Oct. 20, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second time in as many days, Notre Dame junior forward Taylor Knaack (Arlington, Texas/Martin) has earned awards for her play last week. On Tuesday, she was named to the Soccer America National Team of the Week and also was chosen as a CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Performer, with both honors coming after a career-high seven-point effort in two games last weekend. Knaack previously claimed recognition as the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and a member of the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Monday.
Knaack is the second Fighting Irish player to garner both the Soccer America and CS360 weekly honors this season. Sophomore defender/tri-captain Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) earned her way onto the Sept. 29 Soccer America squad, while junior midfielder Rose Augustin (Silver Lake, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) copped CS360 Primetime Performer accolades on Oct. 6.
Last weekend, Knaack played a major role in Notre Dame’s home wins over Connecticut (6-1) and Providence (2-0) , factoring into five of the eight goals scored by the Fighting Irish. On Oct. 16 against UConn, Knaack scored a pair of goals and added an assist for a career-high five-point night. That doesn’t even take into account that she came within an eyelash of her first career hat trick (her second-half shot from distance hit the crossbar and the Husky goalkeeper before being cleared off the goal line), or that she helped set up the second of Notre Dame’s season-high six goals, drawing a foul near the top of the penalty area that resulted in a free kick goal by Augustin.
Two days later against Providence, Knaack got the Fighting Irish on the board in the 11th minute, notching her second game winning goal of the season.
For the weekend, Knaack finished with seven points (3G-1A) and took seven shots, four of which ended up on goal (three of which found the back of the net, while the aforementioned fourth shot hit the crossbar). The weekend torrent is the latest in a sparkling October run for the speedy Texan, who has scored all five of her goals (including two game winners) and registered 11 of her 14 points this season in the past six games, beginning with the overtime score at 90:41 on Oct. 2 at West Virginia.
Knaack currently is tied for the team lead with four assists, is tied for second with 14 points, and shares third with both five goals and two game winning scores. In BIG EAST play, she is tied for the conference lead in goals (5) and goals per game (0.56), and stands alone in second in points (13) and points per game (1.44).
Unbeaten in its last 10 games, No. 6/7 Notre Dame (12-3-1, 8-0-1 BIG EAST) will close out the regular season this weekend, beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m. (ET) when it plays host to Villanova in game three of a four-game BIG EAST homestand. Tickets for this, and all remaining Fighting Irish soccer games, are available through the Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office (574-631-7356), by going on-line to www.UND.com/tickets, or by visiting the Alumni Stadium ticket windows on game day.
— ND —