Senior All-America forwards/Hermann Trophy candidates Brittany Bock (pictured) and Kerri Hanks are two of the 10 finalists for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, it was announced late Thursday. Fans can vote for both players daily by going to www.seniorclassaward.com.

Hanks, Bock Named Preseason All-Americans By Soccer America

Aug. 26, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame senior forward Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas/Allen) and senior forward/midfielder Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) are two of the 22 players named to the Soccer America Preseason All-America Team, it was announced recently. Hanks, a two-time Soccer America Women’s MVP selection (equivalent to first-team All-America honors), is a first-team selection on this year’s preseason All-America squad, while Bock, who joined Hanks as a Soccer America First Team Women’s MVP in 2007, is a second-team preseason All-America pick this year.

Notre Dame is one of six schools to have multiple players named to the ’08 Soccer America Preseason All-America Team. However, these selections are just the latest in a series of early-season honors for the talented Irish duo, with both players earning a place on the 47-player M.A.C. Hermann Trophy watch list, as well as unanimous standing on the All-BIG EAST Conference Preseason Team (Bock is the 2008 BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year).

A three-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-America selection (including a two-time first-team honoree), Hanks also earned the 2006 Hermann Trophy, becoming the first sophomore (male or female) to take home the award. She has led the nation in assists the past two seasons (22 in 2006; 21 in 2007) and got her final year off to a solid start last Friday, collecting a goal and an assist in a 7-0 win over Michigan. Hanks now has 65 goals and 59 assists in her Notre Dame career, needing one assist to become the sixth NCAA Division I player to reach the 60-goal, 60-assist milestone. Only two players — former Irish All-American Jenny Streiffer and North Carolina’s Mia Hamm — have ever amassed 70 goals and 70 assists in their college careers.

Meanwhile, Bock is coming off a breakout season in 2007, when she led the BIG EAST in goals (16) and became Notre Dame’s fourth consecutive winner of the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year award, the first in a series of postseason honors that culminated with her NSCAA first-team All-America citation. A team co-captain for 2008, Bock is one of 17 players in school history with 100 career points (40G-20A) and she is looking to join Katie Thorlakson (2004, 2005) as the only Irish players to earn the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honor more than once.

Notre Dame, which is ranked fourth in both the Soccer America and NSCAA polls this week (moving up one spot in the latter survey), returns to action Friday when it plays host to the 16th annual Inn at Saint Mary’s Soccer Classic at Alumni Field. The Irish will face Loyola Marymount at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday in the nightcap, following a matchup between No. 10/11 West Virginia and No. 12/21 Santa Clara at 5 p.m. (ET). On Sunday, West Virginia and Loyola Marymount will open play at 11 a.m. (ET), with Notre Dame and SCU set to renew their long-standing rivalry at 1:30 p.m. (ET).

Tickets for these, and all Irish soccer games this season, are available by contacting the Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office by phone (574-631-7356) or in person (Joyce Center Gate 2, second floor), going on-line to the official Irish athletics web site (www.UND.com) and clicking on “Tickets”, or visiting the Alumni Field ticket windows on game night.

Fans should also be aware that beginning Friday night and continuing for the remainder of the season, Notre Dame will offer free shuttle service from the Eck Baseball Stadium parking lot to Alumni Field. The Eck Stadium and Joyce Center lots are the only parking areas available to fans this season while construction continues in the Notre Dame Athletics Quad, including the new Irish soccer stadium that will open in 2009.

— ND —