Oct. 28, 2005
The fifth-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team (16-2-0, 10-1-0 BIG EAST) will begin its 2005 postseason with a quick rematch versus Georgetown, exactly one week after defeating the Hoyas, 6-1, in the final game of the regular season. The BIG EAST quarterfinal will be played at Alumni Field on Sunday, Oct. 30, at 1:00 EST. Notre Dame will provide GameTracker live stats and a live internet broadcast (for All-Access subscribers), with both available via links on the main page at und.com.
Georgetown (12-7-1, 4-6-1 in BIG EAST regular season) advanced to the quarterfinal round after winning a Thursday-night game at Syracuse on Oct. 27 (1-0), in the new first round of the 10-team BIG EAST Tournament. Elaine Filauro scored the game’s lone goal in the 38th minute while the Hoyas finished with narrow margins in shots (8-7), shots on goal (6-3) and corner kicks (6-4). Syracuse had been the 4th-place finisher in the BIG EAST’s “Group A” while Georgetown was the 5th-place team in Group B.
Rutgers won the other BIG EAST first-round/play-in game (2-0 over visiting Pittburgh) and next will play a Sunday quarterfinal at Group-A winner Connecticut. Next week’s BIG EAST semifinals (Friday, Nov. 4; 2:30 and 5:00 CST; live on CSTV) will feature ND-GU winner vs. the winner of the Louisville at Marquette quarterfinal. The RU-UConn winner will play in the semifinals vs. the winner of the West Virginia at Villanova quarterinal (the semifinal games will not be placed into time slots until after the quarterfinals). The BIG EAST final will be played at Marquette on Sunday, Nov. 6 (11:00 a.m. CST; live on BIG EAST affiliates/TBA).
ND POSTSEASON HISTORY – Notre Dame owns a 58-12-1 all-time record in postseason play, including 21-2-0 (.913) in the BIG EAST Tournament, 30-10-1 in the NCAAs (.744) and 5-0-0 in the MCC Tournament (’93-’94) … the Irish have won better than 92% of their all-time postseason games at Alumni Field (35-3-0; .921), including 10-0-0 in BIG EAST Tournament home games and 25-3-0 (.893) in home NCAA games … the Irish have won all six of their previous BIG EAST quarterfinal games (the quarterfinal round began in ’98) by a combined margin of 24-1 (all at home): vs. West Virginia (5-0, in ’98), three times vs. Miami (5-0 in ’99, 3-0 in ’00, 2-1 in an ’03 overtime game) and twice vs. St. John’s (2-0 in ’01, 7-0 in ’04) … Thursday’s win at Syracuse was the first for Georgetown in BIG EAST Tournament play (1-3-0).
BACK-TO-BACK – This marks the second time in the 18-year history of the ND women’s soccer program that the Irish will face the same team in the final game of the regular season and the first game of the postseason … the 1996 team ended its regular season with a home win over Villanova on Nov. 3 of that season (10-1) and then faced VU again the next weekend in the BIG EAST semifinals (7-0), played at ND’s Alumni Field (the quarterfinal round did not begin until ’98) … one difference with the upcoming matchup is that GU has played another game in between its clashes with the Irish.
BIG ATTENDANCE BOOST – Notre Dame’s average attendance at Alumni Field in the 2005 season has been nearly 1,900 per game (1,885), almost doubling the average attendance from the 2004 season (1,073) … when looking at the teams currently in the NSCAA top-25 coaches poll, Notre Dame trails only four of those teams in average attendance: Texas A&M (3,691), Portland(3,247), North Carolina (2,550) and BYU (2,175) … other current NSCAA top-25 teams that are averaging 800-plus fans per home game include: Florida (1,489), Penn State (1,149), Santa Clara (1,048), Connecticut (1,012), Florida State (982), UCLA (943), Virginia (871) and Tennessee (848) … the other average home attendances among the NSCAA top-25 are as follows: Arizona (714), Clemson (669), Yale (633), Marquette (610), California (562), Boston College (529), Gonzaga (511), Nebraska (479), West Virginia (461), Duke (448), Cal State Fullerton (358) and Purdue (296) … four teams that were in the NSCAA top-25 but fell out of the poll this week also rank behind ND in avg. home attendance: Stanford (1,389), Colorado (833), Wake Forest (732) and Pepperdine (334).
THREE-GOAL FLURRY IN 51 SECONDS RANKS FASTEST IN ND HISTORY – last Sunday’s game saw Georgetown score off a corner-kick sequence to force a 2-1 score early in the second half but the Irish then responded by scoring three times in a span of just 51 seconds … a check into the ND record book reveals that the 51-second blitz marks the fastest three-goal stretch in the program’s storied history … the previous record actually came in the 2004 national championship season, at nearly the same time in the season … the ’04 team scored three times in a span of 1:18 vs. St. John’s in the BIG EAST quarterfinal on Halloween day, quickly doubling the margin for a 6-0 lead early in the second half (7-0 final) … Katie Thorlakson notched her second assist of the day in that game with a leftside corner kick in the 57th minute, with the ball deflecting off the heads of Jill Krivacek and Lizzie Reed (who received credit for her first goal of the season, at the 56:27 mark) … just 35 seconds later, Thorlakson created her own counterattack, broke free down the center of the field and shielded off a tightly-marking defender before converting one of her patented sliding leftfooted shots, scoring from 12 yards out for her third goal of the day (57:02) … the Irish were preparing to sub Thorlakson out of the game but – before the next stoppage in play – the fiery Canadian had completed her four-goal day just 43 seconds after having secured the hat trick … Reed fed the ball into the right side and Kim Lorenzen slotted a perfect ball for Thorlakson, who knocked home the goal from the center of the box for the 6-0 lead on SJU (57:45) … ND’s three-goal blitz in last week’s win over GU started less than four minutes after the Hoyas goal … Brittany Bock received the ball near the center of the field, 35 yards away from the goal, and played a pass out to the right flank for Candace Chapman, who made a couple touches on the ball while moving down the flank before sending a strong, dipping cross into the heart of the penalty area … Bock was running onto the play at a dead sprint and laid out for yet another impressive header goal, diving low to connect with the ball and send it into the right side of the net for the unique “give-and-go” sequence (65:55) … the big crowd still was cheering the Bock goal when Thorlakson scored just 21 seconds later, after a give-and-go sequence in the penalty area … Thorlakson sent the ball to Kerri Hanks near the left endline and Hanks returned the favor by lifting a cross into the six-yard box, as Thorlakson volleyed the ball into the far-right side of the net for the 4-1 lead (66:46) … ND completed its three-goal flurry 30 seconds later, with Thorlakson providing the primary assist after shaking free and serving the ball from beyond the right side of the box … Annie Schefter was running onto the play in the center of the box and lunged forward for a low volley that clipped the bottom of the crossbar and broke the plane(66:46).
CAREER STATS VS. GEORGETOWN – Here’s a look at the Notre Dame career stats vs. the Hoyas:
Annie Schefter – 2G-1A, 7 shots, 3 GP/2 GS
Amanda Cinalli – 2G, GWG, 7 shots, 2 GP
Maggie Manning – 1G-2A, 6 shots, 4 GP/1 GS
Kerri Hanks – 1G-2A, 5 shots, 1 GS
Katie Thorlakson – 1G-1A, 14 shots, 4 GS
Jen Buczkowski – 1G-1A, GWG, 3 shots, 3 GP/2 GS
Candace Chapman – 2A, 8 shots, 4 GP/3 GS
Jill Krivacek – 2A, 1 shot, 3 GP/2 GS
Brittany Bock – 1G, 3 shots, 1 GP
Becca Mendoza – 1G, 1 shot, 1 GP
Molly Iarocci – 1A, 1 shot, 2 GP
Kim Lorenzen – 2 shots, 3 GS
Lizzie Reed – 2 shots, 3 GP/1 GS
Miranda Ford – 1 shot, 3 GP/1 GS
Amber McMillin – 1 shot, 3 GP
Carrie Dew – 1 shot, 1 GS
Christie Shaner – 3 GS
Jenny Walz – 3 GP/2 GS
Claire Gallerano – 3 GP
Ashley Jones – 2 GP/1 GS
Beth Koloup – 1 GP
Kerry Inglis – 1 GP
Susan Pinnick – 1 GP
Erika Bohn – 1.47 GAA, 5 GA, 12 SV, 307:01, 4 GS, 3-1-0
Nikki Westfall – 1 SV, 32:28, 2 GP
Lauren Karas – 1 GA, 20:30, 1 GP