Sept. 21, 2007
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior forward Kerri Hanks scored three times for her fifth career hat trick with the Irish, as the 14th-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team opened BIG EAST Conference play with Friday night’s 4-0 win over visiting DePaul. The win extended Notre Dame’s home unbeaten streak versus BIG EAST teams to 73 games (71-0-2), dating back to the 1995 season. Notre Dame overcame the absence of injured starters Michele Weissenhofer and Haley Ford, finishing with a 27-1 edge in total shots (8-0 in shots on goal) and a 6-1 corner-kick margin. The Irish held the Blue Demons without a shot for the final 75 minutes of play and without a corner kick for the final 65 minutes.
Hanks is tied with former Notre Dame standouts Rosella Guerrero and Monica Gerardo for second on the Notre Dame career hat tricks list, one shy of the record (6) held by 2000 graduate Jenny Heft. Her current three-game goal streak has pushed Hanks’ career goal total to 55 (in 59 games), tied for eighth on the Notre Dame career goals list alongside former teammate Katie Thorlakson and Guerrero.
Senior midfielder Ashley Jones capped the scoring in the 70th minute with her first goal of the season and the fifth of her career. The Irish now own a 25-game unbeaten streak in all games versus BIG EAST teams (24-0-1), since losing at Marquette midway through the 2005 season.
The Irish opened the scoring for only the second time this season but now own 37 straight wins when scoring the game’s first goal (dating back to mid-2005).
Junior midfielder Brittany Bock set up the game’s first goal in the eighth minute, after flaring a pass down the right side. Senior forward Amanda Cinalli then beat a DePaul defender and lofted a cross from the right endline, with Hanks competing the sequence with a point-blank header under the center of the crossbar (7:43).
The goal held up as the 14th career gamewinner for Hanks, still 10th in Notre Dame history (one back of Jenny Streiffer and Meotis Erikson). Hanks now has totaled 40 career game-winning points (with 12 GW assists), tied with Gerardo for eight in the Irish record book (one behind Erikson). Hanks also now is tied with Steiffer for third in Notre Dame history with 15 career “first goals,” behind only Guerrero (16) and Heft (19).
Cinalli’s assist moved her closer to becoming Notre Dame’s 12th all-time player to reach 30 career goals and 30 assists (33G-28A).
Notre Dame added to its lead 17 minutes into the second half, after Jennifer Dyer’s hard foul on Susan Pinnick near the right edge of the penalty box. Hanks stepped forward to take the ensuing penalty kick and blasted her shot under the center of the crossbar for the 2-0 lead (61:17).
Notre Dame still has never lost when claiming a 2-0 lead (272-0-1) and owns 249 consecutive wins when jumping out to a 2-0 cushion (the 1991 ND team led Vanderbilt 2-0 but ended up tying the Commodores, 3-3).
The Irish had another penalty-kick chance five minutes later, after a flurry in the six-yard box that included a sharp rightside header from Cinalli. The action pinballed in the scoring area until DePaul’s Janina Locascio was called for hand ball and was sent off due to the mandatory red card (66:18). Hanks again took the PK and placed her try to a similar spot, with a rising shot a little to the right of the goal center.
Hanks – who has 15 points in three career games versus DePaul (6G-3A) – now has posted two hat tricks during BIG EAST play (also vs. Seton Hall in ’06). She opened her college career at the Vermont Classic with three goals against New Hampshire and then four versus the host Catamounts, with her other hat trick coming against Oakland in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Set/dead-bal plays now have accounted for 35 of Hanks’ 151 career points (55G-41A) – with 10 of her career goals coming on free kicks (6) or penalty kicks (4-of-4) while 15 of her assists have come via corner-kick (9) or free-kick (6) services.
Three Irish reserves produced a classic combination sequence for the final 4-0 margin. Junior midfielder Becca Mendoza played a pass from the top of the box that led freshman forward Erica Iantorno down the right side. Iantorno then returned a cross into the heart of the six-yard box and Jones was in position for the tap-in volley (69:51).
Notre Dame was forced to play without one of its starting center backs, Ford, due to her lingering hamstring injury while the forward unit had a new look due to Weissenhofer’s ankle injury suffered late in the previous game versus Oklahoma State. Freshman Lauren Fowlkes continued to display her tremendous versatility by starting alongside junior Carrie Dew as the center backs (Fowlkes also has started this season at forward, attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder). Cinalli shifted back from midfielder to forward, where she joined Hanks and freshman Rose Augustin in the starting lineup – while sophomore Amanda Clark started at defensive midfielder (she also has started this season at right back and center back).
Hanks has totaled 15 career multiple-goal games with the Irish and Notre Dame now is 34-1-0 when she scores at least one goal. Her career scoring averages now include 2.56 points and 0.93 goals per game, still well on pace to break the Notre Dame records held by Strieffer (2.11 ppg) and Heft (0.83 gpg).
DePaul (2-5-1, 0-1-0 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0
#14 Notre Dame (3-3-1, 1-0-0 BIG EAST) 1 3 – 4
ND 1. Kerri Hanks 3rd of season/53rd of season (Amanda Cinalli) 7:43; ND 2. Hanks 4/54 (penalty kick) 61:17; ND 3. Hanks 5/55 (PK) 66:18; ND 4. Ashley Jones 1/5 (Erica Iantorno, Becca Mendoza) 69:51.
Shots: DP 1-0 -1, ND 10-17 – 27
Corner Kicks: DP 1-0 – 1, ND 3-3 – 6
Saves: DP 4 (Kelsey Hoinkes), ND 0 (Lauren Karas)
Fouls: DP 15, ND 9
Offside: DP 0, ND 3
Red Card: Janina Locascio (DP) 66:18
Attendance: 2,721