Sept. 7, 2007
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara sophomore forward Kiki Bosio scored twice and helped set up two other goals, as the third-ranked Broncos topped second-ranked Notre Dame, 7-1, in the annual showdown between the women’s soccer teams. Santa Clara (2-0-0) led 2-0 midway through the first half and took a 3-1 lead into the intermission before scoring four more in the second half, despite only outshooting the Irish 7-6 in the final 45 minutes.
Sophomore forward Michele Weissenhofer scored the lone goal for Notre Dame (1-1-1) in the 24th minute, with junior forward Kerri Hanks setting up the score for her 39th career assist.
Notre Dame maintains an 8-5-0 edge in the series (7-4 in the nine-year Randy Waldrum era) but the Irish still have beaten the Broncos only once at Buck Shaw Stadium, as the home team now is 9-2-0 in the history of the ND-SCU series.
Bosio and senior midfielder Brittany Klein (2G-1A) led the SCU attack with five points each while senior forward Meagan Snell came off the bench to score a pair of goals. The Broncos finished with a 15-10 edge in total shots and 10-8 in shots on goal, with the Irish owning a 5-3 corner-kick margin.
Bosio opened the scoring in the 16th minute, when her rightside flip-throw slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Lauren Karas for the near-post goal (15:41). Six minutes later, Bosio was able to play a cross from the right side of the box. Tina Estrada was filling the middle but the Irish appeared to catch a break as the ball skipped past her – only to see midfielder Courtney Lewis slanting into the play for a 10-yard shot inside the near-left post (21:42).
Notre Dame – which faced only one two-goal deficit in the entire 2006 season (in the NCAA title game vs. UNC) – quickly answered with a score 99 seconds later. Hanks provided the lead pass into the left side of the box and the leftfooted Weissenhofer then deftly touched a shot off the outside of her right foot, with the shot glancing off the left hand of charging `keeper Meagan McCray before settling into the far-right side of the goal for a 2-1 game and the 19th goal of Weissenhofer’s young career (23:11).
Bosio did not have an official assist on the third SCU goal but her leftside flip-throw led to the score, with Lexi Orand reaching out to volley the ball on the far-right side of the box before Snell finished from the left side into the near side of the goal (35:07). It marked the first time the Irish have allowed three goals in a regular-season game since mid-2005.
Klein set up the home team’s fourth goal early in the second half, after picking off a clear attempt at the top of SCU’s attacking third. Klein spun around on the dribble and flared a pass out to the right flank for Snell, who avoided a defender with a cut back to her left before rocketing a far-post shot that went over sophomore `keeper Kelsey Lysander and into the far-left side of the net (53:35).
It marked just the 14th time in the 20-year history of Notre Dame women’s soccer that the Irish have allowed four or more goals in a game, with the next goal then producing only the seventh time that the Irish have allowed five-plus goals (first time since 1998).
Klein went on to score twice on rebound plays (after shots by her teammates were deflected but failed to be cleared), with the final goal coming in the 80th minute when Bosio ended a scramble in the box.
Hanks (50G-39A) now is one assist shy of becoming the 39th player (in 26 seasons of Division I women’s soccer) ever to reach 40 career goals and 40 assists.
Notre Dame – which has faced the task this season of replacing a pair of four-year starting defenders, graduated defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek and its three-year All-America playmaking midfielder Jen Buczkowski – opened the game with junior center back Carrie Dew starting in the defensive midfielder spot. Dew, who still is in the process of returning to her elite form (following ACL knee surgery late in the 2006 season), shifted to her familiar center back spot after the second SCU goal and the Irish went on to open the second half in a 3-3-4 formation, in hopes of jumpstarting the offense (instead, SCU capitalized for two more goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half).
The seven goals scored by Santa Clara are two more than Notre Dame allowed in the entire 2006 regular season (5).
#2 Notre Dame (1-1-1) 1 0 – 1
#3 Santa Clara (2-0-0) 3 4 – 7
SCU 1. Kiki Bosio 1 (-) 15:41; SCU 2. Courtney Lewis 1 (Bosio) 21:42; ND 1. Michele Weissenhofer 1 (Kerri Hanks) 23:11; SCU 3. Meagan Snell 1 (Lexi Orand) 35:07; SCU 4. Snell 2 (Brittany Klein) 53:35; SCU 5. Klein 2 (-) 57:04; SCU 6. Klein 3 (-) 75:55; SCU 7. Bosio 2 (Anessa Patton) 79:11.
Shots: ND 4-6 – 10, SCU 8-7 – 13
Corner Kicks: ND 2-3 – 5, SCU 1-2 – 3
Saves: ND 3 (Lauren Karas 2 SV/3 GA in 45; Kelsey Lysander 1 SV/4 GA in 45), SCU 7 (Meagan McCray)
Fouls: ND 10, SCU 15
Offside: ND 3, SCU 0
Yellow Card: Courtney Rosen (ND) 37:50