Oct. 31, 2007
Notre Dame junior forward Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas) – who recently became the third Division I women’s soccer player ever to reach 50 career goals and 50 assists prior to her senior season – has been named to the Soccer America national team of the week, in addition to earning BIG EAST offensive player-of-the-week honors for the fourth time in her career. Her former Notre Dame teammate Katie Thorlakson and former Seton Hall standout Kelly Smith (now the top scorer for England’s National Team) are the only BIG EAST players ever to total more BIG EAST weekly offensive honors than Hanks and three Notre Dame alums who also were four-time honorees.
Hanks totaled one goal and four assists in last week’s 3-1 wins at Seton Hall and Rutgers, including assists on the gamewinning goals by Susan Pinnick in both games. Currently the only player in the nation with both double-digit goals (11) and assists (13), Hanks ranks seventh in the nation with a BIG EAST-leading 35 points. She and classmate Brittany Bock are tied for second among the BIG EAST goal leaders while her 13 assists lead the conference and are second among all players in the nation.
Pinnick cashed in a pass from Hanks for the key 2-0 cushion early in the second half at Seton Hall. Hanks made a strong run down the right flank, deftly eluding a pair of defenders in the process, before cutting back a pass from the endline. Pinnick was making the near-post run and sent her shot from close range inside the right post. After SHU had sliced the lead to 2-1, Hanks drove a free kick from the right flank that found the head of Bock near the top of the box. Bock flicked the ball to the far post and freshman center back Lauren Fowlkes trapped the ball down to herself before scoring inside the left post in the 83rd minute.
Two days later at Rutgers, Hanks scored to end Notre Dame’s only deficit of the current 10-game winning streak (on a well-placed penalty kick in the 32nd minute). The second Irish goal featured more set-play skill from Hanks, who served a leftside free kick from 10 yards in front of the midfield line. Junior center back Carrie Dew then flicked a header near the top of the 18-yard box and Pinnick ran onto the ball at the far post, sending her low shot past the charging ‘keeper and into the center of the goal for the eventual gamewinner (37:02). Hanks later led a counterattack down the center of the field and touched a pass into the left side of the box, with junior midfielder Becca Mendoza then chipping a shot over the ‘keeper to score inside the near post (70:02).
SET-PLAY SUPERSTAR – Hanks has accumulated many impressive stats with the Irish, including the fact that she now has scored (14) or assisted (17) on 31 goals during her career that have come during set-play/deal-ball situations: seven free-kick goals, six penalty-kick goals, a corner-kick goal (two weeks ago vs. UConn), nine corner-kick assists and eight free-kick assists.
NINE-GAME POINT STREAK – Hanks enters the 2007 postseason riding a nine-game point streak, tied for her second-longest during three seasons with the Irish … Hanks and former teammate Thorlakson are the only ND players ever to have three different scoring streaks of nine games or longer … Hanks ended the 2006 season on a 13-game point streak and had points in nine straight games of the 2005 season (Oct. 16-Nov. 18) … with a goal or assist in the upcoming BIG EAST quarterfinal (Nov. 4 at Alumni Field; opponent TBA), Hanks would join Thorlakson as the only ND players ever with two double-digit point streaks.
WEEKLY AWARD HISTORY – Hanks now has been named to a national team of the week during five different weeks of her ND career … most notably, she was named national player of the week as both a freshman and a sophomore … Hanks was the Soccer America national player of the week after an impressive debut with ND in 2005, after totaling 3G-1A vs. New Hampshire and 4G vs. Vermont (Aug. 26 and 28) … that strong start to her career also earned Hanks the BIG EAST player-of-the week award (plus a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer and Soccer Buzz national teams of the week) … she later was BIG EAST player of the week on Sept. 26, 2005, and twice was the BIG EAST rookie of the week that season (Sept. 5; Oct. 24) … Hanks was the consensus national player of the week in the middle of the 2006 season, after totaling 3G-3A in wins over Seton Hall and Rutgers (also BIG EAST player of the week) … later in that sophomore season, she earned a spot on the Soccer America and Soccer Buzz national teams of the week (Nov. 6) … in addition to her weekly BIG EAST player and rookie awards, Hanks twice has been named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll (Oct. 23, 2006; Sept. 24, 2007).
DOUBLE-DIGIT DUO – There currently are more than 300 Division I women’s soccer teams but only seven (one of them Notre Dame) feature two double-digit goalscorers … that list includes three teams from the NSCAA top-25 rankings that each have two players with 10-plus goals: the Notre Dame duo of Hanks (11G-13A) and Bock (11G-3A); Florida State’s Mami Yamaguchi (17G-7A) and Sauna Talonen (10G-4A); and Missouri’s Kristin Andrighetto (12G-8A) and Michelle Collins (10G-4A).
POSTSEASON PERFORMER – Hanks has registered points in 15 of 16 postseason games of her Notre Dame career (six in ’05; nine in ’06) and could claim several ND postseason scoring records in the next few weeks … Thorlakson (53) is the only Irish player ever to total more career postseason points than Hanks (44), whose 15 career postseason goals already are tied with Thorlakson atop that ND list … Thorlakson (23) and Holly Manthei (23) are the only players with more postseason assists than Hanks (14) … Hanks has three gamewinning goals (Monica Gerardo’s five are the ND record) and four GW assists during postseason games with the Irish, for 10 career GW points in the postseason (Thorlakson had 14, Gerardo 13 and Anne Makinen 12) … during BIG EAST Tournament play, Hanks has totaled 19 points (fourth behind Thorlakson’s 24, Makinen’s 23 and Jenny Streiffer’s 23) on seven goals and five assists (Makinen’s 9G and Thorlakson’s 8A are the respective ND records for career BIG EAST Tournament production) … when it comes to NCAA Tournament games, Thorlakson (29) is the only ND player with more career points in the NCAAs than Hanks (25), whose eight career NCAA goals trail only Gerardo (10) and Jenny Heft (9) while her 9A in career NCAA games are third behind Thorlakson and Manthei (both with 15).
NATIONAL TEAM OF THE WEEK SELECTIONS – Notre Dame players have been tabbed for national weekly honors five times this season: Weber on Sept. 3 (Soccer Buzz elite feet national team of the week) and Oct. 22 (Top Drawer Soccer national team of the week); Bock as national player of the week of Oct. 8 (NSCAA and Top Drawer Soccer; also SA and SB national teams of the week) and again on Oct. 15 (Soccer America; also SB team of the week); and Hanks on Oct. 29 (SA national team of the week).
BIG EAST AWARD HISTORY – ND players have combined for eight BIG EAST weekly awards this season: Bock (offensive player; Oct. 8 and Oct. 15), Hanks (offensive player, Oct. 29; honor roll, Sept. 24), junior center back Carrie Dew (defensive player, Oct. 1) and junior left back Elise Weber (honor roll; Oct. 8, Oct. 15, Oct. 22) … Notre Dame was the only team with two different players who were named BIG EAST offensive player of the week this season … ND also joined Villanova, UConn and West Virginia as the only teams with offensive and defensive players of the week in 2007 … the BIG EAST weekly awards now have seen 19 ND players combine for the offensive player-of-the-week honor 45 times, led by Thorlakson (6; 3 in ’05, 3 in ’06) and four different four-time honorees: Gerardo (95-96-98-98), Streiffer (96-97-97-99), Heft (97-98-98-99) and Hanks (05-05-06-07) … two others – Makinen (97-99-00) and Amy Warner (01-02-03) – have been three-time honorees … ND’s 45 all-time BIG EAST offensive player-of-the-week honors are well ahead of the second team on that list (UConn, with 29), followed distantly by West Virginia (16).
POLL POSITION – Notre Dame currently is ranked as high as 10th in the national polls (per Soccer America) while Top Drawer Soccer has the Irish slotted in the #5 spot for the 2007 NCAA field … last week’s Albyn Jones soccerratings.com power rankings had ND listed 10th (still to be updated this week) … 12 different teams on ND’s 2007 schedule (or potential opponents) currently are ranked in the national top-35 of at least one poll (including the TDS projected NCAA field, Albyn Jones soccerratings.com, the Massey power ratings, and the most recent official NCAA RPI, plus the NSCAA, Soccer America, Soccer Times and Soccer Buzz rankings) … North Carolina currently is ranked as high as first (per Albyn Jones) while Stanford also is high as #1, Virginia and Penn State both as high as #5, Santa Clara as high as #8 and Connecticut as high as #9, with others ranked in the top-35 including (highest rank indicated): West Virginia (14), Florida (16), Villanova (22), Oklahoma State (24), Louisville (27),and Marquette (31) … ND faced UNC and UVa in the preseason while WVU and Marquette are potential BIG EAST Tournament opponents.
NCAA STAT LEADERS – Notre Dame’s scoring offense ranks 10th nationally with 2.67 goals/gm, fourth-best among teams in the NSCAA top-25 poll behind Florida State (3.29), Texas A&M (2.94) and Missouri (2.71) … Hanks is the only player in the nation with double-digit goals and 10-plus assists (10G-9A), with her 35 total points ranking seventh in the nation while her 13 assists are second-most among the nation’s players … Bock and Hanks are tied for 28th nationally in goals (11).
BIG EAST STAT LEADERS – Notre Dame leads the BIG EAST in overall scoring (2.7 goals/gm) and scoring margin (+28; 48-20) while ranking second in shots (18.2/gm), plus sixth in shutouts (8), eighth in corner kicks (4.4/gm) and ninth in goals-against avg. (1.09) … in league play, the Irish finished as the BIG EAST leader in goals (3.65/gm; next best was UConn at 2.3) and goal margin (+33; 38-5) while ranking second in shots (19.6), third in GAA (0.45), fourth in shutouts (6) and eighth in corners (3.7) … Bock is second in the BIG EAST in goals (11) and tied for the lead in gamewinning goals (5) while ranking third in points (25) and fifth in shots (59) … Hanks owns a league-leading 13 assists while also ranking first in points (35), second in goals (11) and shots (75), and third in GWGs (4) … Pinnick is 13th among the BIG EAST goals leaders (5), also tied for fifth with three GWGs … Weber’s six assists rank ninth among all BIG EAST players and trail only Marquette’s Katie Kelly (9A) among the league’s defenders … senior M Ashley Jones is 11th among BIG EAST players with five assists … Karas is fifth on the BIG EAST overall goals-against average list (0.71), thanks to her league-best 0.31 GAA during league play (3 GA in 885 minutes) … Karas also ranked fifth in the BIG EAST win an .842 save pct. during conference games … Bock’s 10 goals during BIG EAST play this season were the most in the league … she also ranked third in the BIG EAST with 25 points and shared the top spot in GWGs (4) during league games (plus 3rd with 42 shots) … Hanks finished with a league-best 25 points (8G-9A) in BIG EAST play, also ranking third in goals and second in assists in BIG EAST games … freshman F Rose Augustin was eighth among BIG EAST players with four goals in league play (plus tied for 12th with 9 points) … Pinnick has scored five goals in BIG EAST play (4th) and was fifth in points (12; also 4th with 3 GWGs) … Jones was fifth (5A) while Weber and freshman Erica Iantorno each had 4A during league games (tied for 8th) … Hanks (vs. DePaul) and Bock (at Syracuse) combined for two of the four hat tricks in BIG EAST games during the 2007 regular season.