Freshman Kerri Hanks scored twice - pushing her season goal total to 22 - and added an assist in the 6-0 BIG EAST quarterfinal vs. Georgetown (all photos by Matt Cashore, unless otherwise indicated).

Dynamic Duo Of Thorlakson And Hanks Strikes Again As Irish Storm Into Postseason With 6-0 Win Over Georgetown (full recap)

Oct. 30, 2005

Final Stats

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – One of the top-scoring tandems in the history of college women’s soccer was on display again Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field and Notre Dame’s Katie Thorlakson and Kerri Hanks did not disappoint, combining for three goals and three assists as the 5th-ranked Irish stormed into the postseason with a 6-0 BIG EAST quarterfinal victory over visiting Georgetown.

Notre Dame (17-2-0) extended its winning streak to eight games and next will face the team that last beat the Irish, in a game versus homestanding Marquette in next week’s BIG EAST semifinal round at Valley Fields (Nov. 4, 5:00 CST; live on CSTV). The Irish improved to 22-2-0 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play and now own a 36-3-0 record at Alumni Field in all postseason action.

Hanks had two goals and an assist while Thorlakson (1G-3A) also logged a five-point game, as the Irish rolled to another comfortable win that included a 29-2 edge in total shots, a 15-1 margin in shots on goal and all five of the game’s corner kicks.

Notre Dame’s current dynamic duo entered the week ranked 3rd and 4th on the national scoring charts (Hanks now has 57 points, with 22G-13A, while Thorlakson’s 56 points include 15G-26A) and they continue to place themselves among the top scoring teammates of all-time. Recent research indicates that just six sets of teammates in the 24-year history of Division I women’s soccer history have each totaled 57-plus points in the same season (a distinction the ND pair will achieve after Thorlakson’s next point; see more below in notes update).

Thorlakson – who has amassed 25 points in her current 8-game points streak -pushed her career assist total to 64, good for 8th in the NCAA record book. Her 26 assists in ’05 also now rank 8th on that NCAA single-season list (most since ’97) and yet remain 4th in the Notre Dame record book, behind three of the season totals posted by NCAA all-time assist leader Holly Manthei.

Junior midfielder Jen Buczkowski had totaled just one point in the previous six games but she had a goal and assist in Sunday’s quarterfinal. Sophomore F/M Amanda Cinalli helped set up two goals, pushing her season assist total to 14 (good for 7th-most in the nation), while freshman midfielder Brittany Bock continued her strong play with a pair of assists. Sophomore Ashley Jones, who split time in the game at outside back and in the midfield, added her first goal of the season early in the second half and freshman Beth Koloup capped the scoring with a goal in the closing minutes.

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Jen Buczkowski helped the Irish dominate the midfield while registering a goal and assist in the win over the Hoyas.

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It marked the eighth time this season that the Irish have scored six or more goals in a game while the current winning streak now has featured four-plus goals from the Irish in seven of those eight games. Notre Dame has led the nation in scoring all season (now 4.58 goals per game, best by an ND team since ’97) and has notched at least three goals in all but two games during the ’05 season. The shutout was the 13th of the season (11th in past 13 games) for the Irish, who now have held 17 of 19 opponents this season to 0-1 goals.

Notre Dame’s 87 goals now are 11 more than the opponents’ combined shot total (76; just 35 on goal) versus the Irish this season.

Notre Dame’s 11-year unbeaten streak versus BIG EAST teams grew to 66 games (65-0-1) and the Irish now own an overall stretch of 25 games at Alumni Field without a loss (24-0-1), the nation’s longest active home unbeaten streak and 10th-best in the NCAA record book.

The Irish have won all 10 of their home games this season by a margin of 48-3, allowing just 29 total shots and 11 shots on goal during those 10 home games.

The current eight-game win streak includes a 38-1 scoring margin, plus a 215-28 shot edge during the win streak (avg. 27.9-3.5), 118-8 in shots on goal (14.8-1.0) and 64-17 in corner kicks (8.0-2.1).

The only non-victory in the current home unbeaten streak vs. BIG EAST teams also marked the previous time the Irish failed to score (0-0 vs. Rutgers, on Oct. 22, 2004), as ND now is riding a 30-game scoring streak that remains 4th-longest in the program’s history.

Hanks opened the scoring for her team-best seventh time of the season, on a sequence initiated by Thorlakson. Bock took the feed from Thorlakson and shook free on the left side of the box before crossing the ball to Hanks for the tap-in and her 21st goal of the season (10:23).

The ensuing onslaught helped the first goal hold up, as the Irish improved to 61-2-0 in their past 63 games when scoring first (one of those losses was the Sept. 30 game at Marquette, the other the ’04 BIG EAST title game vs. UConn).

Cinalli set up the second goal after battling past three GU players near the right sideline and then lunging to pass the ball to Thorlakson, who then turned and drove her pass into the penalty area. Buczkowski was 1-on-1 with the ‘keeper and calmly sent her shot past the charging Jade Higgins on the left side for her 18th career goal with the Irish (22:37).

Notre Dame now has gone on to win 222 consecutive games when claiming a 2-0 lead.

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Ashley Jones – who has played mostly at outside back in ’05 – scored her first goal of the season on Sunday and now has registered six of her eight career points with the Irish in the postseason.

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Jones totaled six points as a freshman (1G-4A) but the goal and two of the assists came in postseason play, with the versatile sophomore adding two more postseason points with her goal in the 54th minute. Thorlakson and Bock worked their magic to find Jones slanting into the right side of the box and she smacked a rising shot from a tricky angle, sending the ball into the far-left side of the net (54:39) for the virtually-clinching third goal (ND now is 131-1-0 in its past 132 games when scoring three-plus goals).

Last week’s 6-1 win over Georgetown in the regular-season finale saw the Irish erupt for three goals in a 51-second span (the quickest 3-goal flurry in ND history) and it nearly happened again, after Hanks and Thorlakson scored 17 seconds apart to suddenly produce a 5-0 margin.

Cinalli fed the ball to Buczkowski on the fifth goal, with Hanks then running onto the play on the left side of the box and scoring inside the near post to produce her 22nd goal of the season (67:47), tied for the sixth-most ever by a Notre Dame player and just one shy of Anne Makinen’s record for goals by an ND freshman (23, in ’97).

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Katie Thorlakson celebrates after cashing in a thru-ball from Kerri Hanks for the fifth goal in the BIG EAST quarterfinal.

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Seconds later, Hanks took a pass from junior midfielder Jill Krivacek and showed she is more than simply an elite goalscorer by striking a driven ball from 30 yards out. The thru-ball sprung Thorlakson into the heart of the penalty area and the senior frontrunner cashed in the chance for her 15th goal of the season and 52nd of her career, pushing the ball past Higgins on the left side for the 5-0 lead (68:04).

Senior forward Maggie Manning initiated the final goal with a feed from the right flank. Sophomore forward Susan Pinnick then battled along the right endline and threaded a pass to Koloup, who beat the reserve `keeper Christina Rourke for her second goal of the season (87:57).

** See updated team notes below the statistical summary. **

Georgetown (12-8-1) 0 0 – 0
#5 Notre Dame (17-2-0) 2 4 – 6

ND 1. Kerri Hanks 21 (Brittany Bock, Katie Thorlakson) 10:23; ND 2. Jen Buczkowski 6 (Thorlakson, Amanda Cinalli) 22:37; ND 3. Ashley Jones 1 (Bock, Thorlakson) 54:30; ND 4. Hanks 22 (Buczkowski, Cinalli) 67:47; ND 5. Thorlakson 15 (Hanks, Jill Krivacek) 68:04; ND 6. Beth Koloup 2 (Susan Pinnick, Maggie Manning) 87:57

Shots: GU 1-1 – 2, ND 16-13 – 29
Corner Kicks: GU 0-0 – 0, ND 2-3 – 5
Saves: GU 9 (Jade Higgins 9 SV/5 GA in 84:44; Christina Rourke 0 SV/1 GA in 5:16), ND 1 (Erika Bohn 0 in 45:00, Lauren Karas (1 in 45:00)
Fouls: GU 10, ND 8
Offside: GU 0, ND 1

DYNAMIC DUO UPDATE – Thorlakson and Hanks registered their respective 5-point games despite each playing only 54 minutes in Sunday’s game … they have combined for 111 points (37G-39A) in 19 games (5.8 ppg as a duo) … Hanks owns six multiple-goal games this season while Thorlakson has posted 3-plus assists three times in ’05 and has totaled 11 career games with 5-plus points … Thorlakson has scored (16) or assisted (19) on 35 gamewinning goals in her ND career and tied Jenny Streiffer’s ND record for career gamewinning points (51; Streiffer had 15 GWG-21 GWA) … Hanks now stands 8th on the ND single-season points list (57) and Thorlakson 8th (56) … Thorlakson’s 26 assists this season trail only three Manthei season totals (44 in ’96, 34 in ’97, 30 in ’94) and four others in NCAA history: UNC’s Mia Hamm (33, in `92), Pam Kalinoski (28, ’91) and Lindsay Tarpley (27, ’03) and former Jacksonville player Marit Foss (28, ’00) … Thorlakson and/or Hanks have combined to score/assist on 68% of ND’s goals this season (59 of 87), assisting on each other’s goals 16 times in ’05 … they entered the week as the nation’s only teammates with at least 12G-12A (now 13G-13A) … Thorlakson’s 64 career assists are 8th in NCAA history, one behind former Santa Clara standout Mandy Clemens and three behind ND star Cindy Daws … her 168 career points (52G-64A) move her past Meotis Erikson into 7th on the ND career points list (next up is Manthei, with 177) … only 11 previous players in D-I history have reached 53G-53A (3 are ND players, 5 from UNC) … Thorlakson has totaled 25 points in her current 8-game points streak (6G-13A), has scored/assisted on 88 of ND’s past 121 goals (73%; 41 of 87 in ’05), has points in 27 of the past 30 games, has played all 89 games of her ND career and is averaging nearly 4.0 ppg in her past 15 home games (17G-25A; 59 pts) … the only ND players with more goals in a season than Hanks are: Jenny Heft (28, in ’98), Daws (26, ’96), Makinen (23, ’97), Thorlakson (23, ’04) and Monica Gerardo (23, ’96) … ND’s great depth has caused Hanks to play just 61 minutes per game in ’05 (she is averaging 52 minutes of game action per goal scored) … the top three single-season shot totals in ND history are Thorlakson’s 127 in ’04, Hanks with 115 in ’05 and Makinen’s 106 in ’00 … the Irish are 13-0-0 when Hanks scores a goal (she and Thorlakson both have points in 16 of 19 games this season) … the six sets of teammates known to have each reached 57 points in the same season are as follows: SMU’s Danielle Garrett (83) and Courtney Linex (77) in ’95; ND’s Daws (72), Streiffer (66) and Gerardo (59) in ’96; UNC’s Hamm (97) and Kristine Lilly (65) in ’92; UConn’s Sara Whalen (64) and Jen Carlson (59) in ’97; Florida’s Abby Wambach (62) and Sarah Yohe (58) in ’99; and ND’s Makinen (58) and Erikson (58) in ’97.

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Jen Buczkowski has appeared in every game of her career while helping the Irish go 62-6-2 in that ’03-’05 span (photo by Marcus Snowden).

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OTHER UPDATED INDIVIDUAL NOTES – Senior `keeper Erika Bohn still has faced just one shot on goal in her 311 minutes of action since returning from injury (the opponents have three other SOGs in that stretch, with Bohn already on the bench) … ND’s freshmen have combined for 94 points in 36G-22A: Hanks (22-13), Bock (8-7), Daws (3-0), Koloup (2-1), Mendoza (1-0) and Inglis (0-1) … Cinalli’s 14A (also 6G) are nearly triple her ’04 assist total (5) … she has combined with Thorlakson and Hanks to give ND’s starting forward group 43G-53A and 139 points … Buczkowski (18G-23A) crept closer to becoming ND’s 22nd player with 20G-20A in her career … Cinalli became ND’s 30th player to reach 50 career points (16G-19A) … Buczkowski and senior M Annie Schefter have played in all 70 games during the past three seasons (ND is 62-6-2 in that ’03-’05 stretch) while junior D Christie Shaner has logged 67 straight GP (69 of 70) … Bock has 111 points in the past 6 games (4G-3A) … Chapman appeared in her 86th career game, including 46 straight (with active streak of 35 consecutive starts) … the ND players have combined for 1,130 career games played (676 starts) … Randy Waldrum is 136-22-5 (.8490 in seven seasons as the Irish head coach.

UPDATED TEAM NOTES – The Irish are unbeaten on Sundays this season (10-0-0), with a 51-2 scoring edge in those games … the similar 10-0-0 record at home this season includes a 48-3 scoring edge, plus 273-29 in shots, 137-11 in shots on goal and 69-15 in corner (Hanks alone has 42 shots at home this season, 13 more than the opponents’ combined shot total at Alumni Field in ’05) … the current 8-game win streak includes a 26-1 scoring edge in the 2nd half/OT (62-4 SOG) … the 30-game scoring streak is one shy of matching the 3rd-longest in ND history (from ’00-’02) … ND has held 28 of its past 31 opponents to 0-1 goals … the Irish are on pace to set team records for fewest shots allowed (4.0/gm) and fewest shots on goal allowed (1.8) while the 1.7 CKs allowed/gm would rank 2nd (best since ’97) … the Irish are scoring once per every 5.2 shots (would rank 3rd-best in ND history and best since ’96) … ND improved to 176-14-3 all-time at Alumni Field (126-4-2 vs. teams not in the NSCAA top-25) … the program’s all-time record stands at 336-59-17.

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Carrie Dew and the Irish head on the road next weekend in quest of the BIG EAST Tournament title (photo by Marcus Snowden).

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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT NOTES – ND nearly was the only quarterfinal host to win on Sunday, as West Virginia won at Villanova (4-2); Marquette rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Louisville (scoring in the 80th minute for the 2-1 win); and UConn advanced past Rutgers in PKs (4-2) after a 1-1 game … UConn and WVU will meet in the first semifinal on Nov.4 (2:30 CST, also live on CSTV) … the Irish now are 120-11-3 vs. BIG EAST teams since joining the league in ’95 … ND’s 22-2-0 record in the BET includes 7-0-0 in the quarterfinals (30-1 scoring edge) … ND now leads the series vs. GU 11-1-0 (78-7 scoring), including 7-0-0 at home (46-2).