Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy scored on a penalty kick in the ninth minute of Sunday's 1-1 exhibition draw against Baylor at the Notre Dame Practice Field.

Irish Play Baylor To 1-1 Draw In Exhibition Finale

Aug. 12, 2012

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second time in three days, sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita) put Notre Dame on top with a first-half goal, but Baylor rallied and scored the equalizer with 2:07 remaining as the Fighting Irish and Lady Bears played to a 1-1 draw in exhibition action on Sunday afternoon at the Notre Dame Practice Field.

Bohaboy scored on a penalty kick at 8:56, and the lead appeared it would stand up the rest of the way until Bri Campos netted the tying goal for Baylor in the closing minutes on an overhead kick, putting in the loose ball after a free kick near the midfield stripe.

Freshman goalkeeper Naomi Willett (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) played the opening 45 minutes for Notre Dame, recording three saves. Senior Maddie Fox (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) came on to spell Willett in the second half and made one save. For Baylor, Michelle Kloss started and registered three saves in the first 65:48, while Meredith Stark finished the match in the Lady Bears’ goal and was credited with two stops.

The Fighting Irish outshot Baylor, 15-10 in the match. including a 6-5 edge in shots on goal. Each team earned four corner kicks, while the Lady Bears were whistled for 16 of the 25 fouls, as well as the lone yellow card, in the match.

“This was a good test for us because Baylor plays a much different style than Virginia, and it was important to see how we responded to that kind of a change,” Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum said. “It’s disappointing that we didn’t close out things the way we’re capable of. We need to play smarter with the lead and do a better job of managing the game in those situations. There’s a lot we can take from a result like this, and we’ll do that this week as we get back to training for the start of the regular season.”

Except for an early Baylor free kick from distance, the Fighting Irish controlled the run of play for large stretches of the first half, quickly putting the visitors on the back foot. That pressure led to the Notre Dame goal, starting with a cross from the right side by junior midfielder/forward Rebecca Twining (Houston, Texas/Second Baptist School), seeking her classmate and team tri-captain Elizabeth Tucker (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) near the top of the penalty area. However, as Tucker went to trap the cross, she was bowled over from behind by Baylor defender Taylor Heatherly, earning the penalty kick that Bohaboy cashed in moments later (8:56).

Notre Dame had several chances to double its lead later in the first half, starting in the 13th minute with a flick header by sophomore defender Sammy Scofield (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) that Kloss did well to save, with the BU netminder having to make a second stop on Bohaboy when the rebound caromed out to the Fighting Irish striker.

Twining later made a pair of nifty plays to create scoring threats, the first in the 24th minute when she volleyed a long service across the face of goal, but freshman forward Crystal Thomas (Elgin, Ill./Wheaton Academy) couldn’t quite latch on to the cross. Three minutes later, Twining worked a precision combination play with Tucker, who then found sophomore midfielder/forward Karin Simonian (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) at the edge of the attacking third. She switched the point of attack to Thomas on the left side, where the rookie’s cross found Bohaboy inside the area, but her shot was blocked and swept from danger.

Baylor had a handful of decent threats in the first half, the best coming in the 22nd minute when Vic Hoffman found Lisa Sliwinski on a cross near the penalty spot, but Sliwinski didn’t get full power on her shot and Willett dove to her right to push the ball wide of the left post. Sliwinski also was going up against Willett for a high ball in the box in the 40th minute, but the Notre Dame goalkeeper easily grabbed the cross (the offside flag was waved off when the Fighting Irish took possession).

Play was more even in the second half, with each side getting its share of looks on frame. In the 52nd minute, freshman midfielder Glory Williams (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highlands) settled an attempted clearance and drove a quick left-footed shot from distance that snaked wide of the right post. Less than three minutes later, freshman defender Brittany Von Rueden (Mequon, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels) teed up a service from the right side and Twining got free from 10 yards out, but her header sailed outside the left post.

Baylor continued to try and test the Notre Dame defense from long range, but few of the Lady Bears’ shots were on target. Meanwhile, Twining and Tucker collaborated again for the Fighting Irish, this time in the 77th minute by working down the right channel and Twining getting free near the by-line, but her sharp-angle shot twisted into the outside netting.

Notre Dame had two more unrealized chances in the ensuing five minutes, first with Thomas’ left-footed shot from the top of the box going wide left. The Fighting Irish then earned a free kick 35 yards out when BU’s Carlie Davis was booked for a physical tackle on Bohaboy, but that opportunity dissolved as well.

Baylor wound up getting the tying goal after winning its own free kick just inside the midfield stripe. Heatherly drove a long service into the area, and Fox came off her line to try and play the ball, but it richocheted off several players before popping up near the edge of the six-yard box. That’s where Campos was stationed and she alertly spun and hit an overhead kick that found its way past a recovering Fox and into the net (87:53).

Notre Dame will open the 2012 regular season, the 25th in program history, at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) Friday when it travels to Madison, Wis., to take on Wisconsin at the McClimon Soccer Complex.

For more information on the Fighting Irish women’s soccer program, follow Notre Dame on Twitter (@NDsoccer or @NDsoccernews), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/NDWomenSoccer) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the main page at UND.com.

To purchase a season pass or single-match tickets for the 2012 Notre Dame women’s soccer season, call the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, visit the official Notre Dame athletics ticketing web site, UND.com/tickets or stop by the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office windows during normal business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday). Tickets also can be purchased at Alumni Stadium on match days.

— ND —

POST-MATCH NOTES: By coaches’ agreement, the teams did not play overtime … Notre Dame is 11-3-3 in exhibition matches against college opponents during the 14-year Waldrum era, including a 6-0-2 record at home … the Fighting Irish are unbeaten in the preseason the past two years, dating back to 2010 and a 4-1 loss to Virginia at Myles Kimmerly Park in Maple City, Mich. … Notre Dame and Baylor were playing on the soccer pitch for the first time since their only regular-season match, a 7-2 Fighting Irish victory on Aug. 27, 2004, at old Alumni Field (located just north of the Notre Dame Practice Field) … Waldrum was the head coach at Baylor from 1996-98, while Fighting Irish assistant coach Dawn Greathouse is a 2001 graduate of Baylor and former Lady Bears’ goalkeeper from 1997-2000, earning All-America honors as a sophomore and three all-Big 12 Conference citations, leading to her induction in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011 … of the 23 Fighting Irish players in uniform this weekend, 20 saw action in one or both of the exhibitions, including four of the five goalkeepers and 10 of the 11 available freshmen … junior midfielder Mandy Laddish and freshman forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro currently are with the United States Under-20 National Team preparing for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, with the Americans’ first match in the group stage set for 3 a.m. ET (4 p.m. local) on Aug. 20 against Ghana at Big Arch Stadium in Hiroshima, Japan.

MATCH BOX SCORE (unofficial)
Aug. 12, 2012 — 1 p.m. ET
Notre Dame Practice Field (Notre Dame, Ind.)
Attendance: 650 (est.)
Weather: Partly sunny, low 80s

Baylor 0 – 1 — 1
Notre Dame 1 – 0 — 1

ND 1. Lauren Bohaboy 2 (penalty kick) 8:56. BU 1. Bri Campos 1 (-) 87:53.

Total Shots: Baylor 10 (5-5), Notre Dame 15 (10-5)
Shots On Goal: Baylor 5 (3-2), Notre Dame 6 (4-2)
Saves: Baylor 5 (Michelle Kloss 3 in 65:48; Meredith Stark 2 in 24:12), Notre Dame 4 (Naomi Willett 3 in 45:00, Maddie Fox 1 in 45:00)
Corner Kicks: Baylor 4 (2-2), Notre Dame 4 (3-1)
Fouls: Baylor 16 (8-8), Notre Dame 9 (5-4)
Yellow Card: Carlie Davis (BU) 81:13
Offsides: Baylor 2 (1-1), Notre Dame 1 (1-0)
Match Officials: Mike Oliver (R), John-Erik Anderson (AR1), William Young (AR2), Justin Bell (4th)