Nov. 9, 2004
Notre Dame junior forward Katie Thorlakson has been named the College Sports Television (CSTV) Student-Athlete of the Week (for Oct. 25-31), personifying excellence both on and off the playing field. Thorlakson now is in contention to win the CSTV Student-Athlete of the Month award, an all-sports award that is selected through votes cast by visitors to CSTV’s CollegeSports.com website.
The CSTV press release recognizes Thorlakson (Vancouver, B.C.) for turning in “a performance for the ages” when she scored four goals and added two assists to total 10 points in a 7-0 win over BIG EAST rival St. John’s during a BIG EAST quarterfinal matchup on Oct. 31. The effort is the top single-game output in the history of Notre Dame women’s soccer, besting the previous record of nine points set by teammates Jenny Streiffer and Monica Gerardo in 1996. Thorlakson also had two goals and two assists earlier in the week at Michigan (4-0) and had scored or assisted on 12 straight Notre Dame goals.
Additional comments from the CSTV release follow below:
“Driven by her love of the game, Thorlakson has played on several national Canadian teams since the age of 13 … While at Notre Dame, she’s consistently been one of the team’s top players. Talented at both scoring and assisting, she racked-up 31 points in her sophomore season. Despite her tireless play and relentless dedication to the game and team (she passed on the opportunity to join the Canadian Under-19 team at the World Championship in Thailand this year to instead help her Notre Dame teammates battle their way to winning the National Championships), the recognition seemed to skip her over. This year is going to be different.
“Thorlakson, a psychology major, has used an end-of-the-season surge to put her name near the top of the list of possible winners of the national player-of-the-year award. She is the leading scorer on her team, a full 30 points ahead of the number two spot, was named offensive player of the year in the BIG EAST last week, and currently awaits the decision of the Hermann trophy … having been selected for the final 15. She’s the kind of player that can dominate a game and maybe lead the Irish to their second-ever national title.”
UPDATED THORLAKSON BIO NOTES – First ND player ever named BIG EAST offensive player of the year … enters NCAAS ranked 1st in the nation in assists (18), 3Rd in points (56) and 6th in goals (19) and has tied ND record for gamewinning goals in a season (8) … on verge of becoming 3rd ND player ever to reach 20G-20A in a season (no other player in the country has reached even 14G-14A) … her breakout season has helped overcome loss of several top offensive players due to graduation, injuries and national-team duty … her 56 points ranks 7th in ND history and are more than double the team’s 2nd-leading scorer … set ND record with 10 points in a game (4G-2A vs. St. John’s, in BIG EAST quarterfinal), also tying ND record for goals in a game (most since ’97) … has totaled 22 points (13G-6A) in last 5 games (1G-1A vs. Seton Hall, 2G-2A vs. Michigan, 4G-2A vs. St. John’s, 1G vs. BC, 1A vs. UConn), after rare 4-game “slump” without a point … has played role in nearly 70% of team’s goals in ’04 (39 of 58, two “unofficial assists”), with many other goals coming with her on the bench cheering the reserves … first ND player ever to score or assist on team’s first 5 goals in a game (in ’04 opener vs. Baylor and again vs. #4 Santa Clara) … went one better by having a hand in each of first six scores vs. St. John’s, yielding even more impressive streak of 12 straight Irish goals in which she scored or assisted (now 14 of last 15, dating back to second goal in 3-1 win over SHU) … owns .186 shot pct. and is averaging 5.4 shots per goal (rest of team is just .106/9.4) … also converting 1G every 3 shots on goal (19 of 58) … averaging 2.67 pts/gm in ’04 and would total 72 points over full season of 27 games (ND record is 72 points by ’96 national player-of-the-year Cindy Daws) … has totaled 14 pts (5G-4A) in five ’04 games vs. top-25 teams, including 3G-2A vs. #4 Santa Clara (only player in nation with 8-plus points vs. top-25 team; most points ever by ND player vs. top-25 team) .. has posted games with 10 pts (4G-2A , SJU), 8 pts (3G-2A, SCU), 7 pts (2G-3A, Baylor) and 6 pts (2G-2A, Michigan), with 5 multi-goal games … followed Melissa Tancredi’s lead (’03 and ’04 BIG EAST defensive player of the year) as the only players ever to receive a major BIG EAST women’s soccer award after not being an all-BIG EAST selection previously in their careers.
CSTV Information: CSTV is a multi-media company that consists of the first-ever 24-hour college sports television network, College Sports TV; the leading college sports online network, CollegeSports.com; and the first ever 24-hour college sports radio network, SIRIUS College Sports Radio. Through its numerous platforms, CSTV provides more live college sports games, events, news, information, analysis and broadband content, and reaches more college sports fans, than any other company. … College Sports TV, voted the #1 emerging cable network in the 2003 Beta research study, televises regular season and championship event coverage from over 35 men’s and women’s sports across every major collegiate athletic conference as well as many select NCAA Championships. CSTV and the Mountain West Conference recently announced a fully integrated multi-media partnership, beginning in Fall 2006 that will deliver more games to more people in more homes across more sports than any other Conference partnership. College Sports TV currently has agreements with the top three national distributors – Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, among others. … CollegeSports.com, the most-trafficked college sports Web site, and its network of nearly 160 official athletic sites are the number one online source for college sports broadband content, news, information, scores and analysis. SIRIUS College Sports Radio will broadcast a comprehensive package of college football and basketball games from teams in the Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac 10, and SEC conferences, as well as from Notre Dame.