July 26, 2005
KARLSKOGA, Sweden – Notre Dame women’s soccer players Jen Buczkowski and Erika Bohn – just seven months removed from the 2004 NCAA title game – have added another championship to their resumes, as members of the U.S. Under-21 Women’s National Soccer Team that defeated arch-rival Norway (4-1) in Tuesday’s final game at the annual Nordic Cup. It marks the seventh straight championship for the U.S. at the world’s premier youth soccer tournament.
Buczkowski played all 360 minutes during the USA’s undefeated run to the title, joining UCLA defender Jill Oakes and Portland defender Stephanie Lopez as the only players to log every minute in the four U.S. games. Buczkowski’s possession skills led the way during Notre Dame’s statistical domination last fall and it was more of the same during the past week in Sweden, as the U.S. rolled up a 15-2 scoring edge, plus a 99-17 margin in total shots, 43-9 in shots on goal and 23-6 in corner kicks. The Americans actually scored six more goals (15) than their opponents’ combined shots on goal (9) during the tournament.
Former Stanford All-America goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart – one of four overage players allowed on the U.S. roster – started all four games but Bohn saw her first action of the tournament in the title game and had the thrill of being on the field for the game-ending celebration.
Rising Notre Dame sophomore midfielder/forward and her Finland teammates won the fifth-place match, defeating Iceland by the same 4-1 score.
(See more on the Nordic Cup title game below the following ND championship notes)
The past 12 months have produced plenty of championship moments (some coming in the next few days) for current, former and future Notre Dame players:
* Aug. 26, 2004 – former ND standouts Shannon Boxx (def. M) and Kate Sobrero Markgraf (central D) are among the top starters for the U.S. team that wins the Olympic gold medal in Athens, topping Brazil in the 2-1 final.
* Dec. 5, 2004 – the Irish edge UCLA in penalty kicks to complete a 25-1-1 season and secure the program’s second NCAA title.
* June 10, 2005 – ND signee Brittany Bock’s return to her Neuqua Valley High School team (she played with a boys club team in the spring of ’04) produces an Illinois state championship season, as NVHS battled back from a 3-0 deficit to knock off defending champ New Trier in the 6-3 state-title game (one month earlier, New Trier had edged Neuqua Valley in an epic shootout that extended to 13 kicks from each team) … Bock totaled 24G-7A in NVHS’s 24-game season and earlier had nearly led the Illinois ’87s to the 2005 USYSA national title, scoring twice in the semifinal win over Cal-South (2-1) before seeing Maryland win the 1-0 final.
* July 24, 2005 – Jen Buczkowski (M) and Erika Bohn (G) help the U.S. Under-21 National Team win the prestigious Nordic Cup for the seventh straight year.
* Upcoming USYSA youth club national tournament (July 27-31, in Orlando) – ND forward Kerri Hanks, who started her college career in the spring of ’05 after playing with the U.S. team in the U.S. U-19 World Championship (fall ’04), and signee Becca Mendoza both will be closing the month of July with a chance to win national club titles (at Disney Sports Complex) … Hanks and her Dallas Texans ’86 team open the four-team national under-19 finals vs. the Carmel (Ind.) Commotion on the 27th, before facing the Stars of Massachusetts (July 28) and the Colorado Rush Nike (July 29) in the round-robin format … Mendoza and her Dallas Sting ’87 squad are in the under-18 draw vs. the Kansas City Dynamo (July 27), Bethesda (Md.) Excel (July 28) and Laguna Hills (Calif.) Eclipse (July 29) … the top two teams in each age group round-robin will meet in the finals on July 13 … Hanks earlier earned the “golden boot” award as the top scorer at the 2003 USYSA under-19 nationals, with the Dallas Texans ’85 team that included another current ND player (rising junior M Claire Gallerano).
* Upcoming WPSL Championship weekend (July 30-31, in Agawam, Mass.) and Open Cup Nationals (Aug. 5-6, in Dallas) – several players with ND connections are members of the Goshen-based FC Indiana team (WPSL) that won the Region 2 title earlier this summer and will play in both the WPSL semifinals and the Open Cup semifinals vs. the Region 4 Ajax America team that includes former ND standout Boxx … FC Indiana will face the New England Mutiny in the second WPSL semifinal on July 30 (7:00 p.m. EDT; at Harmon Smith Stadium at Agawam HS), with the consolation game (2:00) and championship (5:00) games to follow on the 31st (the Califofnia Storm, featuring former ND standout Monica Gonzalez, and the Steel City Sparks will play in the other WPSL semifinal) … rising juniors Christie Shaner (D) and Nikki Westfall (G) are members of the ’05 FC Indiana team, as are incoming freshmen Bock and Kerry Inglis (M/D) … the other Open Cup semifinal (at Frisco Sports Complex) features the Texas-based DSC Titans and the German Hungarians (from Pa.), with the championship game to be played on Aug. 6.
* Upcoming W-League Championship (Aug. 5 and 7, in West Windsor, N.J.) – rising senior F Katie Thorlakson is the 2nd-leading scorer for a Vancouver Whitecaps team that is three wins shy of repeating as the W-League champion … the Whitecaps first must beat the Arizona Heatwave in the Western Conference title game (July 30, in Vancouver) before heading to the east coast for the W-League semifinals at Mercer County Community College (Aug. 5, with championship game on Aug. 7).
Back in Sweden at the Nordic Cup, the U.S. used an 18-6 shot edge and goals from four different players to beat Norway in the title game. The U.S. now has won eight of the past nine Nordic Cup tournaments, dating back to 1997 (including earlier title-game wins over Norway in ’97 and ’99, with a loss to Norway in the ’98 title game). Since losing the 1998 final, the Americans have lost just one game (of 28) in seven years of Nordic Cup play. Sweden is the only other team ever to post back-to-back Nordic Cup titles (since 1990), winning two in a row twice in the early 1990s.
The USA’s 15 goals topped the 12 scored by the 2004 team while both of the goals surrendered by the U.S. at the ’05 Nordic Cup game in late-game situations, with the game already in hand (Germany had the other goal vs. the U.S.).
Indianapolis-area prep standout Lauren Cheney (Ben Davis High School) scored just 15 minutes into the game – set up by North Carolina midfielder Lori Chalupny after she dribbled down the left flank, beat a defender and sent a low cross to the near post. The charging Cheney won the race to the ball and tapped her shot into the net from six yards out.
The USA made it 2-0 early in the second half, after former Rutgers midfielder Carli Lloyd won possession at midfield and fed the ball to forward Heather O’Reilly (UNC). O’Reilly used a hesitation move to shake loose at the top of the penalty area before sending a leftfooted shot into the right side of the net from 12 yards out.
The third goal came in the 65th minute, set up by a throw-in from the left side. Cheney received the ball at the edge of the six-yard box, spun around her defender towards the end line and cut a cross back into the middle. Lloyd was in position and split two defenders, crashing through to toe-poke the ball into the net from nine yards.
Chalupny put the game out of reach in the 73rd minute, collecting a ball 30 yards out and spinning towards the goal before hitting a blast into the upper right corner.
Norway scored its lone goal on a late fluke, after a long ball bounced off the head of forward Lindy Wiik.
In the other placement matches, England edged Germany in penalty kicks for third place (after tying, 1-1, in regulation) while host Sweden beat Denmark for seventh (2-1).
USA 1 3 – 4
Norway 0 1 – 1
USA 1. – Lauren Cheney (Lori Chalupny) 15th minute
USA 2. – Heather O’Reilly (Carli Lloyd) 49
USA 3. – Lloyd (Cheney) 65
USA 4. – Chalupny (unassisted) 73
NOR 1. – Lindy Wiik (n/a) 85
Lineups:
USA: 1-Nicole Barnhart (1-Erika Bohn, 82); 4-Kendall Fletcher, 21-Rachel Buehler, 19-Jill Oakes, 11-Stephanie Lopez; 22-Jen Buczkowski, 10-Carli Lloyd (8-Sarah Huffman, 75), 6-Lori Chalupny (2-Manya Makoski, 80), 5-Lindsay Tarpley (12-Amy Rodriguez, 82); 9-Heather O’Reilly, 7-Lauren Cheney (13-Megan Rapinoe, 69). Subs not used: 3-Mary Castelanelli, 15-Jessica Maxwell.
NOR: 1-Christine Nilsen (12-Erika Skarbo, 84), 14-Lisa Marie Woods, 4-Hilde Hansen, 3-Runa Vikestad, 2-Ann Morkved, 17-Guro Knutsen, 8-Janneli Giske, 7-Lene Storlokken, 6-Nasra Abdullah (5-Janne Stange, 85), 11-Solfrid Andersen, 10-Tone Heimlund (9-Lindy Wiik, 54).
Shots: USA 18, NOR 6
Shots on Goal: USA 8, NOR 5
Saves: USA 4, NOR 4
Corner Kicks: USA 1, NOR 2
Fouls: USA 8, NOR 11
Offside: USA 1, NOR 0
Misconduct Summary: NOR – Janne Stange (caution) 87th minute.
Officials: referee Kirsi Sazolainen (Finland), ref. asst. Helen Hakansson (Sweden), ref. asst. Lena Ahlstron (Sweden)
Placement Matches (Tuesday, July 26)
Match for 7th – Sweden 2, Denmark 1
Match for 5th – Finland 4, Iceland 1
Match for 3rd – Germany 1, England 1 (England wins in PKs)
Championship – USA 4, Norway 1
Group A
Teams (W-L-T … Pts … GF-GA/GD)
Norway (3-0-0 … 9 … 5-1/+4)
England (2-1-0 … 6 … 4-2/+2)
Finland (1-2-0 … 3 … 3-3/0)
Sweden (0-3-0 … 0 … 3-8/-5)
Group B
Teams (W-L-T … Pts … GF-GA/GD)
USA (3-0-0 … 9 … 11-1/+10)
Germany (2-1-0 … 6 … 11-4/+7)
Iceland (1-2-0 … 3 … 5-10/-5)
Denmark (0-3-0 … 0 … 2-14/-12)
Nordic Cup Group Results
Wednesday, July 20 – England 2, Finland 0 … Norway 3, Sweden 1 … USA 4, Iceland 0 … Germany 6, Denmark 0
Friday, July 22 – Finland 3, Sweden 1 … Norway 1, England 0 … Germany 4, Iceland 1 … USA 4, Denmark 0
Sunday, July 24 – Norway 1, Finland 0 … England 2, Sweden 1 … Iceland 4, Denmark 2 … USA 3, Germany 1