Nov. 5, 2006
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STORRS, Conn. (11/5/06) – Kerri Hanks scored the quickest postseason goal in Notre Dame women’s soccer history (0:57) and found the net again nine minutes later, giving the Irish an early 2-0 lead en route to a 4-2 victory over Rutgers in the BIG EAST Conference championship game at UConn’s Morrone Stadium. It marks the ninth time in 12 BIG EAST seasons that the Irish have won the conference tournament. Hanks was named the offensive MVP of the BIG EAST Tournament – after totaling three goals and three assists in the three games – while senior center back Kim Lorenzen fittingly was recognized as the tournament’s defensive MVP. Top-ranked Notre Dame (20-0-1) will take an unbeaten record into the NCAAs for the fourth time in its history, with the NCAA selection show set for Monday, Nov. 6, on ESPN News (between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. EST).
(Note: postgame quotes from coach Randy Waldrum, plus Hanks and Lorenzen, are still to come, as is a photo gallery from the title game.)
Michele Weissenhofer and Amanda Cinalli also scored for the Irish – yielding a 4-0 lead midway through the second half – while Ashley Jones and Jen Buczkowski each chipped in two assists. The Irish held Rutgers (15-3-3) to a single shot on goal until the final 15 minutes, when the Scarlet Knights scored a pair of fluke goals. Notre Dame finished with a 19-9 edge in total shots, 9-4 in shots on goal and 3-1 in corner kicks. It marked the 17th straight game that the Irish have allowed 0-4 shots on goal.
Rutgers has allowed just 12 goals in 2006 but Notre Dame has accounted for half of the goals versus the Scarlet Knights this season.
The Irish now are 27-2-0 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and have gone 33-1-1 in their past 35 games (including 23-0-1 vs. BIG EAST teams), since losing to Marquette midway through the 2005 season. Notre Dame has posted 243 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 lead, dating back to the early 1990s.
Since joining the BIG EAST in the 1995-96 academic year, Notre Dame has produced the three individual teams that have totaled the most BIG EAST postseason titles during that span of 11-plus years: women’s swimming and diving (10), women’s soccer (9) and volleyball (9), followed by UConn women’s basketball (8) and Pittsburgh men’s swimming and diving (8).
Hanks remains among the 2006 national scoring leaders, with 18 goals and 14 assists, and is averaging one goal per game (46) during her two-year career with the Irish. The past six weeks have seen Hanks blaze to 50 points for the season while emerging as one of the frontrunners for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy national player-of-the-year award. She now has scored (12) or assisted (13) on nearly 70-percent of Notre Dame’s goals (25 of 37; 67%) since the midpoint of the season, averaging better than 3.0 points per game in that 12-game span (37 pts).
Each of Notre Dame’s goals featured series of classic combination plays and clinical finishing, with Brittany Bock providing the primary set-up passes on the first two goals. Rutgers averted the shutout on a sharp-angle shot that had the appearance of being a far-post cross while the second RU goal came in the closing minutes with 10 of the 11 Irish starters on the bench, as a turnover in the box helped set up the goal.
The game’s opening goal – the earliest in the program’s 80 all-time postseason games – marked the second-quickest in any game of the Randy Waldrum era (since 1999) and earliest since Oct. 20, 2001, when Melissa Tancredi scored just 27 seconds into a 7-0 win over St. John’s. Current Notre Dame volunteer assistant coach Lindsey Jones had a hand in that goal, providing the secondary assist on a pass to Amanda Guertin.
The game’s first goal featured a crisp seven-player combination sequence, with Hanks factoring into two links of the progression. Cinalli slanted in from the left flank and played the ball to Buczkowski, who then sent a pass to Hanks above the top right corner of the box. Hanks quickly tapped the ball back to Jones and instinctively took off for the heart of the penalty area. Jones lofted a cross into the upper right of the box and Bock kept things moving with a flick header towards the six-yard box. Weissenhofer then “dummied” a play on the ball – as Hanks was trailing and was in position to strike a shot from eight yards with the outside of her right foot. The one-timer carried into the right side of the net to give Hanks 17 goals for the season and 45 in her career (0:57).
The early strike marked the 13th time that Hanks has opened the scoring in a game with the Irish, already good for fourth on the Notre Dame list for career first-goals. The Irish now have posted 30 straight wins when scoring first and are 30-0-0 during the past two seasons when Hanks scores a goal.
The second goal technically was recorded as an unassisted score but Jones, Weissenhofer and Bock each helped produce the 2-0 lead. Jones got things rolling with a rightside throw-in from midfield and Weissenhofer then advanced the ball with a flick-header. Bock’s only play was a lunging volley but the U.S. Under-20 National Team standout was able to strike the ball with the outside of her right foot, sending the ball into the right side of the box. The Rutgers defense was caught out of its position and one of the defenders tried to reach back for the ball as Hanks raced to latch onto the pass. Hanks emerged with the ball and slid to her left before drilling a leftfooted shot between the legs of the charging goalkeeper Erin Guthrie (9:40).
It marked the quickest 2-0 lead for the Irish since the 2006 season opener, when goals from Hanks and Jill Krivacek produced the 2-0 cushion at the 8:33 mark of that game versus Iowa State. It also is just the sixth time this season that Notre Dame has scored multiple goals in the first half – but three of those games have come in the past two weeks.
The pair of goals lands Hanks on 50 points for the season, after totaling 71 points in her freshman season. She joins Cindy Daws (2), Monica Gerardo (2), Jenny Streiffer (3) and former teammate Katie Thorlakson (2) as the only Notre Dame players ever to reach 50 points in multiple seasons.
Buczkowski – who has appeared in all 97 games of her career – intercepted a clearance at the top of the attacking third to set up the game’s third goal midway through the second half. The two-time All-American then slid a pass forward to Weissenhofer, who avoided the RU defense by moving to her left before surprising Guthrie with a strong leftfooted shot from just outside the top of the box. The ball ripped into the far-left sidenetting for Weissenhofer’s 13th goal of the season (64:35), the ninth-most goals ever scored by a freshman in Notre Dame’s storied history.
Cinalli – who has played mostly midfield during the past six weeks, after flipping positions with Bock – scored her ninth goal of the season five minutes later. Buczkowski started the sequence after collecting the ball near the center circle and sending a pass out to Jones on the right flank. Jones pushed forward with a few touches and then lifted a booming cross that carried into the penalty area. Cinalli was making the near-post run and leaped over her defender to strike a head from 12 yards out. Guthrie was well off her line and batted at the ball, with the shot carrying into the right side of the goal for the 4-0 lead and Cinalli’s first goal in six games (69:26).
Jones has totaled 17 career points (4G-9A) and more than half of them (11) now have come in the postseason, with the junior Academic All-America candidate totaling three career goals and five assists in postseason play. Buczkowski’s 10 assists are one shy of her career-high of 11 assists, in the 2004 NCAA-title season.
Notre Dame was unable to clear the box in the 75th minute, leading to the first Rutgers goal. Gina DeMaio collected the ball beyond the right side of the box and quickly struck what appeared to be a cross for the far-post. Players from both teams were converging on the left post but the ball carried into the upper left corner for DeMaio’s fifth goal of the season (74:42).
Lorenzen was the only Notre Dame starter left on the field in the closing moments but she ironically factored into the goal, after a miscommunication in the back between the defenders and goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander. Lorenzen tapped the ball in the center of the box but RU’s Kim Mineo was the first to reach the ball and went on to beat Lysander for her first goal of the season (87:16).
Notre Dame has reached 20 wins in each of the past four seasons and 11 times since 1994. The senior class pushed its career record to 87-7-3 (.912) to keep pace with North Carolina (91-3-3) as the nation’s top veteran groups (the UCLA senior class is distant third, with 77 wins during the past four seasons).
UPDATED TEAM NOTES – ND is 9-1-0 in BIG EAST championship games, also winning from 1999-2001 and in ’05 … the 1994, ’97 and 2000 ND teams all started 23-0-1 … the Irish take a six-game winning streak into the NCAAs … ND has allowed just 43 shots on goal all season (2.05/gm, still on pace for ND record) … the Irish enter the NCAAs with a 67-7 scoring margin, with all of the opponent goals coming from ranked teams … the 33-1-1 record during the past 35 games includes a 128-13 scoring edge (12 of 13 goals by top-25 teams) … ND owns 30 straight wins when scoring first (44-1-0 in the past 45; 84-2-0 in the past 86) … the Irish now own a 46-4 second-half scoring margin … ND is 135-11-4 (.912) in all games vs. BIG EAST teams since joining the conference in 1995 … the Irish are unbeaten in Sunday games (23-0-0; 95-6 scoring edge) during the past two seasons, with 22 of those games being the second of the weekend … the ND junior class now owns a 67-4-2 career record, the most wins in the nation from 2004-06 and on pace for the best career win pct. (.932) in ND history … UNC is next with a 64-3-3 record from ’04-’06 (UCLA is a distant third with 57 wins over the past three seasons) … ND is 61-16-3 when playing as the #1 team in the NSCAA poll … the Irish own an overall postseason record of 66-13-1 … ND now leads the RU series 13-1-2 (46-5 scoring), including 5-0-1 in the past six meetings.
UPDATED Kerri Hanks NOTES – Hanks suddenly is 10 points and six goals shy of setting the ND sophomore records in those stats (Gerardo had 59 pts and 23G in ’96) … Hanks moved past Alison Lester into 11th on the ND career goals list with 46, two behind Amanda Guertin … Hanks still is 14th on the ND career points list (121), just two points behind Amanda Guertin and five back of Alison Lester …Hanks needs 2G-6A to become the 11th player in D-I history to reach 20G-20A .. an assist in the NCAA opener will place Hanks at the 30G-30A milestone quicker than any previous ND player (47 gms), aside from Streiffer (39) … Hanks owns 19 career points in the BIG EAST Tournament (7G-5A), already 4th-most in ND history behind Thorlakson (24), Anne Makinen (23) and Streiffer (23) … Jenny Heft (19), Rosella Guerrero (16) and Streiffer (15) are the only ND players with more career first-goals than Hanks (13) … Hanks has registered points in nine of her 10 career postseason games (goals in eight) … her 11 career postseason goals already rank 7th in ND history, behind Thorlakson, Gerardo and Anne Makinen (15 each), Streiffer and Heft (14 each), and Guertin (12) … Hanks is 9th on the ND list for career points (28; 11G-6A) … previous ND offensive players who have been MVP of the BIG EAST Tournament include Amy VanLaecke (’95), Cindy Daws (’96), Makinen (’97, ’98), Streiffer (’99), Mia Sarkesian (2000), Guertin (’01) and Thorlakson (’05), with Krivacek named the ’05 defensive MVP.
UPDATED SENIOR CLASS NOTES – By playing in the NCAA opener, Buczkowski will tie Jen Renola and Kate Fisher for the third-longest streak of consecutive games played in ND history (98) … Shannon Boxx and Meotis Erikson both played in 101 straight games … Buczkowski’s 97 career games played tie Kate Sobrero (Markgraf) for 10th in ND history while her 91 starts are tied with Cindy Daws for 10th on that list … all of Buczkowski’s 12 points this season (1G-10A) have come in the past 14 games and she had 4A in the past four games … Buczkowski totaled seven career assists in the BIG EAST Tournament, one shy of Thorlakson’s ND record … Buczkowski’s 74 points (20G-34A) have tied Stacia Masters for 22nd on the ND career points list … left back Christie Shaner has played in 96 of 97 career games, including 94 straight … Shaner is 15th on the ND career GP list (one back of 12th) … Buczkowski, Lorenzen, Shaner and Krivacek have played in all 23 of the ND postseason games during the ’03-’06 seasons, with Buczkowski and Lorenzen starting all 23 while Shaner and Krivacek have 21 career postseason starts … the eight seniors have combined for 558 career games played (344 starts), with Buczkowski and Krivacek combining for 186 GP/150 GS as the midfield leaders while Shaner and Lorenzen have 183 GP/164 GP to lead the defense … ND is 36-1-1 with Lorenzen is the starting lineup during the past two seasons … the ND seniors still have yet to be outshot in their career and have trailed for just 6.3% of the minutes (558) in their career (121 in ’06) …
ADDITIONAL INDIVIDUAL NOTES – ND is close to having four double-digit goalscorers for the eighth season but first since 2003 (Hanks has 18, Weissenhofer 13, Bock 9 and Cinalli 9) … those four players have totaled 49G-40A (138 pts) … Weissenhofer scored both game-winning goals this weekend, in addition to assisting on the gamewinning goal last week vs. St. John’s in the BIG EAST quarterfinals (on a flip-throw) … Weissenhofer’s 43 points still are 7th-most ever by an ND freshman, five back of Manthei’s 1994 total … Weissenhofer (13G-17A) joins Streiffer (22-22), Daws(16-20) and Hanks (28-15) as the fourth ND freshmen to reach 13G-13A … Weissenhofer has scored (3) or assisted (7) on half of ND’s 20 gamewinning goals this season … Weissenhofer’s next goal (14) would tie for 6th-most ever by an ND freshman … Cinalli (29G-26A) passed Jen Grubb into 20th on the ND career points list (84) and is 1G-4A shy of becoming ND’s 11th all-time player with 30G-30A … Cinalli’s 19 career postseason games (all starts) include 8G-5A (2 GWG), with 2G-3A in the BET … Bock already has totaled 4G-5A in six career BET games … junior ‘keeper Lauren Karas now owns a 31-1- career record with the Irish … Waldrum’s 161-23-6 career record with the Irish (.862) includes 61-16-3 (.781) in games versus NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponents.
Rutgers (15-3-3) 2 0 – 2
#1 Notre Dame (20-0-1) 2 2 – 4
ND 1. Kerri Hanks 17th of season/45th of career (Brittany Bock, Ashley Jones) 0:57.
ND 2. Hanks 18/46 (-) 9:40.
ND 3. Michele Weissenhofer 13 (Jen Buczkowski) 64:35.
ND 4. Amanda Cinalli 9/29 (Jones, Buczkowski) 69:26.
RU 1. Gina DeMaio 5 (Jennifer Anzivino) 74:42.
RU 2. Kim Mineo 1 (-) 87:16.
Shots: RU 5-4 – 9, ND 11-8 – 19.
Corner Kicks: RU 0-1 – 1, ND 1-2- 3.
Saves: RU 5 (Erin Guthrie), ND 2 (Lauren Karas 1 in 75:07; Kelsey Lysander 1 in 14:53).
Fouls: RU 16, ND 24.
Offside: RU 0, ND 2.
Yellow Cards: Cinalli (ND) 18:53; Jaime Komar (RU) 52:25; Kim Brandao (RU) 65:44.