Sept. 16, 2004

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NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – at Connecticut – Sept. 17, 2004

The Notre Dame women’s soccer team (6-0-0) – 1st in the Soccer America poll and 2nd in the other national polls (behind 5-0-1 North Carolina) – continues a stretch of four straight road games on Friday, Sept. 17, at BIG EAST rival Connecticut (7:00 p.m. EDT), followed by a Sunday afternoon game at Syracuse (Sept. 19, 1:00) … UConn will offer live-stats (with a link on und.com) and internet audio while in-game updates of the Syracuse game will be posted on the ND Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) … a delayed telecast of the ND-Syracuse game also will be shown in central and northern New York on Time Warner cable 26 (Monday, Sept. 20, at 8:00 p.m. EDT and Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 9:00) … the Irish now have been ranked 1st or 2nd in the NSCAA coaches poll during 10 of the past 12 seasons (all but ’01 and ’02; #1 in ’94, ’95, ’96 and ’00) … ND picked up road wins last week at #11 Arizona State (2-1) and Texas Tech (3-0), after a pair of impressive wins at the Notre Dame Adidas Classic (1-0 vs. #13 Stanford, 5-2 vs. #4 Santa Clara) … sixth-year Irish head coach Randy Waldrum registered his 100th win with the Irish (100-19-4/.829) in the Texas Tech game … the Irish opened their season at home with wins over Baylor (7-2) and Eastern Illinois (3-0) … senior forward and All-America candidate Mary Boland suffered a broken leg midway through the SCU game and will miss the rest of the season (she may have the possibility to apply for a 5th year of eligibility) … junior forward Katie Thorlakson and the Irish overcame the loss of Boland to surge past SCU, with Thorlakson becoming the first Notre Dame women’s soccer player ever to repeat as BIG EAST offensive player of the week (she also again was named to the Soccer America and Soccer Buzz national teams of the week) … Thorlakson has combined with fifth-year defender Melissa Tancredi and senior Candace Chapman (formerly a right back with the Irish who has been a super-sub at forward in ’04) as ND’s potent “Canadian Connection” through the first three weeks of the season.

INFORMATION HIGHWAY – Gametracker livestats for all ND home games can be accessed via the main page at www.und.com … live stats also will be available for the UConn game (see link at uconnhuskies.com or und.com) … internet audio broadcasts also will be provided for all home games at ND and a free internet broadcast from the UConn game is available at www.whus.org … audio broadcasts for ND home games are available to College Sports Pass subscribers (see audio/video link on und.com main page) … game recaps are available via the ND Sports Hotline at (574) 631-3000 (press “4” for soccer information and then ‘2″ for women’s soccer) … as an added bonus, in-game updates will be placed on the hotline during the Syracuse game (midway through each half and at halftime).

CANADIAN CONNECTION CLICKING – Notre Dame’s three Canadian natives – fifth-year defender Melissa Tancredi (Ancaster, Ont.), senior forward Candace Chapman (Ajax, Ont.) and junior forward Katie Thorlakson (Langley, B.C) – have been key leaders of the Irish early-season surge … Thorlakson, the first ND payer ever to repeat as BIG EAST offensive player of the week, ranks 5th in the nation (among players from 308 Division I teams) with 18 points in just six games played (5G-8A) while her 8 assists trail only Chattanooga’s Megan Chismark (9) on the NCAA stat charts … her 8 points vs. #4 Santa Clara (3G-2A) are 5th-most in the nation this year and made her the first ND player ever to post a hat trick vs. at top-10 opponent … Thorlakson also became the only ND player ever to score/assist on ND’s first 5 goals in a game, doing it in the opener vs. Baylor (2G-3A) and then in the SCU game … Chapman shares the team goal lead (5) with Thorlakson despite starting just one game and playing only 287 minutes this season (giving her one goal every 57 minutes of action) as she returns from 2003 ACL surgery (she can apply for a 5th year in ’05) … Tancredi, coming off an All-America season in ’03, is the leader of ND’s back line from her central defender spot and has helped the Irish limit the opposition to 33 total shots (5.5 per gm), 17 shots on goal (2.8/gm) and 12 corner kicks (2.0/gm) … Chapman, who started at right back for ND in ’01 and ’02, has started with the Canadian National Team (mostly at flank midfielder) while Tancredi emerged as a starting central D with Canada after the ’03 college season … Thorlakson recently made her first appearance with Canada’s full national team and is a standout with the Canadian Under-19 National Team.

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

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES – UConn (2-3-0) fell out of the national rankings after three straight losses Penn State (1-2, OT), Portland (1-2) and Yale (0-2), followed by a 3-0 win over Hartford at Yale’s tournament to give Len Tsantiris his 400th career win … the Huskies opened the season with a 2-0 win over Navy … top scorers include senior F Kristen Graczyk (2G-3A) and sophomore F/M Niki Cross (2G-1A) while junior Megan Jessee (1.37 GAA, 24 SV, 7 GA) has logged most of the time in the nets … UConn returned 19 of 25 letterwinners from its ’03 team that went 15-6-3 (5-1 in BIG EAST Northeast Division) and lost to North Carolina in the NCAA title game (6-0), after a favorable path to the College Cup semifinals vs. Boston University, Central Connecticut, Michigan and BYU (none was ranked in the final regular-season top-25 poll) … ND and UConn were set to meet in the ’03 NCAA round-of-16 before the Irish were upset by Michigan (1-0, on UM’s only shot on goal).

SERIES NOTES – Notre Dame leads the UConn series 12-3-2 (6-1-1 in last eight), including 2-1-2 at Morrone Stadium and 5-0-0 in BIG EAST title games (’96-’00) … the Irish beat UConn twice in ’99 – 2-1 in double OT (at ND) and 1-0 in BIG EAST title game (at Rutgers) – followed by an 0-0 tie (when ND was #1) at UConn in ’00 … ND beat the Huskies in the ’00 BIG EAST title game, 1-0 at ND on an own goal … UConn won the ’01 game in Storrs (3-1), behind first goals of the season from Casey Zimny and Jennifer Amaio (Alexa Borisjuk also scored, with Amanda Guertin averting the shutout) … ND – which played without Mary Boland – owned a 15-9 shot edge in the ’01 game (6-6 in corners) … the Irish came back to beat UConn in ’02 (3-1) followed by a 2-0 win in ’03 … the Irish have not lost a home BIG EAST game since a wild 5-4 OT game with UConn in ’95 (a 50-game win streak) … ND dominated the 2nd half of the ’02 game (9-0 shot edge, 4-0 on corner kicks), yielding final totals of 17-4 in shots and 5-2 in corners … the Irish tied the game on Katie Thorlakson’s first goal of ’02 before Guertin’s pinpoint corners set up header goals by Randi Scheller and Melissa Tancredi … Mary Boland effectively neutralized M Sarah Popper while Tancredi held top forward Kristen Graczyk in check … UConn struck first when Salla Ranta ran onto a thru-ball for a low shot, shortly before halftime … early in the 2nd half, Candace Chapman and Amy Warner worked a give-and-go and Chapman sent a lead pass, with Thorlakson one-touching a 16-yard shot into the lower left corner … Scheller later found herself unmarked at the far left post and sent home an easy header on Guertin’s corner while Tancredi capped the win by elevating above the defense and heading another Guertin corner under the crossbar.

RECAPPING THE 2003 GAME (ND 2, UConn 0) – The Irish overcame the absence of leading scorer Mary Boland while completing a rare 8-game homestand … ND held UConn without a shot on goal for the final 60 minutes while holding its opponent to 0-2 shots on goal (2) for the 13th straight game … Katie Thorlakson scored via a Christie Shaner corner-kick sequence in the 20th minute (with a primary assist from Melissa Tancredi) while versatile freshman Lizzie Reed made the most out of her first start at forward with the Irish, jumping on a loose ball and burying a crossing shot from the right side … Erika Bohn made a tough point-blank save in the 30th minute, sprinting off her line and leaping forward to thwart Jessica Gjersten’s breakaway … the game marked ND’s 49th straight home win over a BIG EAST opponent while the Irish surged atop the national goals-against avg. charts (0.31) after shutting out the Huskies.

SERIES SCORING – ND owns a 36-20 series scoring edge vs. UConn (22-11 in the last 11) … UConn has scored more than two goals vs. ND just three times (5-4 UC win in ’95, 4-3 ND win in ’96, 3-1 UC win in ’01) and the Irish have held UConn to 0-2 goals in 11 of the last 12 (the Huskies totaled one goal over four games vs. ND in 1999 and 2000) … ND owns a 185-105 shot edge (avg. 19-11) in the last 10 games of the series … the series has produced low-scoring games (avg. 3.2 combined goals/gm), with one 0-0 game, four 1-0 games, one 1-1 game, two 2-0 games, three 2-1 games (others: 5-4, 4-3, 6-1, 4-2, 3-1). IN THE POLLS – Prior to the 2002 matchup, both teams had been ranked in the NSCAA poll in the first 15 games of the series, including times in which each team was ranked among the top four (10 with each in the top-five) … those rankings dropped off a bit in ’99, as ND was 6th prior to both games (UConn was 8th and 13th, its lowest rankings in the series prior to 2000) … the lower-ranked team is 5-9-2 in previous ND-UConn games, with the underdog wins coming in 1995 (#5 UConn over #2 ND, 5-4 in OT), in the 1997 NCAA semifinals (#4 UConn 2, #2 ND 1), in the 1998 BE title game (#5 ND 1, #3 UConn 0), in 2001 (#15 UConn 3, #4 ND 1) and in 2002 (ND 3, #9 UConn 1).

CT CONNECTIONS – Notre Dame junior G Erika Bohn was a star player at Brookfield (Conn.) HS, where she set team records for career GAA (0.68) and shutouts (41), also totaling 16 goals as a free-kick/PK specialist (her family now resides in Rutland, Vt.) … Bohn led Brookfield to state runner-up titles in ’99 and ’01 (she was all-state three times) … Bohn also led the Yankee United Rage club team to five state titles (her coach on the Rage was current Yale coach Rudy Meredith, who coached former ND defender Vanessa Pruzinsky on the Weston Wild Things) … Pruzinsky, who graduated in May 2003 before returning for a fifth year of eligibility in the fall of ’03, was named the 2003 Academic All-American of the Year for women’s soccer (she graduated with a 4.0 cumulative GPA as a chemical engineering major) … Pruzinsky was an All-American at Trumbull HS, the NSCAA national player of the year as a senior and twice earned New England player of the year … she led Trumbull to three state titles and a 65-8-3 record in her four-year career, finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 79G-59A, and was part of a 20-0-0 team during her senior year that did not allow a goal … Pruzinsky helped her Weston Wild Things club team win the ’98 national title.

FRIEND OR FOE? – UConn senior D Kim Noivadhana and junior M Karlyn Miselis were members of the Yankee United Rage club program, as was Notre Dame junior G Erika Bohn … Bohn also played on the Connecticut state ODP team with UConn junior M Lara Batey (they opposed each other in high school) while junior M/F Kristi Lefebvre was a teammate of Bohn’s on the regional ODP team (she also played for the Bethesda Fury club team, an arch-rival of the Yankee United Rage) … ND junior M Annie Schefter and UConn junior F Brittany Barakat were teammates on the USYSA national team … ND sophomore M Jen Buczkowski and UConn sophomore M/F Megan Schnur are former U.S. Under-19 National teammates … Buczkowski’s busy summer of ’04 included playing a few games with the W-League’s Chicago Cobras, where her teammates included UConn senior F Kristen Graczyk … the Cobras were rivals of the Fort Wayne Fever squad that featured several ND players (including Christie Shaner, Jenny Walz, Kim Lorenzen, Jill Krivacek, Amanda Cinalli and Lauren Karas) … Graczyk and her former La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.) high school teammate Amy Warner (a 2003 All-America F and ’04 ND grad) somehow found themselves playing for rival teams in the BIG EAST during the 2001-03 seasons … Shaner and UConn’s Elise Koslowski played for the standout F.C. Parkwood (Pa.) club team that reached the 2003 national semifinals.

CAREER STATS VS. UCONN – Current ND players have scored four career goals vs. UConn, by: current junior F Katie Thorlakson (2), fifth-year D Melissa Tancredi and sophomore M/F Lizzie Reed … Tancredi also assisted on Reed’s goal vs. UConn in ’03 (as did current sophomore D Christie Shaner) … Tancredi missed the two 2000 games vs. UConn due to an ACL injury that sidelined her that season.

BEWARE OF THOR! – ND junior F Katie Thorlakson has emerged as an early frontrunner for conference and national honors, currently ranking 2nd nationally in assists (8, behind Chattanooga’s Megan Chismark’s 9) and 5th in total points (18) … her eight points vs. #4 Santa Clara on Sept. 5 (3G-2A) are 5th-most by a Division I player this season (among players from 308 schools) while her seven points in the opener vs. Baylor (2G-3A) rank 10th on that list … only two players in the nation have totaled more assists in a game this season than Thorlakson’s three vs. Baylor.

NCAA Division I Leaders for Total Points
Kerry O’Malley (St. Bonaventure) … 9G-6A, 24 points
Leeanna Woodworth (Gardner-Webb) … 7G-6A, 20 points
Ashley Stinson (Virginia Tech) … 9G-1A, 19 points
Amy Vermeulen (Wisconsin) … 8G-3A, 19 points
Katie Thorlakson (Notre Dame) … 5G-8A, 18 points

IRISH AMONG NATION’S TOP OFFENSIVE TEAMS – Despite the absence of several top offensive players, Notre Dame currently ranks 11th in the nation with 3.50 goals per game … only two teams in the national rankings (Wisconsin and Virginia, both at 3.67) are scoring at a better clip than the Irish … ND has a deceiving 0.83 team goals-against avg. (67th in the nation) but has dominated the opposing offenses overall, allowing just 33 total shots (5.5 per gm), 17 shots on goal (2.8/gm) and 12 corner kicks (2.0/gm).

TURNAROUND SUCCESS – Notre Dame is 13-0 during the past two seasons (’03-’04) when playing a regular-season game two days after a previous game (39-4 scoring edge) … the Irish were just 4-5 (18-16 scoring edge) in 2002 regular-season “bounceback” games … the 2003 bounceback games included the big 2-1 win at Santa Clara while the 2004 season already has yielded a 5-2 bounceback win over that same SCU team.

HALF & HALF – The Irish have been equally dominant in the first (51-8) and second half (41-9) during the past two seasons (’03-’04), after managing just a 12-10 first-half scoring edge in ’02.

NOTRE DAME PLAYER QUICK-FACT SHEET (see PDF for stats and notes on each regular)

WALDRUM PICKS UP 100TH ND WIN – Sixth-year ND head coach Randy Waldrum posted his 200th career win as a Division I women’s head coach in the 2-1 game vs. Miami on Nov. 2, 2003, and just registered his 100th win at Notre Dame in the 3-0 game at Texas Tech … he now owns a 207-69-16 mark (.736) in 15 combined seasons at Tulsa, Baylor and Notre Dame … the Irish are 100-19-4 (.829) in the six-year Waldrum era, including 84-15-3 in the last 102 games (since losing 4-2 at SCU on Oct. 17, 1999) …Waldrum repeated as BIG EAST coach of the year in 2000 and then became the first three-time BIG EAST women’s soccer coach of the year (in ’03) … in ’99, he became the only coach in the history of the NCAA women’s soccer championship to lead a team to the title game in his first season as that team’s head coach … he was the fourth first-year coach to take his team to the NCAA semifinals, beating top-ranked and unbeaten Santa Clara in San Jose … Waldrum’s 23-year record as a college head coach (men’s and women’s) is 283-124-23 (.685) … his women’s soccer record includes 61-36-9 in six years at Tulsa, 46-14-3 in three seasons at Baylor … Waldrum is ranked 8th among active women’s coaches for career win pct. (min. 10 Div. I seasons).

SCOUTING THE IRISH – The ’04 Notre Dame squad features 23 former letterwinners and nine players with significant starting experience, among them senior D/F Candace Chapman (missed ’03 season due to injury) … the Irish spent most of ’03 ranked No. 2 in the nation and raced out to an 18-0-1 record before losing to Michigan in the regular-season finale (3-2), Boston College in the BIG EAST semifinals (2-1) and Michigan again in the second round of the NCAAs (1-0, with the Wolverines converting their only shot on goal) … returning starters include senior Mary Boland (Academic All-American, 12G-4A in ’03; now out for ’04 season after broken leg vs. SCU on Sept. 5) and junior Katie Thorlakson (Canadian Under-19 National Team; 10G-11A in ’03) at the forward positions, plus a pair of proven midfielders who are former U.S. Under-19 National Team standouts – junior Annie Schefter (4G-5A in ’03) and sophomore Jen Buczkowski (4G-6A in ’03) – to go along with junior goalkeeper Erika Bohn (Academic All-American; 0.49 GAA and 967-minute shutout streak in ’03) and three defenders: fifth-year Melissa Tancredi (All-American; 4G-5A in ’03) and the sophomore duo of Christie Shaner (’03 BIG EAST rookie of the year, 1G-3A) and Kim Lorenzen (20 GS in ’03) … other top returners include senior D Gudrun Gunnarsdottir (Icelandic National Team), sophomore M/F Lizzie Reed (2G-1A in ’03) and sophomore defensive M Jill Krivacek (2G-3A in ’03) … the four players lost from the 2003 senior class included frontrunners Amy Warner (All-American; 37G-25A career, 10G-12A in ’03) and Amanda Guertin (48G-27A in career, 11G-6A in ’03), attacking midfielder Kimberly Carpenter (6G-5A in ’03) and left back Vanessa Pruzinsky (94 career GS) … ND’s domination in 2004 included 20 more goals scored (73) than opponent shots on goal (53) … ND’s freshman class is rated No. 2 by Soccer Buzz and 4th by Soccer America … four of the freshmen had impressive debuts during the preseason training tour in Brazil: F Amanda Cinalli (prep All-American, U.S. Under-17 National Team), F/M Jannica Tjeder (Finland Under-21 National Team), M Ashley Jones and G Lauren Karas … top scorers in the Brazil tour (5-0-1; 16-3 scoring edge) included Chapman (4G), Thorlakson (6A), Tjeder (3G-2A) and Jones (2G-3A) … leading scorers after six games include: Thorlakson (5G-8A), Chapman (5G-1A), Buczkowski (3G-4A), Cinalli (3G-2A) and Schefter (2G-2A).

TANCREDI, CHAPMAN TABBED FOR TOP NATIONAL HONORS – Two ND women’s soccer players have received top preseason billing from various national organizations, as fifth-year central defender Melissa Tancredi (Ancaster, Ont.) and senior right back Candace Chapman (Ajax, Ont.) are among 12 players named to the Soccer Buzz preseason All-America squad while both also are among the 25 players named to the 2004 preseason watch list for the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy national player-of-the-year award … Tancredi also was one of 11 players named to Soccer America ‘s 2004 preseason All-America team … Tancredi was a Soccer Buzz first team All-American in ’03, also receiving second team All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America … Chapman – who also could play at forward or midfield in ’04 – had been an NSCAA second team All-American in 2002 before missing the ’03 season due to an ACL knee injury … Tancredi – who like Chapman has starred for the Canadian National Team – could prove to be the nation’s top defensive player in 2004, with Tennessee senior Keeley Dowling representing the only other defender on both the SA and SB preseason All-America teams … Tancredi, Chapman, Dowling and Virginia’s Becky Sauerbrunn are the only defenders on the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list … Tancredi is one of nine players listed on both the SA and SB preseason All-America teams, with others including Dowling, midfielders Carli Lloyd (Rutgers), Lindsey Huie (Portland), Leslie Osborne (Santa Clara) and Lori Chalupny (North Carolina), Portland forward Christine Sinclair and the UNC forward tandem of Lindsay Tarpley and Heather O’Reilly … ND joined UNC and Portland as teams with multiple players on the Soccer Buzz “Elite 12” preseason All-America team while the Irish were one of five teams with multiple players on the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list (as were UNC, Portland, Texas and Virginia) … Chapman was on the 2003 watch list (prior to suffering her season-ending injury) while Tancredi and former ND forward Amy Warner later were included on the list of the final 15 candidates for the 2003 MAC Hermann Trophy.

IRISH PICKED TO WIN BIG EAST; TANCREDI, BUCZKOWSKI TAKE PRESEASON HONORS – The Notre Dame women’s soccer team is the preseason favorite to win the 2004 BIG EAST Conference regular-season championship, with the Irish previously winning eight regular-season and seven tournament titles in nine BIG EAST seasons … fifth-year All-America central defender Melissa Tancredi was picked to repeat as the BIG EAST defensive player of the year and was joined by sophomore midfielder Jen Buczkowski on the 11-player 2004 preseason all-BIG EAST team … ND senior F Mary Boland was overlooked on the preseason all-BIG EAST team (as selected by the league’s coaches), despite earning first team all-BIG EAST and NSCAA second-team all-region honors in 2003 … sophomore D Christie Shaner – the league’s co-rookie of the year and a second-team all-BIG EAST pick in ’03 – also failed to crack the 2004 preseason list, which includes just two defenders (Tancredi and Villanova’s Michelle Biehl) among the 11 players.

THORLAKSON NAMED BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK … AGAIN – Notre Dame junior F Katie Thorlakson was named the BIG EAST Conference women’s soccer offensive player of the week, after playing a role in eight of Notre Dame’s 10 goals during wins over Baylor (7-2) and Eastern Illinois (3-0) … she then became the first ND player ever to repeat that honor after a strong all-around game vs. Stanford (1-0) and an historic 3G-2A effort vs. #4 Santa Clara (5-2) … her seven points in the first half of the Baylor game ranks as one of the top performances in Notre Dame’s storied history and she then duplicated the seven points in a half vs. Santa Clara (3G-1A, in the 2nd half) … Thorlakson also was one of 11 players named to Soccer Buzz “Elite Feet” national team of the week and the Soccer America team of the week (for both weeks) … she is the only player to repeat on the SA list and joins three others (Auburn D Jean Walters, Nebraska M Brittany Timko and Hawaii F Natasha Kai) who just were named to both the SA and SB weekly teams … Thorlakson tied an ND with seven points (3G-2A) in the first half of the Baylor game while becoming the first ND women’s soccer player ever to score or assist on the team’s first five goals in a game (she duplicated both marks vs. SCU) … she also set up all three goals in the opening-week win over Eastern Illinois, including the primary assist on the game’s first goal … a standout with Canada’s Under-19 National Team, Thorlakson earlier totaled a team-best six assists during Notre Dame’s preseason training trip to Brazil.

RECORD-SETTING START – Here’s a look at the historical significance behind Katie Thorlakson’s early-season offensive fireworks:

• Her seven points vs. Baylor at the time tied for most by a ND player during the six-year Randy Waldrum era … just two other Waldrum-era players had totaled seven points in a game (both 3G-1A): Jenny Streiffer vs. Miami on Oct. 24, 1999, and current senior F Mary Boland in the ’03 opener vs. Hartford (Aug. 29, at the UConn Classic).

• Thorlakson is the first ND player to score or assist on 5-plus goals during a game in six years, dating back to Makinen’s 8-point game vs. Syracuse in ’98 … in between, the Irish had played 123 straight games without seeing an ND player factor into 5-plus goals.

• It had been six years since an ND player racked up seven points in a half, as current University of Pittsburgh assistant coach Monica Gerardo (who was on campus this summer as an instructor at the ND Soccer Camps) scored goals 2-4 and assisted on the 5th (by Jenny Heft) as part of the 6-0 halftime lead at Providence on Oct. 11, 1998 (8-0) … eight years earlier, Tasha Strawbridge had collected her seven points during the second half of a 12-1 win over Valparaiso (Sept. 14, 1990) … Strawbridge scored the first goal of the half for a 7-1 lead, later assisting on the 9th goal (by Denise Chabot) before adding goals 10 and 11.

• No previous ND player had registered a point on the first five goals in a game before Thorlakson’s dizzying display … it had been five years since an ND player even had opened a game with points on the team’s first four goals … eight times previously, an ND player has scored or assisted on the first four goals: Suzie Zilvitis vs. Alma (10/13/89; G-G-A-A; 6-0 final); Alison Lester at Indiana (9/14/93; G-G-A-A for 4-0 lead; 5-1 final); Rosella Guerrero one week later (9/17/93) vs. Michigan State (A-A-G-G; 6-0); Lester again that season at Ohio State (10/23/93; G-G-A-G; 6-0); Michelle McCarthy with the eventual NCAA championship squad vs. St. John’s (9/3/95; A-G-A-G; 9-0); Holly Manthei vs. Ohio State (11/1/96; A-A-G-A; 7-0), and again at Villanova (9/28/9; A-A-A-A; 4-0); and Meotis Erikson vs. Seton Hall, in the BIG EAST semifinals at Rutgers (11/5/99; A-G-G-A; 5-0).

• She then was an easy choice the next week for offensive MVP honors at the ND Adidas Classic, after a primetime effort vs. #4 Santa Clara (3G-2A) as she again factored into ND’s first 5 goals (5-2 win) … the 8 eight points vs. the Broncos (3G-2A) are the most ever by an Irish player vs. a team ranked in the top 25.

• Thorlakson now has scored or assisted on all seven goals that Notre Dame has scored vs. Santa Clara during the past two seasons, also setting up a Mary Boland goal and scoring the late gamewinner in the 2-1 win at SCU in ’03.

• She registered the first hat trick of her career and added assists on the first and fourth Irish goals vs. SCU … it marks just the ninth time in the program’s storied history that an ND player has registered a hat trick vs. a top-25 opponent – and first since Jenny Heft scored all the goals in a ’98 win over #25 Wake Forest (3-0) … two previous ND players had a hat trick vs. a top-10 team: Rosella Guerrero at #5 N.C. State in the ’92 opener (4-3 loss) and Anne Makinen vs. #4 UConn in the ’97 BIG EAST title game (6-1, at RU).

• Her offensive fireworks are all the more noteworthy due to the fact that the ’04 squad was looking to replace a pair of top goalscorers in the graduated Amy Warner and Amanda Guertin while coping with the absence of two freshman frontrunners who were prep All-Americans (Kerri Hanks is training with the U.S. Under-19 National Team while Susan Pinnick was injured in a summer team van accident with her club team) … yet another top rookie, Finnish national Jannica Tjeder, has not played since injuring her ankle in the opener vs. Baylor while senior leader Mary Boland suffered a season-ending broken leg midway through the SCU game.

• With the above limits at forward, Thorlakson took it upon herself to factor into nearly every goal the Irish have scored this fall … in the first two weeks, she totaled five goals, six official assists and two other plays where she directly set up goals but did not qualify for the official assists – meaning she played a lead role in 13 of 16 goals (now 15 of 21) … she did not even play the second half vs. Baylor, when two of the other three goals were scored, and also was taking a short breather when the late PK was scored vs. Stanford) … that all shakes out to 13 goals scored by the Irish in the first four games with Thorlakson on the field – and she played a lead role in all 13.

• Her eight points vs. SCU are most by an Irish player in six years and ended up one shy of the ND record, shared by ’96 teammates Jenny Streiffer (2G-5A, vs. Providence, Aug. 31) and Monica Gerardo (4G-1A vs. Seton Hall, Oct. 27) … ND players have combined for just seven other 8-point games in the program’s 17-year history, with the last coming six seasons ago when Makinen had 3G-2A vs. Syracuse (Nov. 1, 1998) … the other eight-point games in the program’s history include: Stacia Masters vs. Loyola (3G-2A, 12-0, 10/20/93), Michelle McCarthy vs. St. John’s (3G-2A, 9-0, 9/3/95), Gerardo’s four-goal game at Indiana (7-0, 9/7/95), Streiffer in the game where Gerardo also had nine points vs. Seton Hall (3G-2A, 10-0, 10/27/96), Cindy Daws vs. Villanova (3G-2A, 10-1, 11/3/96), Meotis Erikson vs. SHU (3G-2A, 7-1, 10/24/97) and Streiffer’s four-goal game at Georgetown (10/11/97).

• Seven of Thorlakson’s eight points vs. SCU came in the second half (3G-1A), tying another ND record that she already had shared with two others (Thorlakson had her 2G-3A in the first half vs. Baylor).

TANCREDI TABBED FOR WEEKLY DEFENSIVE HONORS – Another leader of Notre Dame’s Canadian connection, fifth-year D Melissa Tancredi, picked up defensive MVP honors at the Adidas Classic (and BIG EAST defensive player of the week), after leading the way for an Irish squad that allowed just 2 goals, 11 shots, 6 shots on goal and 8 corner kicks in action vs. two of the nation’s top teams … she combined with fellow backline veterans Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and Christie Shaner and defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek in neutralizing Stanford All-America forward Marcie Ward before shutting out Santa Clara for the first 60 minutes and not allowing the second SCU goal until the 82nd minute … Tancredi then repeated the BIG EAST weekly honor after leading the Irish in wins at #11 ASU (2-1) and Texas Tech (3-0), with ND allowing just 11 shots, 5 shots on goal and 2 corner kicks in the weekend … Tancredi picked the perfect time for her first goal of the season, with a classic leaping volley shot on a free-kick service from fellow Canadian Katie Thorlakson for the game-winning goal at ASU.

NOTRE DAME FRESHMAN CLASS RATED SECOND IN NATION -The Notre Dame women’s soccer program once again has added a recruiting class that ranks among the best in the nation … the Soccer Buzz women’s soccer website ranked ND’s incoming class as the 2nd-best in the nation while Soccer America magazine placed the Irish 5th on its list of the nation’s top 2004 classes … the six Notre Dame letter-of-intent signees for the 2004 season include four highly-regarded forwards – Amanda Cinalli (Maple Heights, Ohio), Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas), Susan Pinnick (South Bend, Ind.) and Jannica Tjeder (Espoo, Finland) – plus midfielder Ashley Jones (Westlake Village, Calif.) and goalkeeper Lauren Karas (Flower Mound, Texas) … Hanks is the leading scorer for the U.S. Under-19 National Team while Cinalli and Pinnick have been members of the U.S. Under-17 National Team, with each of those three players earning high school All-America honors … each of the five U.S. signees is a member of her respective Olympic Development Regional team, with Karas formerly a member of the U.S. Under-16 National Team player pool while Jones is a member of the Southern California United club program that won the national title (as did her ODP squad) … Tjeder is one of the top young players in Finland, playing for her national under-21, u-19 and u-17 teams.

RECRUIT RANKINGS HISTORY – Notre Dame’s 2004 roster is comprised of some of the top-ranked recruiting classes during each of the fast four seasons … in fact, ND joins North Carolina and Virginia as the only teams to have their recruiting classes in the Soccer Buzz top 15 during each of the last four seasons (ND also was 14th in ’01, 9th in ’02 and 5th in ’03; UNC was 2nd-1st-6th-3rd from ’01-’04; and UVa 1st-3rd-11th-12th from ’01-’04) … ND and UNC are the only teams to be in the Soccer Buzz top-15 classes every year since 1998, the first year of the SB recruiting class rankings (ND also was 11th in ’98, 4th in ’99 and 9th in ’00; UNC 2nd-1st-2nd from ’98-’00) … Soccer America has ranked the nation’s top 10 classes since 2002, with ND and UNC being the only teams that have been in the SA top 10 every year from ’02-’04 (ND’s classes also were ranked 9th by SA in ’02 and 5th in ’03, UNC 1st in ’02 and 6th in ’03) … Notre Dame and Texas (3rd in ’03 and ’04) are the only teams to attract Soccer America top-5 classes in each of the last two seasons … Soccer Buzz’s top-15 recruiting classes for 2004 are as follows: Texas A&M, ND, UNC, Penn State, Texas, Clemson, Portland, Maryland, Ohio State, California, Villanova, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois and Santa Clara … Soccer America’s top-10 list for ’04 includes A&M, UNC, Texas, PSU, ND, Nebraska, OSU, Portland, Florida and California.

GREAT STARTS – The 2003 season saw Notre Dame go unbeaten after 19 games for the fourth time in the program’s history while the 2004 team is the ND’s ninth in the last 13 years to open 6-0-0 … here’s a look at the other longest season-opening unbeaten streaks in the ND record book (see PDF):

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN – Four members of the Notre Dame women’s soccer team will not compete with the Irish in 2004 due to various reasons … freshman F Kerri Hanks – rated by Soccer America as the nation’s No. 4 signee in 2004 and part of the nation’s No. 2-ranked freshman class (per Soccer Buzz, No. 4 class per SA) – is training with the U.S. for the Under-19 World Championship (Nov. 10-27 in Thailand) and will enroll at Notre Dame next spring … three others – fifth-year M Randi Scheller (hip), freshman F Susan Pinnick (neck/back, suffered in club team van accident) and freshman M Kelly Simon (shoulder surgery) – are sidelined due to injuries … Hanks, like her classmates Hanks and Amanda Cinalli, was a high school All-American (she also played alongside Pinnick on the U.S. Under-17 National Team) … junior F Katie Thorlakson also will play in the Under-19 World Championship (with Canada) but is slated to play with the Irish for most of the season (all but those three weeks in November) … sophomore M Jen Buczkowski was a starting D with the U.S. Under-19s but elected to return to Notre Dame for the 2004 fall season.

TOURNAMENT TOUGH – Notre Dame owns an 85-25-7 all-time record (.756) in tournament action, including 37-13-6 in regular-season tournaments (19-3-2 at home, with 61-23 scoring edge), 23-1-0 in conference tournaments and 25-11-1 in the NCAAs … beginning with the 1994 season (which ended with an NCAA runner-up finish), Notre Dame owns a 25-6-3 record in regular-season tournaments – with 18 of those wins coming vs. NSCAA top-25 ranked teams … since ’94, the Irish have lost just six regular-season tournament games: vs. UNC twice (2-0 in ’95, in Houston; 3-2 at the ’99 KBC), vs. SCU in ’96 and ’02 (3-1 at Duke, 4-0 at ND), vs. SMU in 1999 (1-0; in Klein, Texas, minus star player Anne Makinen) and vs. Portland in ’02 (1-0, at ND) – with ties vs. UNC (0-0 in ’94, in St. Louis), Duke (2-2 in ’95, in Houston), UNC again (2-2 at ’97 LFC) and Stanford in ’03 (0-0, at SCU) … from 1997-2004, the Irish have gone 20-4-2 in regular-season tournaments.

FAR & WIDE – Notre Dame’s 2004 roster includes players from 13 states, two Canadian provinces, Iceland and Finland … the program’s all-time roster canvasses 30 states and three foreign countries … Notre Dame’s student-athlete population in the ’02-’03 academic year included nearly 800 individuals from 47 states (all but Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada) and 20 countries.

BALANCED DOMINANCE – The 2003 Notre Dame women’s soccer team joined national champ UNC as the only teams in the top five of final NCAA leaders for scoring (3rd; 3.04 goals per game) and goals-against average (5th; 0.49).

GOALS-A-PLENTY – Stretching from ’92-’04, the Irish have scored in 94.8% of their games (275 of 290) … since ’94, the Irish have scored in 234 of 246 (.951; three shutouts in NCAA title games) – with goals in 180 of 187 regular-season games (.963) during that 11-year stretch … Notre Dame saw its 31-game scoring streak (3rd-best in Irish history) end in 2002.

PRIMETIME PLAYERS – Notre Dame has won 75 percent of its “big games” during the first five seasons of the Randy Waldrum era (’99-`04), posting a 39-12-3 record when facing an NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponent.

OPENING-DAY RECORD-BOOK RUMBLINGS – Amanda Cinalli’s opening goal vs. Baylor made her just the 4th freshman ever to score ND’s first goal of a season, with the others including Margaret Jarc (’89; 4-1 vs. St. Joseph’s), Rosella Guerrero (’92; 3-4 vs. N.C. State) and current senior Mary Boland (’01; 2-1 vs. Penn State) … Cinalli also became the 4th ND player ever to score the team’s first two goals in a season, with the others including Alison Lester (’91; 2-0 vs. Mercyhurst) and Guerrero twice (’92; 3-4 vs. N.C. St. and then in 12-0 win over LaSalle in ’93) … Katie Thorlakson’s 2G-3A vs. Baylor tied the ND record for points in a half (7) shared by Tasha Strawbridge (3G-1A vs. Valparaiso in ’90) and Monica Gerardo (3G-1A at Providence in ’98) … no previous ND player had registered points on the first five goals in a game, with eight former ND players scoring/assisting on the first four goals in a game: Suzie Zilvitis vs. Alma in ’89 (G-G-A-A; 6-0); Lester at Indiana (G-G-A-A; 5-1) and vs. Ohio State (G-G-A-G; 6-0) in ’93; Guerrero vs. MSU in ’93 (A-A-G-G; 6-0); Michelle McCarthy vs. in ’95 (A-G-A-G; 9-0); Holly Manthei vs. OSU in ’96 (A-A-G-A; 7-0), and at Villanova in ’97 (A-A-A-A; 4-0); and Meotis Erikson vs. Seton Hall, in the ’99 BIG EAST semifinals at Rutgers (A-G-G-A; 5-0) … Boland failed to score in a season opener for the first time in her ND career (she and Guerrero share the ND record by scoring in three season openers).

VIVA BRAZIL! – Notre Dame’s 2004 training trip in Campinas, Brazil (Aug. 10-19), featured a 5-0-1 record and 16-3 scoring edge vs. top semi-professional women’s teams from the Sao Paulo area … the games – which attracted many curious local spectators – included the traditional exchange of gifts and group photos … the Irish also enjoyed great camaraderie at the wonderful five-star Vitoria Hotel and soaked in the atmosphere at first-division Brazilian men’s professional games held at Ponta Preta and Guarani … meals included Brazil’s many exotic and tasty forms of pizza and the unique Brazilian steakhouses that featured table-top carvings of a variety of entrees … leading scorers on the trip included senior D/F Candace Chapman (4G), junior F Katie Thorlakson (6A) and the freshman duo of Jannica Tjeder (3G-2A) and Ashley Jones (2G-3A).

GREAT GRADES – The Notre Dame women’s soccer team consistently has performed at a high level on the field and in the classroom and that certainly was the case in 2003-04, with a 20-3-1 record followed by a 3.28 team GPA in the `03 fall semester and then a 3.32 GPA in the spring of `04 (when 22 of 25 players posted a GPA of 3.0 or better, with 13 at 3.4-plus). The 2004 team includes two Academic All-Americans – senior forward Mary Boland (3.90 cumulative GPA, psychology major) and junior goalkeeper Erika Bohn (3.63, design) – with other candidates for that honor in `04 including junior midfielder Annie Schefter (3.73, pre-professional studies and psychology) and senior defender Gudrun Gunnarsdottir (3.31, finance).

HOME SWEET HOME – The Irish own a 154-14-2 all-time record (.912) record at Alumni Field (130-10-2 in last 142) – with a 29-game home winning streak (5th NCAA history) from ’99-’01 … eight of ND’s last 10 home losses have been by a single goal … ND’s all-time record at Alumni Field vs. teams not in the NSCAA top-25 poll is 109-4-1 (45-10-1 vs. ranked teams) … junior F Katie Thorlakson has totaled 34 pts at Alumni Field the past two seasons (’03-’04; 12G-10A, 4 GWG) while junior M Annie Schefter has scored all six of her career goals (4 GWG) at home (also 3 of her 5 assists) … sophomore M Jen Buczkowski (7G-8A) has notched 22 of her 23 career points with ND in the confines of Alumni Field. FIRST-TIME VISITORS – Since 1993, Notre Dame opponents making their first visit to Alumni Field now have lost to the Irish 37 times, with just three wins for the opposition and one tie (37-3-1; .915 … Notre Dame’s all-time record in series openers is 68-25-2, including 35-5-0 since 1993 and 47-8-0 in all series openers played at home (21-3-0 since ’93).

WINNING TRADITIONS – Several current ND women’s soccer players led their clubs and state Olympic Development teams to elite status before becoming part of another winning tradition with the Irish women’s soccer program … seven members of the current sophomore class helped their teams post top national finishes in 2003 … the current freshman class lived up to the standard set by their predecessors … most notably, Ashley Jones completed the rare double of winning 2004 national titles with her California South state ODP team and her Southern California United club. Her classmate Kerri Hanks earlier won the Golden Boot Award as the tournament’s top scorer with the ’03 Dallas Texans national champs while Lauren Karas earned the Golden Glove Award with North Texas at the 2004 ODP nationals (her team lost to Jones and Cal-South, 1-0) … finally, newcomer Susan Pinnick led the Carmel Commotion to a runner-up finish at the 2003 USYSA under-17 nationals while Kelly Simon was a member of the St. Louis-based Busch Soccer Club that was the 2001 and `02 national runner-up.

NATIONAL TEAMS – Three former Notre Dame players – defender Kate Sobrero Markgraf, goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene and defensive midfielder Shannon Boxx – recently have been starters with the U.S. National Team, with Sobrero and Boxx starting for the 2003 World Cup and 2004 Olympic teams … nine current members of the Notre Dame program have been active with various national-team programs … those players include Candace Chapman and Melissa Tancredi (starters with Canada’s full national team) and Chapman and Katie Thorlakson with Canada’s Under-19 National Team. Four others – Annie Schefter, Mary Boland, Jen Buczkowski and Kerri Hanks – have been starters with the U.S. Under 19 National Team (Buczkowski elected not to compete in the upcoming Under-19 World Championship) while Gudrun Gunnarsdottir is a member of Iceland’s national team and Jannica Tjeder has been a regular with Finland’s Under-17, -19 and -21 national teams … former Notre Dame defender Monica Gonzalez is a founding member of Mexico’s women’s national team and captained Mexico in its historic appearance at the 2004 Olympics (former Irish forward Monica Gerardo also was a founding member of the Mexican team).

GOAL PATROL – Notre Dame players have combined for 16 multiple-goal games over the course of 30 games in the past two seasons (’03-’04; compared to just five in all of ’02), by 10 different players: Mary Boland vs. Hartford (3) and ASU (2) in `03, Maggie Manning and Amanda Guertin vs. Hartford in `03 (both with 2, with Guertin doing so again vs. Georgetown), Jen Buczkowski vs. Oklahoma in `03(2), Katie Thorlakson and Annie Schefter vs. Western Kentucky in ’03 (both with 2, then Thorlakson at Rutgers), Melissa Tancredi vs. North Texas in ’03 (2), Amy Warner at Seton Hall in ’03 (3) – and most recently three different players with two goals in the 2004 opener vs. Baylor – Amanda Cinalli, Thorlakson (who then had a hat trick vs. Santa Clara) and Candace Chapman – plus Manning with two at Texas Tech.

20-SOMETHING – Notre Dame has posted 20-plus wins in eight of the previous 10 seasons … the 1996 team posted an ND-record 24 wins, with 23 wins in 1994, ’97 and ’00, 21 wins in ’95, ’98 and ’99, and 20 in 2003.

FRONTRUNNERS – Since losing a 3-2 game to BYU on Oct. 19, 2002, Notre Dame has trailed in just six of its past 35 games for a total of 197:53 (or 6.2% of the time, spanning 3,189:29), while going 30-4-1 in those games … the only teams to hold leads on the Irish during that span include: Stanford (for 9:02, in 2002 third-round game at Maloney Field, 1-0), Arizona State (lead 1-0 for 7:18 in `03, ND wins 3-1), Michigan (lead 1-0 for 1:01, then retake lead for final 58:17 and win 3-1), Boston College (2-1 Eagles win in BIG EAST semifinals, lead for 82:28), Michigan again in the 2nd round of the ’03 NCAAs (lead for 28:22 in 1-0 game), and ASU again in 2004 (lead for 11:26, ND wins 2-1) … prior to the regular-season goal by Michigan in `03, ND had not faced a deficit for nearly two months and 16-plus games, the longest streak in the program’s history … Santa Clara and Miami (BIG EAST quarterfinal) were the only teams to come back and tie the Irish in ’03 (ND retook the lead for good 12 minutes later vs. SCU) … the previous team record for longest streak without facing a deficit was a 14-game stretch in 1997, starting with a 5-0 win over Duke (9/21, after trailing two days earlier in a 2-2 tie vs. UNC) … the ’97 streak continued through a 6-1 win over UConn in the BIG EAST title game (11/9) and ended one week later, when Cincinnati opened the scoring in a first-round NCAA Tournament game (ND dominated for a 7-1 win) … the ’97 team spent all season ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA poll … ND’s 2000 squad earned the top ranking after seven games and did not face a deficit for the first 13 games (BC scored first and led for 28 minutes, in a 3-1 ND win) … that team added six more games without trailing before falling behind UNC in the 82nd minute of the NCAA semifinals (2-1 loss).

CLUTCH CANADIAN – Sophomore F Katie Thorlakson (Langley, B.C.) picked key times for all four of her game-winning goals in 2003 … two of her GWGs in ’03 came vs. top-15 teams (#10 Santa Clara and #15 Connecticut), plus the overtime goal vs. Villanova and the early strike at Rutgers (3-0) … she also is the only current ND player with multiple career goals vs. UConn (her goal tied the ’02 game, 1-1, in a 3-1 win) … the ’02 ND-UConn game proved to be a key turning point for the program, with current senior Melissa Tancredi making the full-time move from F to central D while Thorlakson shifted permanently from M to F … since those key shifts, the Irish are 30-5-1 in their last 36 games.

PLAYING THE BEST – Notre Dame has played some of its best soccer vs. ranked opponents, going 25-11-3 vs. NSCAA ranked teams in the Randy Waldrum era (since ’99) … that trend held true in 2001 (5-1-0): 2-1 vs. Penn State, 2-0 vs. Hartford, 2-1 vs. West Virginia, 3-0 vs. Miami, 0-3 at UConn, 2-1 vs. Michigan … the Irish posted 2002 wins over #25 Maryland (5-2), #8 UConn (3-1), #13 Michigan (1-0) and #14 Purdue (3-1) … over the course of the ’01-’04 seasons, Notre Dame has owned a 12-7-1 record vs. NSCAA top-25 teams (40-6-1 vs. unranked teams), including 2003 wins over #16 Santa Clara (2-1), #8 West Virginia (2-0) and #15 UConn (2-0) and a scoreless tie vs. #24 Stanford – plus the recent 5-2 win over Santa Clara.

QUICK-STRIKE ARTISTS – Notre Dame has scored in the first seven minutes of nine games during the past two seasons (’03-’04; total of 10 “quick-strike” goals in that 26-game span) … Mary Boland is responsible for three of those early scores while seven others each have scored one quick goal in ’03 or `04 … the quickest goals in ’03 came vs. West Virginia (1:24; Boland volley on long serve from Melissa Tancredi), at Seton Hall (1:30; Amy Warner near-post shot after taking pass from Jill Krivacek) and twice at Rutgers (2:44 by Katie Thorlakson from close range, after leftside pass from Warner; and at 3:53 on Tancredi header, via Thorlakson corner kick) – while the second game of the ’04 season saw Annie Schefter score vs. Eastern Illinois at 4:35 … other quick-strike goals by ND in 2003 came vs. Hartford (6:32; Boland puts back own rebound, after classic 5-player combination sequence that includes right endline cross from Warner), vs. Oklahoma (5:58; Jen Buczkowski knocks in rebound after flurry in box), at Santa Clara (5:03; Boland on lunging poke after leftside service from Katie Thorlakson), vs. North Texas (4:28; Amanda Guertin shot from top of the box via short pass from Warner) and vs. Georgetown (5:39; Kimberly Carpenter redirects Vanessa Pruzinsky shot).

GOING THE DISTANCE – ND is unbeaten in its last 16 overtime games (12-0-4), since the 3-2, double-OT loss to UNC in the ’99 opener … that team went on to post a 2-1, double-OT win at UConn and played to a 1-1 tie at Nebraska in the NCAA quarter’s (adv. on PKs) … the 2000 team had OT wins over Stanford, at West Virginia and vs. Santa Clara in the NCAA quarter’s (all 2-1), also playing to 0-0 at UConn … ’01 featured an unprecedented five OT games (2-1 vs. Indiana, Villanova, WVU and Michigan; 2-2 vs. Wisconsin) while the ’02 team added 1-0 OT wins over Rutgers and BC … the ’03 team had a scoreless tie with Stanford (at SCU), plus OT wins over Villanova (1-0) and Miami (2-1, BIG EAST quarter’s).

SHARING THE WEALTH IN OT – ND’s 11 overtime wins in the six-year Randy Waldrum era include goals from seven players (own goal vs. Stanford in ’00): Anne Makinen (vs. UConn in ’99), Amanda Guertin (ND record 4; vs. WVU in ’00, Michigan in ’01, BC in ’02 and Miami in ’03), Meotis Erikson (vs. SCU in ’00 NCAA quarter’s), Kelly Tulisiak (vs. IU in ’01), Amy Warner (2; vs. VU in ’01, Rutgers in ’02), Mia Sarkesian (vs. WVU in ’01), Katie Thorlakson (vs. Vill. in ’03).

CONFERENCE CALL – Notre Dame’s all-time record in regular-season conference games is 95-7-2 (.923; 76-7-2/.906 in BIG EAST) … the Irish are 53-1 in home games vs. BIG EAST teams, with 50 straight home wins over BIG EAST teams since a 5-4 OT loss to UConn in ’95 (241-17 scoring edge, 36 shutouts, 14 with 1 GA) … since ’95, ND’s overall record vs. BIG EAST teams now is 95-9-2 (.906; 1-1-0 vs. UConn in NCAAs).

BOHN ON A ROLL – Junior G Erika Bohn is 35-4-1 in her last 40 starts with the Irish (34-3-1 last 38), allowing just 21 goals in that 40-game stretch (24 shutouts, 13 with 1 GA) … that 40-game span includes a 4-1 mark to close the 2002 season, a 5-0 showing in the 2003 spring season, the 20-3-1 record in the fall of ’03 and six wins this fall (two in Brazil) … her only losses in that stretch: the 2002 season-ending loss at top-ranked Stanford, with the only goal coming in the 81st minute; the 3-2 loss to Michigan in the final game of the ’03 regular season (UM’s final two goals came on corner-kick breakdowns by the ND defense), a 2-1 loss to Boston College in the ’03 BIG EAST semifinals and the 1-0 loss to Michigan in the ’03 NCAAs … prior to the first loss to Michigan in ’03, Bohn had logged 29 consecutive games with the Irish (24 fall, 5 spring) without allowing multiple goals (previously done by BYU on Oct. 19, 2002).

MAGIC NUMBERS ¬- The 3-goal mark has been virtually an automatic win in ND history, with the Irish 203-3-1 all-time (.983) when scoring 3-plus, losing to N.C. State in the ’92 opener (4-3), UConn in ’95 (5-4, OT) and at Georgetown in `02 (4-3), plus a 3-3 tie vs. Vanderbilt in ’91… the Irish had won 88 straight when scoring 3-plus, before the GU loss (now 107-1-0 since Oct. 6, 1995) … ND is 280-9-11 (.952) in all-time games when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals, including tough 1-0 losses in ’02 to eventual NCAA champ Portland and top-ranked Stanford … prior to the UP loss, the Irish had been 56-0-3 in the previous 59 games when allowing 0-1 GA (dating back to 1-0 loss to SMU in ’99, playing minus Finnish national teamer Anne Makinen) … the program’s 17-year history includes just 293 goals allowed in 370 games (0.79 GA per game) … the Irish have allowed more than one goal in only 72 all-time games (19%) and have yielded 3-plus goals in just 33 all-time games (9%; including two 6-goal games by the opponent, four 5-goal and six 4-goal) … 91% of ND’s all-time games have seen the Irish hold the opponent to 0-2 goals (ND is just 4-28-1 all-time when allowing 3-plus).

FIRST-HALF FORTRESS – The Notre Dame defense has been particularly stingy in the first half the past four seasons, allowing just 23 goals in the first half of those 71 games (0.32/gm) … the first half in ’02 featured little scoring (12-10 ND edge), compared to a 40-7 first-half edge in 2003 (plus 11-1 in 2004).