Oct. 19, 2007

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(note: with the annual showdown vs. UConn set for Sunday at Alumni Field, the full ND weekly release will be updated after the game vs. Providence and posted on und.com prior to the game vs. UConn)

BIG EAST WOMEN’S SOCCER – Villanova vs. #15 Notre Dame … Friday, Oct. 19, 2007 … Alumni Field (Notre Dame, Ind.)

TODAY’S GAME – Notre Dame is riding a six-game win streak that includes a 22-2 scoring margin while allowing only 36 shots (6.0/gm), 11 shots on goal (1.8/gm) and eight corner kicks (1.3/gm) in the win streak … the Irish have won five straight by a margin of three or more goals … ND is looking to extend its 13-year home unbeaten streak versus BIG EAST teams (75-0-1) … the Irish also have a 31-game overall unbeaten streak against BIG EAST foes (30-0-1), since mid-2005 … ND has won 254 consecutive games when taking a 2-0 lead and owns 73 straight wins when scoring 3-plus goals (also 152-1-0 in the past 153 games when scoring 3-plus, since 1995) … the Irish are 45-2-2 in their past 49 home games (2004-07) but have two losses this season at Alumni Field … ND’s all-time record at Alumni Field (198-16-4/.917, from 1990-2007) includes a .961 win pct. against teams not ranked in the NSCAA top-25 (135-4-3).

THE SERIES – ND holds an 11-0-0 series edge vs. Providence (62-1 scoring margin), including 6-0-0 in games at Alumni Field … ND and PC did not face each other in ’03 but the Irish posted home wins over the Friars in ’04 (3-0) and ’05 (6-0) before winning at PC in 2006 (5-0) … ND’s combined stats in the 2004-06 PC games included a 93-9 shot edge (54-2 in shots on goal) and a 24-1 corner-kick margin … Kerri Hanks (1G-2A) factored into three of the goals in the 2006 win over PC, with other goals coming from Brittany Bock, Amanda Cinalli, Michele Weissenhofer and Ashley Jones (Susan Pinnick, Courtney Rosen and Jen Buczkowski also had assists) … the 2005 game included three ND goals in a span of 5:55 (by Katie Thorlakson, Candace Chapman and Annie Schefter) … top scorers in the ’05 game included Thorlakson (1G-3A), Hanks (1G-2A), Chapman (G-A) and Schefter (G-A), with Maggie Manning and Lizzie Reed also scoring goals while Molly Iarocci and Cinalli added assists … Hanks has 2G-4A in her career vs. the Friars.

THE BIG EAST RACE – Notre Dame (7-0-0; 21 pts) has clinched a spot in the 10-team BIG EAST Tournament and still owns a six-point cushion atop the BIG EAST National Division standings, followed by Louisville (15; 5-2-0), Seton Hall (10; 3-3-1), Georgetown (9; 3-3-0), Villanova (9; 2-2-3), Cincinnati (6; 2-5-0), Rutgers (5; 1-4-2) and DePaul (3; 1-6-0) … GU had a game called off at South Florida due to rain (that game likely will have to be made up after the end of the regular season) … the top-five teams from each division advance, with the top-three in each division receiving a first-round bye while the top-two in each division will serve as host teams in the quarterfinal round (ND is on the verge of clinching a quarterfinal spot and a hosting role) … UConn and West Virginia are co-leaders of the American Division (19; 6-0-1), followed by Marquette (123 4-2-1), USF (10; 3-2-1), St. John’s (9; 3-4-0), Providence (6; 2-5-0), Syracuse (5; 1-4-2), Pittsburgh (3; 1-6-0).

BOCK REPEATS AS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Junior Brittany Bock had been named national and BIG EAST offensive player of the week in each of the past two weeks, after totaling four goals and an assist in wins last week at Syracuse and St. John’s and then adding 4G-1A in the wins over Georgetown and Villanova (making her the first ND player in 10 years to score four-plus goals in back-to-back weeks) … she is riding a career-best five-game goalscoring streak, after enduring a seven-game goal drought … Bock is only the third BIG EAST player since 1995 to be named the league’s offensive player of the week in consecutive weeks … her eight goals in that four-game span represent one of the top two-game scoring tears in ND women’s soccer history … Bock became the 23rd different ND player ever to post a hat trick in a game (vs. Syracuse) and is one of only six Irish players ever to score the first three goals in a game (as are current ND players Kerri Hanks and Michele Weissenhofer) … Bock leads the BIG EAST with 10 goals (15th in the nation) while Hanks leads the BIG EAST overall in points (25) and is one of only five players in the nation with eight-plus goals and eight-plus assists … five different ND women’s soccer players have been named national players of the week over the past two seasons, with the others including Cinalli, Carrie Dew, Weissenhofer and Hanks (all in ’06) … Hanks (Sept. 21, vs. DePaul) and Bock are the first ND teammates to post hat tricks in the same regular season since Amy Warner (vs. Providence) and Meotis Erikson (vs. Georgetown) did so in 2000 … Weissenhofer (Nov. 24, 2006), Hanks and Bock each have turned in hat tricks over the span of ND’s past 15 games … Hanks and Bock are the only ND players ever to score goals 1-2-3 in a road game … 16 of Bock’s career goals with the Irish have come on headers (including three last week), in addition to four rare corner-kick assists in her career … Bock has reached double-digit goals in all three of her seasons with the Irish while her 10 game-winning goals over the past two seasons (4 in ’07) are the most by an ND player.

IRISH TEAM NOTES – Despite its slow start, ND ranks 14 the in the nation with 2.6 goals/gm (21 in past five games, or 4.2/gm in that span) … .. in league play this season, the Irish lead the BIG EAST in scoring (3.7 goals/gm) and goal margin (+24; 26-2) while ranking second in shots (19.9/gm) and shutouts (5), and third in goals-against avg. (0.29) … the depth of ND’s potent offense can be seen in the fact that the Irish now have three players with 30-plus career goals (Hanks with 58, Amanda Cinalli 34, Bock 34), the first Irish team since 1999 that can make that claim (the record-setting 1998 offense finished the season with six players who had 30-plus career goals) … Cinalli missed a game for the first time in her four-year career (at Syracuse; also vs. GU and VU), due to a hamstring injury (Ashley Jones has played in all 93 games from 2004-07) … sophomore center back Haley Ford has missed 10 straight games due to a nagging hamstring injury … Ford’s absence actually has impacted the ND offense, as freshman M/F Lauren Fowlkes has shifted to a starting center back role (alongside Dew) … all four of freshman Rose Augustin’s goals have come in the past five games … Jones is riding a career-best, five-game point streak … junior left back Elise Weber’s seven points (1G-5A) are most among the ND defenders … Jones (2G-5A) has tied her career-high for points in a season … ND’s 20-year women’s soccer history now has included 29 winning streaks of six games or longer … the Irish have scored only 13 first-half goals (in 14 games) but have totaled 23 goals in the second half … Hanks (5) is one shy of tying Jenny Heft’s ND record for career hat tricks (6) … Hanks has been involved in 26 goals in her ND career that have come on set-play/dead-ball situations: six free-kick goals, four penalty-kick goals, nine corner-kick assists and seven free-kick assists … Hanks is the 39th player in D-I history to reach 40 career goals and 40 assists (now 58G-45A, in 63 GP) while Cinalli recently became ND’s 12th with 30G-30A (34G-30A).

FRIARS NOTES – Providence owns BIG EAST wins this season over Rutgers (1-0) and Pittsburgh (2-1) while losing to Connecticut (0-6), Marquette (0-2), South Florida (0-1), Seton Hall (0-2) and West Virginia (0-3) … PC also had defeated Hartford (1-0), with its other losses coming to Rhode Island (0-4), Minnesota (0-3), Cal Poly (0-1), Quinnipiac (0-3) and Fairfield (0-1), plus a 1-1 tie with UMass … the Friars returned nine starters and 16 of 20 letterwinners from their 2007 team that went 4-8-5 and finished eighth in the BIG EAST American Division (1-8-2) … ND’s Micaela Alvarez and PC’s Tara Riccardi played together on the Parsippany Mischief club team … ND’s Nikki Weiss and PC’s Marra Whaley were teammates on the CUFC Wolves.

CONFERENCE COMMAND – ND is riding a 13-year, 76-game home unbeaten streak versus BIG EAST opponents (75-0-1; tie vs. Rutgers in ’04) and has an active 31-game overall unbeaten streak against BIG EAST teams (30-0-1, since a 2005 loss at Marquette) that ranks as the eight-longest conference unbeaten streak in NCAA Division I women’s soccer history (third-longest by an ND team) … ND’s all-time record in BIG EAST regular-season games is 112-8-4 (.919), plus 27-2-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament and 2-1-0 in NCAA Tournament games vs. BIG EAST teams (all vs. UConn) – for an overall record of 141-11-4 versus BIG EAST teams (from 1995-2007) … the Irish have not been outshot in 63 straight games vs. BIG EAST teams (since mid-2002).

ND RESULT NOTES – ND’s challenging first 11 games (two exhibitions) saw the Irish face eight top-25 teams (UNC, Virginia, Florida, Santa Clara, Stanford, Oklahoma St., Penn St., Louisville) … ND had won 37 straight when scoring first, prior to the 2-1 loss to PSU … Amanda Cinalli matched her career-high with five points (2G-1A) in the 4-2 win over Princeton … Kerri Hanks scored on direct free kicks vs. Princeton and OSU, as offensive MVP of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic (also 1A vs. Princeton) … the 2-1 OT loss to OSU halted ND’s 43-game home unbeaten streak (41-0-2), third-best in NCAA history … that was the first time the Irish had lost when Hanks scored (now 36-2-0, from ’05-’07) … ND’s 27-game regular-season unbeaten streak (25-0-2) ended the previous weekend at #3 Santa Clara (7-1) … the 2-1 loss to Stanford ended ND’s OT unbeaten streak at 21 games (14-0-7) … ND played to a scoreless tie with Michigan in the ’07 regular-season opener, despite a 28-6 shot edge and 10-1 corner-kick margin … that game ended ND’s home win streak at 32 games (3rd in D-I history) … the crowd vs. Michigan (3,264) is the largest ever for an official (non-exhib.) ND women’s soccer home game … the 2-0 win at #7 Florida saw ND endure two rain delays totaling nearly five hours … ND’s exhibitions included a 2-2 tie with preseason #1 UNC (rare quick rematch of NCAA title game) and a 3-1 win over #11 Virginia … the crowd for the UNC game (3,412; unprecedented 1,318 presold) was an Alumni Field record for a women’s soccer game and is the biggest crowd at the facility since the 1994 ND-SMU men’s soccer game (3,502).