Nov. 16, 2003

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NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – vs. Michigan … NCAA Second Round Round (Sunday, Nov. 16; 1:00 EST)

The nation’s No. 2-seeded Notre Dame women’s soccer team (20-2-1; 73-11 scoring edge) continues its annual quest for the NCAA title this weekend at Alumni Field, next playing host to second-round action in the 64-team NCAA Tournament … Sunday’s game (Nov. 16, 1:00 EST) will feature ND vs. Michigan (10-7-6), which advanced to the Big Ten title game (0-2 vs. Illinois) … the game comes three weeks after UM ended ND’s unbeaten season (3-2, at Alumni Field) … Friday’s first-round action saw ND beat Loyola Chicago (5-0) while Michigan used a late goal to beat Oakland (1-0) … ND owns a 30-2 all-time postseason record at Alumni Field (21-2 in NCAAs) … the Irish have reached 20 wins for the 8th time in the last 10 seasons and have advanced to at least the NCAA round of 16 in eight of the last nine (all but ’01).

INFORMATION HIGHWAY – A convenient “Women’s Soccer Tourney Central” is available at www.und.com (see http://und.ocsn.com/sports/w-soccer/nd-w-soccer-2003.html), providing links to team info., live stats and audio feeds.

NCAA REMATCH HISTORY – Notre Dame is 13-4 in 17 previous NCAA Tournament games that served as rematches from the regular season, including two NCAA wins over Michigan … the 1994 team posted NCAA rematch wins over George Mason (3-1), William & Mary (2-1) and Portland (1-0) before dropping the title game to UNC in another rematch (0-5) … ND’s 1995 NCAA title team then posted NCAA rematch wins over Wisconsin (5-0), UConn (2-0) and UNC (1-0) … the ’96 team won postseason rematches vs. Indiana (8-1) and Wisconsin (5-0) before losing the title rematch vs. UNC (0-1), with the ’97 squad losing its lone NCAA rematch (1-2 vs. UConn) … the Irish have won five of their last six NCAA-rematch games: vs. Michigan in 1998 (3-0) and 2000 (3-1), Santa Clara in 1999 (1-0) and 2000 (2-1) and Purdue in 2002 (3-1), with the loss coming to UNC in the 1999 title game (0-2).

THE SERIES- Prior to the 3-2 loss on Oct. 29, ND had won all nine previous games vs. UM: 4-3 in ’89 (@ND), 5-0 in ’97 (@ND), 1-0 in ’98 (2OT, @UM), 3-0 in ’98 (@ND, NCAA 2nd rd), 4-1 in ’99 (@ND), 5-1 in 2000 (@UM), 3-1 in the 2000 NCAAs (@ND), 2-1 in 2001 (@ND, OT) and 1-0 in 2002 (@UM) … the Irish hold a 30-10 series scoring edge and have scored three-plus goals in six of the 10 games … Amanda Guertin scored the OT goal in 2000, sent back a shanked clearance to beat UM in the 2001 game and cashed in another failed clearance for her third career GWG vs. UM (in ’02) … ND held a 16-6 shot edge in the ’02 game (4-1 in CKs).

CAREER STATS VS. UM – Senior F Amanda Guertin has 4G-1A in four previous games vs. UM, including game-winning goals vs. the Wolverines in 2000 (3-1, NCAAs), ’01 (2-1, OT) and again in ’02 (1-0, at UM) … her classmate Amy Warner missed seven games in 2000 due to injury before coming off the bench to score in the 5-1 win at Michigan (she also had an assist in the game this season) … the only other active ND players with career point vs. Michigan are senior D Vanessa Pruzinsky (1A) and sophomore F Katie Thorlakson (1G) … injured senior M Randi Scheller owns three career goals vs. UM.

RECAPPING THE LAST MEETING (UM 3, ND 2; Oct. 29) – Michigan, facing virtually a must-win game for its NCAA chances, managed just a handful of scoring chances but converted on each before holding off an injury-hampered ND squad … ND played without two top players, senior D Melissa Tancredi and junior F Mary Boland … Michigan did not attempt a shot in the final 41 minutes while going into a defensive shell to hold off the ND onslaught … the Wolverines claimed an early lead, moved back in front in the 30th minute and then taking a 3-1 lead early in the second half … UM capitalized on its only two corner-kicks of the game … the game ended several ND streaks: 16 games without a deficit, 10 straight shutouts, Erika Bohn’s 981-minute shutout streak, 24 games without multiple goals allowed, 27 games without a two-goal deficit, 12 consecutive wins and a 19-game unbeaten streak … the Irish came one game shy of the program’s 4th unbeaten regular season … it marked the first time in 17 games that the opponent had more than three shots on goal (6).

MICHIGAN 2 1 – 3

#2 NOTRE DAME 1 1 – 2

UM 1. Katie Kramer 3 (-) 11:07; ND 1. Amanda Guertin 10 (Vanessa Pruzinsky) 12:08; UM 2. Therese Heaton 2 (Robyn Vince) 31:43; UM 3. Stephanie Chavez 5 (-) 48:12; ND 2. Katie Thorlakson 9 (Amy Warner) 68:23.

Shots: UM 3-3 – 6, ND 9-10 – 19.

Corner Kicks: UM 1-1 – 2, ND 3-1 – 4.

Fouls: UM 14, ND 13.

Saves: UM 8 (Megan Tuura), ND 3 (Erika Bohn 2, team 1).

Offsides: UM 0, ND 7.

NOTES FROM 5-0 WIN OVER LOYOLA – ND’s offense snapped back into form, despite the absence of three of its top four scorers for most of the game (senior Amy Warner was out with an ankle injury while Amanda Guertin played only in the second half due to a minor injury and junior Mary Boland played a handful of second-half minutes, both due to minor injuries) … the Irish erupted for one of their highest-scoring first halves of the season (4 goals), trailing only the five 1st-half goals vs. Hartford in the opener and five in the midseason win over North Texas … the Irish placed 12 of its their 15 first-half shots on net … ND outshot Loyola by a 31-3 margin (one shy of ND’s season-high shot total) … the Irish also held a 20-1 edge in shots on goal and attempted all 12 corner kicks in the game.

LOYOLA CHICAGO (10-11-0) 0 0 – 0

#2 NOTRE DAME (20-2-1) 4 1 – 5

ND 1. Kimberly Carpenter 6 (-) 15:32; ND 2. Jen Buczkowski 3 (Katie Thorlakson) 35:48; ND 3. Christie Shaner 1 (Thorlakson) 42:35; ND 4. Buczkowski 4 (Annie Schefter) 44:23; ND 5. Jill Krivacek 2 (-) 47:19.

Shots: LOY 0-3 – 3, ND 15-16 – 31.

Corner Kicks: 0-0 – 0, ND 4-8 – 12.

Fouls: LOY 5, ND 13.

Saves: LOY 15 (Heather Joseph 8, Emily Peick 7), ND 1 (Erika Bohn 0, Nikki Westfall 1).

Offsides: LOY 1, ND 1.

BACK OUT OF THE FOG – ND outscored its opponents 63-5 in the first 19 games but was outscored 6-5 in the next three – before the 5-0 breakout vs. Loyola … the Irish also had totaled just seven goals in an 11-game stretch before the big win over the Ramblers (it was ND’s first game with three-plus goals since the 3-0 win over Miami on ).

SHOT DOWN – The win over Loyola marked the 11th time this season that ND has limited its opponent to one shot on goal, with the Irish owning 21 more goals (73) than shots on goal allowed (52) … ND also has held 19 of its last 20 opponents to 0-3 shots on target (Michigan placed all six of its shots on target in the Oct. 29 win over the Irish, with three coming in one sequence) … the opponents have averaged just 2.3 shots on goal versus the Irish this season.

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS – ND has extended its season scoring margin to 73-11, still ranking third nationally in scoring at 3.13 goals per game (behind UNC’s 4.05 and the final 3.27 posted by North Texas) while also moving up to third in the nation with a 0.47 goals-against average (narrowly behind two other teams that are finished, Utah at 0.44 and Hofstra at 0.45) … sophomore G Erika Bohn has moved up from sixth to second on the national GAA charts, behind Utah’s Ashley Mason (0.30).

MIDFIELD MAKES GOOD – The win over Loyola marked the ND midfield’s most productive showing in the past month, with the typical starting trio of senior Kimberly Carpenter (2A), freshman Jen Buczkowski and sophomore Annie Schefter combining for just two points in the previous eight games (before three goals and one assist vs. Loyola) … Carpenter recorded her first goal in nine games while Buczkowski scored for the first time in 19 games.

BIG-GAME PERFORMERS – ND has played seven “big games” games this season (vs. NSCAA top-25 opponents and/or in the postseason), with Katie Thorlakson (3G-4A, 2 GWG in those seven games) and Kim Carpenter (2G-2A, 2 GWG) proving to be the team’s top primetime performers in 2003. Notre Dame’s all-time NCAA Tournament record now stands at 26-9-1 (.736, second-best in the NCAA record book), including 21-2-0 in games at Alumni Field.

THE FRIENDLY CONFINES – Notre Dame has posted a 13-1-0 record at Alumni Field this season, with a 50-7 scoring edge and a 302-55 shot margin (90-31 in corner kicks) – with per-game home margins of 22-4 in shots, 11-2 in shots on goal and 7-2 in CKs … here’s a rundown of ND’s scoring at Alumni Field this season: senior F Amanda Guertin (8G-4A, 20 pts 3 GWG; career at home: 30G-18A, 12 GWG), sophomore F Katie Thorlakson (7G-6A, 20 pts, 2 GWG), senior F Amy Warner (5G-8A), junior F Mary Boland (6G-2A, 3 GWG), senior M Kimberly Carpenter (5G-5A, 15 pts, 3 GWG), sophomore M Annie Schefter (4G-3A, 11 pts, GWG), freshman M Jen Buczkowski (4G-5A, 13 pts) and senior D Melissa Tancredi (2G-5A) … Guertin has notched 8 of her 10 goals this season at Alumni Field while Carpenter has 15 of her 17 points at home in 2003 (her other two points came on a goal vs. Hartford in the opener, at UConn) … all four of Schefter’s goals and 3-of-5 assists have come at home while Buczkowski has posted 13-of-14 points at Alumni Field.

QUICK NOTES – ND players now have combined for 12 multiple-goal games in ’03 (two each by Mary Boland, Amanda Guertin, Katie Thorlakson and Jen Buczkowski, plus one each from Maggie Manning, Annie Schefter, Melissa Tancredi and Amy Warner) … the BIG EAST and the Southeastern Conferences both saw five of their teams head to the second round, the most from any conference in the nation … senior M Kimberly Carpenter (6G-5A) now has more than triple her point total from her first three seasons with the Irish (2G-1A) … ND now is 29-8-2 vs. NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponents during the past four seasons … ND’s first-half scoring edge now stands at 40-7 … the Irish are 20-4-1 in their last 25 postseason games (62-20 scoring edge) … ND has led for 64% of the minutes in ’03 and trailed for just 0.7% (148 total minutes) … Bohn is 29-3-1 in her last 33 starts with the Irish (16 GA) … eight ND players now have combined to miss 105 games this season due to injury … fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky has logged 95 career games (two shy of that ND top-10 list) and 93rd start (9th all-time, three out of 7th) … Randy Waldrum’s five ND teams now have combined for a 93-18-4 record (.826), including 78-14-3 in the last 95 … ND is 103-1-0 in its last 104 games when scoring 3-plus goals (since ’95; 199-3-1 all-time) and is 276-8-1 all-time when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals (81-2-4 since ’99).

ND WOMEN’S SOCCER – BY THE NUMBERS (see PDF)

TALE OF THE TAPE (see PDF)