Oct. 24, 2006

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CINCINNATI, Ohio – The potent forward trio of Brittany Bock, Kerri Hanks and Michele Weissenhoher each scored goals as the Notre Dame women’s soccer team completed an undefeated regular season (17-0-1) with Tuesday’s 3-0 victory at Cincinnati. The midweek matchup was a makeup for the Sept. 22 game that was called due to lightning, with the Irish finishing a rare stretch of three games in five days. It marked just the fourth time in the program’s history – but first time since 1997 – that a five-day span has seen Notre Dame play three road games in three different cities, with earlier wins over the weekend at Villanova and Georgetown.

The Irish – who shut out 14 of their 18 opponents during the regular season – next will play their only home game in a monthlong span (from Oct. 9-Nov. 9), with a BIG EAST quarterfinal set for Alumni Field on Sunday, Oct. 29 (1:00 p.m.). Notre Dame will face the winner of Thursday’s BIG EAST first-round game between homestanding St. John’s and Seton Hall, which claimed the National Division’s fifth and final playoff spot thanks to the Cincinnati loss (SJU finished fourth in the American Division).

Notre Dame (10-0-1 BIG EAST) allowed Cincinnati an early shot on goal and one more in the closing minutes, marking the 10th straight game (and 14th this season) that the Irish have limited their opponent to 0-2 shots on goal. Santa Clara, ranked number-one at the time, was the only team to manage more than three shots on goal versus Notre Dame during the 2006 regular season. The Irish closed the regular season by allowing a total of just nine shots on goal in the past eight games.

In 12 BIG EAST seasons, the Irish have claimed 10 regular-season titles and have won nearly 100 more games than they have lost in regular-season games versus BIG EAST teams (106-8-4, from 1995-2006). Notre Dame now looks to build on its 24-2-0 all-time record in BIG EAST Tournament play while pursuing its ninth BIG EAST postseason title.

A back-heel pass from Hanks in the 35th minute set up Bock’s leftfooted shot into the upper right corner, her sixth goal of the season and 18th in two seasons with the Irish. Ten minutes later, Hanks one-timed a rightside pass from Jen Buczkowski for her 15th goal of the season to go along with 11 assists.

The pair of scores marked just the fourth time this season that the Irish have scored multiple goals in the first half also five in the opener vs. Iowa State and two in the recent wins over Seton Hall and Providence). The Irish racked up a dominating 41-2 scoring margin in the second half of the 18 regular-season games.

Hanks scored (9) or assisted (10) on nearly 70 percent of Notre Dame’s goals (19 of 28) during the second half of the regular season. She maintains her average of one goal per game (43) during her career and is four assists shy of becoming the 11th all-time Notre Dame player to reach 30 career goals and 30 assists.

Wiessenhofer – the nation’s assist leader (15) – registered her 11th goal of the season in the 78th minute, after using her speed and moves to slip through the Cincinnati back line.

The Irish had a 26-5 edge in total shots and 13-2 in shots on goal, holding the Bearcats without a shot on goal for an 86-minute stretch. Notre Dame also had a 7-1 edge in corner kicks, with Cincinnati collecting more yellow cards (3) than shots on goal (2) in the game.

Even before the rare three games in five days, Notre Dame already had faced a unique scheduling challenge this season – way back on the opening weekend, when the Irish played on back-to-back days for the first time since the mid-1990s. Those games, at home versus Iowa State and on the road at Mississippi, also provided the first time in the program’s 19-year history that Notre Dame had faced the task of playing on back-to-back days in venues that were more than a couple hundred miles apart.

Notre Dame now has gone unbeaten in the regular season five times during the past 13 seasons, with similar marks of 17-0-1 in 1994, 2000 and ’04 (the ’97 team had an 18-0-1 regular season). This actually is the sixth time that the Irish have been unbeaten after 18 games, as the 2003 team was 18-0-1 before losing its final regular-season game that season. The current senior class helped Notre Dame compile a .939 regular-season winning percentage (68-3-3) during their career, from 2003-06.

Notre Dame finishes the regular season with a 58-5 scoring edge and 315 more total shots than its opponents (415-90). The Irish have allowed just 33 shots on goal (1.8 per game, best in the program’s history) and have totaled nearly twice as many goals (58) as their opponents’ combined shots on goal (33).

Senior midfielder Jill Krivacek set up the first goal by sending the ball to Hanks near the top of the box. Hanks then dribbled into the lower right corner of the penalty area and passed the ball off her backheel to Bock, who drilled her leftfooted shot into the upper right corner of the net (34:06).

Four of Bock’s six goals this season have opened the scoring and held up as gamewinners (also vs. DePaul, Rutgers and Providence), with another one of her goals capping the 2-0 win at TCU.

Notre Dame took multiple goals into the intermission for the fourth time this season, thanks to the goal by Hanks in the 45th minute. Bock was not officially credited with an assist but her pass helped send Buczkowski down the right and Hanks redirected the ensuing cross, cutting her shot back past the charging `keeper Andrea Kaminski (44:14). Notre Dame now has posted 240 straight wins when claiming a 2-0 lead and the Irish are 28-0-0 during the past two seasons when Hanks scores a goal.

The three-point game leaves Hanks with the same career totals (41G-26A) as one of the program’s early scoring leaders, Suzie Zilvitis (’88-’91) – good for a share of 14th on the Irish career points list (112) and 12th in goals. Next up on the goals list are Alison Lester (45) and Amanda Guertin (48) while Guertin is 13th on the points list (123).

Amanda Clark’s rightside throw-in set up the final goal, as her fellow 2006 Neuqua Valley High School graduate Weissenhofer received the ball near the top right corner of the box. Weissenhofer turned to her left and beat the backline into the box before sending home a 15-yard shot that capped the scoring (77:02).

NOTES – ND is unbeaten in 25 straight regular-season games (24-0-1) and is 41-1-0 in its past 42 games when scoring first … the senior class improved to 84-7-3 in its career (.910) … Buczkowski has played all 94 games of the ’03-’06 seasons (tied with Cindy Daws for 16th on the ND career GP list) while defender Christie Shaner has appeared in 92 (91 straight), tying former teammate Candace Chapman for 18th on the GP charts … the seniors have combined to log 542 career games played (also 86 each for Krivacek, center back Kim Lorenzen and F/M Lizzie Reed) … by playing in Sunday’s quarterfinal, Buczkowski will tie former teammate Katie Thorlakson for the fifth-longest streak of consecutive games played in ND history … ND is 32-1-1 during the past two seasons with Lorenzen in the starting lineup … ND ends its regular season ranked 8th nationally in goals per game (3.22), 2nd in goals-against avg. (0.27) and 4th in shutouts … the Irish lead all BIG EAST teams in scoring and GAA, plus 2nd in shots (22.5/gm), shutouts (14) and corner kicks (6.3/gm) … in BIG EAST regular-season games, ND finished 1st in scoring (3.2), GAA (0.27), shots (23.9) and shutouts (9), plus 4th in CKs (5.4) … Hanks now ranks 3rd nationally in points (41), 4th in goals (15) and 7th in assists (11) while Weissenhofer is 1st in assists (15), 6th in points (37) and 22nd in goals (11) … junior ‘keeper Lauren Karas ranks 3rd with a 0.33 GAA … among BIG EAST players, Hanks is 1st in total points and shots (85), plus 2nd in goals, assists and gamewinning goals (5) while Weissenhofer is 1st in assists, 3rd in points and goals, and 4th in shots (65) … junior M/F Amanda Cinalli ranks 7th among BIG EAST players in goals (8), with Bock 13th on the BIG EAST goal charts (6, despite playing just 13 games) … Bock also ranks 5th in the league with her 4 GWGs while Buczkowski is 5th in assists (7) and Karas 1st in GAA, 4th in solo shutouts (9) and 7th in save pct. (.828) … in BIG EAST games only, Hanks finished 1st in points (31), goals (10), assists (11) and shots (56), plus 5th in GWGs (2) … Weissenhofer finished 2nd in league assists (6), 3rd in points (22) and goals (8), and 4th in shots (40) … Bock’s stats in ’06 BIG EAST games include a league-best 4 GWGs, plus ranking 2nd in shots (42), 4th in points (14), 5th in goals (5) and 7th in assists (4) … Buczkowski is tied with Weissenhofer for the league’s 2nd-most assists in conference games (6), sophomore D Carrie Dew has 2 GWG (tied for 5th) and Karas is 2nd with a 0.31 league GAA (also 4th with 6 solo shutouts).

#1 Notre Dame (17-0-1, 10-1-0 BIG EAST) 2 1 – 3
Cincinnati (7-9-2, 3-7-1 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0

ND 1. Brittany Bock 6th of season/18th of career (Kerri Hanks) 34:06
ND 2. Hanks 15/43 (Jen Buczkowski) 44:14
ND 3. Michele Weissenhofer 11 (-) 77:02

Shots: ND 15-11 – 26, CIN 2-3 – 5
Corner Kicks: ND 2-5 – 7, CIN 1-0 – 1
Saves: ND 2 (Lauren Karas), CIN 10 (Andrea Kaminski)
Fouls: ND 20, CIN 11
Offside: ND 1, CIN 0
Yellow Cards: Kaminski (CIN) 23:40; Erin MacDonald (CIN) 65:20; Anna Barrett (CIN) 84:17