the above three legendary players, in hopes of jumpstarting an offense that was staring at a 1-0 deficit and had totaled just three goals over the span of two-plus games (and nearly 50 shots). But – as has been the case for most of the season – the team’s Canadians rode to the rescue.
Sophomore Kim Lorenzen – who started at right back (where she played for most of ’03), due to the absence of Gudrun Gunnarsdottir – showcased her tremendous crossing ability to set up the first goal. Lorenzen played the ball from the right flank and it skipped into the top of the box. Tancredi was making a run from her central defender spot and struck a shot that deflected off a defender, carried over the `keeper Pelusi and settled into the right side of the net for her second goal of the season (71:24).
Three minutes later, freshman forward Amanda Cinalli was tackled hard in the box by Rachel Vecchio and a penalty kick was awarded. Thorlakson stepped forward and calmly sent the ball over Pelusi’s head for her seventh goal of the season (74:23) and fourth gamewinner (both team-highs).
Thorlakson’s leftside corner kick set up the final goal, with Tancredi redirecting the ball on a header from the right side before Chapman banged home her sixth goal of the season (87:12).
Freshman Lauren Karas played the second half in the goal for the Irish and saved the only shot on goal that she faced, improving to 3-0-0 this season in official decisions.
NOTES – The Irish are 29-1-1 in their last 31 regular-season games … just three previous ND teams (16-0 in ’00, 13-0 in ’96, 9-0 in ’94) have opened with nine straight wins while eight have been unbeaten after nine games … ND now is 103-19-4 (.833) in the Waldrum era … the Irish are 108-1-0 in their last 109 games when scoring 3-plus goals (since 10/6/95; 204-3-1/.983 all-time) and are 283-9-11/.952 all-time when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals (87-3-4 since 9/9/99) … ND has totaled five more goals this season (27) than opponent shots on goal (22) … updated season stat edges: 27-7 in scoring, 196-51 edge in total shots (avg. 21-6), 113-21 in shots on goal (13-2) and 52-15 in corner kicks (6-2) … ND had trailed a total of just 128 minutes in its previous 37 games before trailing for 40 minutes on Friday … the Irish owned a 12-1 first-half scoring edge this season before the goal by the Panthers … ND has limited 27 of its last 30 overall opponents to 0-3 shots on goal … the Irish are 31-0-0 since 10/19/02 when scoring first but had been just 1-3-0 over that stretch when the opponent scored first (now 2-3-0) … there now are just four unbeaten/untied teams out of 308 in Division I women’s soccer (also Washington, Virginia and UC Riverside) … ND leads the Pittsburgh series 8-0 (33-3 scoring edge) … Chapman has 3G-1A in 3 career games vs. the Panthers (Tancredi has 2G) … Thorlakson picked up her 10th career GWG, tying former teammate Amy Warner for 9th in ND history … ND is 98-9-2 vs. BIG EAST teams since joining the league in ’95 (.908) … the Irish own a 155-14-2 all-time record (.912) record at Alumni Field (110-4-1 vs. unranked teams) … Thorlakson has totaled 37 pts at Alumni Field the past two seasons (’03-’04; 13G-11A, 5 GWG).
Katie Thorlakson ON DECISION TO REMAIN AT NOTRE DAME FOR ENTIRE 2004 SEASON – “It was a really hard decision. I thought about all the stress and decisions I’ve had to make over the last three years and the positions that I have put myself in ,never really feeling like I was part of something and always going back and forth from one team to another. This year has been so special with ND and I just decided to forego going to the U-19 World Championships. With that team, there will be a number of girls who will step up and be leaders and maybe it will be a good opportunity for them. … I could have gone for just a couple of weeks to Thailand and coach (Waldrum) allowed me to do that and gave me a lot of space in this whole process. When it came down to it, I just realized that I needed to be at school and playing soccer here. … Last weekend there was an incident where I could have gotten into a scuffle and that’s something I might have done in the past, but then I probably would have been kicked out of the game and would not have been able to score the winning goal a few minutes later (at Syracuse). So, it’s all become just a matter of putting the team over myself. I’ve worked hard at showing more restraint in my emotions. … Playing for the National Team is an awesome experience. Most of my best friends are from that team that played in the 2002 Under-19 World Cup. Playing with them every day is awesome. They are the best players in your country and you all are best friends. … At the same time, we are even more like family here at Notre Dame. We are together just about all year-round. Our team concept really came together during the (preseason) Brazil trip, always playing hard and playing to win.”
NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – “We now have had two players on this team make the decision to forego the Under-19 World Championships, as Jen Buczkowski earlier this summer was one of several U.S. players who have opted out of that great experience. Katie and Jen both love their national teams but they also love this team here at Notre Dame, so it’s a tremendously difficult decision for them. But I also think it shows how both have matured so much in the past year. It says a lot about them as people and teammates and shows how much they care about this program and this school. Katie’s attitude, intensity and leadership this season have been just as phenomenal as her performance on the field. She has made a great commitment to being a great player and I can’t think that anyone in the college game is playing as well as she is right now. This is a huge moment for our program because it shows the commitment of an elite player who is willing to stay and help lead us to a national championship.”
Pittsburgh (3-3-0, 0-1-0) 1 0 – 1
#1 Notre Dame (9-0-0, 3-0-0) 0 3 – 3
PITT 1. Erin Hills 1 (-) 31:06.
ND 1. Melissa Tancredi 2 (Kim Lorenzen) 71:24.
ND 2. Katie Thorlakson 7 (PK) 74:23.
ND 3. Candace Chapman 6 (Tancredi, Thorlakson) 87:12.
Shots: PITT 1-2 – 3, ND 9-17 – 26.
Saves: PITT 7 (Jamie Pelusi), ND 1 (Erika Bohn 0, Lauren Karas 1).
Corner Kicks: PITT 0, ND 2-6 – 8.
Fouls: PITT 19, ND 13.
Offsides: PITT 0, ND 3.
Yellow Cards: Courtney Wrightson (PITT) 17:53; Katie Surma (PITT) 25:21; Thorlakson (ND) 58:54; Pelusi (PITT) 87:12.