Oct. 21, 2007
HTML Stats (includes play-by-play)
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (10/21/07) – The Notre Dame women’s soccer program has featured several dynamic scoring duos during its 20-year history and the latest installment was on display in a pair of clutch moments during Sunday’s action at Alumni Field. Juniors Kerri Hanks and Brittany Bock both scored in the lategoing to deliver a 2-1 win for the 15th-ranked Irish over 13th-ranked Connecticut, extending the Irish win streak to eight games and halting UConn’s unbeaten run at 11. Notre Dame (11-4-1, 9-0-0 BIG EAST)- which has not lost a home game to a BIG EAST opponent since suffering a 1995 defeat at the hands of UConn (77-0-1) – formally clinched the BIG EAST National Division title, marking the 11th time in 13 years of BIG EAST membership that the Irish have won a BIG EAST regular-season crown (in addition to nine BIG EAST tournament titles).
Hanks tied the game in the 86th minute, when her leftside corner kick found the upper right corner of the net, while Bock snapped in a cross from left back Elise Weber for the gamewinning header in the fourth minute of overtime. The goals showcased two prevailing trends for each of the scoring stars, as Hanks continues to find new ways to impact the game in set-play situations while Bock now has 17 header scores among her 35 career goals with the Irish (most notably, four of her past five goals have come on headers).
Notre Dame has outscored the opposition 28-3 during the current win streak while allowing a per-game averages of only 6.3 shots, 1.9 shots on goal and 1.5 corner kicks during that eight-game span. This marks the 19th time in the 20-year history of Notre Dame women’s soccer that the Irish have fashioned a winning streak of eight games or longer, with seven of those streaks coming in the nine-year Randy Waldrum era (1999-2007).
The Irish now hold a 17-4-3 series lead versus the Huskies (10-1-0 at Alumni Field) and are 11-2-2 in the past 15 games versus UConn.
Connecticut (11-3-1, 7-1-1 BIG EAST) – which fell back into a tie with West Virginia in the league’s American Division race – opened the scoring on Annie Yi’s goal in the 26th minute and the visitors held an 8-7 shot edge at the halftime. But Notre Dame closed the game strong by racking up a 16-3 shot edge the rest of the way, en route to finishing with a 23-11 margin in total shots, 8-3 in shots on goal and 5-2 in corner kick. After Yi’s score, the Irish did not allow any more shots on goal (spanning the final 68 minutes) and the Huskies were held without a corner kick for the game’s final 50 minutes.
With the postseason looming, Hanks and Bock could be primed for an impressive run that nets each standout All-America honors. Bock – a converted midfielder, has played mostly forward over the last month (due to the absence of several injured teammates) – has goals in six of the past seven games, totaling 10 scores in that stretch while rising to the top of the BIG EAST goalscoring charts with 11. Hanks also has reached double-digit goals and entered the week as the BIG EAST’s leader in total points, with her season stats now including 10 goals and nine assists (29 points). She is one of just a handful of players nationwide with nine-plus goals and nine-plus points this season.
The timely score produced the 60th career goal for Hanks, who reached that milestone quicker (68 games played) than any of the previous five Irish players who topped 60 goals. Jenny Heft had been the only other Notre Dame player to reach 60 goals prior to her senior season (as a junior), doing so in her 70th career game and likewise in memorable fashion (Heft’s 60th career goal forged a late tie with Portland in the 1998 NCAA quarterfinals but the Pilots then scored for the 2-1 win).
Sunday’s tying goal also extended a long-running trend for Hanks, who now has scored or assisted on 28 different goals during her career that have come on set plays or dead-ball situations: six free-kick goals, five penalty-kick goals (on five tries), Sunday’s corner-kick score, nine corner-kick assists and seven free-kick assists.
UConn freshman midfielder Kacey Richards set up the game’s first goal in the 26th minute, after playing the ball into the right side of the box. Yi was able to slip by the Irish defense and was open for a tough-angle shot, with the well-placed try ripping into the far-left sidenetting for her fifth goal of the season (25:16).
The goal halted Notre Dame’s string of four straight shutouts against the Huskies, spanning the 2004-06 seasons. Yi’s score also ended Notre Dame’s 2007 shutout streak at 401 minutes, a stretch that included the end of the win at Syracuse (4-1) and each of the previous four games. It also was the first goal allowed by senior Lauren Karas during a BIG EAST game this season, with Karas now owning a still respectable 0.13 goals-against average in BIG EAST play.
Just three minutes earlier, Richards had struck a hard shot from the top left side of the box – but Karas dove out and to her left, pushing the ball around the post.
The Irish bounced back to score twice after halftime, giving the team twice as many goals this season in the second half/overtime (28) as in the first half (14). Notre Dame’s second-half pressure led to several frustrating near-goals, in addition to a couple UConn counterattack threats. Hanks nearly tied the game in the 63rd minute, on a strong strike from the top of the box, but Stephanie Labbe tipped the ball over the crossbar for one of her six saves in the game. The frustration grew in the 76th minute, after Bock led a charge down the left side and slid a short pass from the endline. Michele Weissenhofer was crashing the near post and the ball smacked off her feet, but the deflection went the wrong way and cleared the right post to keep the Irish a goal down.
The leftside corner-kick area on the north end of Alumni Field is a memorable location for Notre Dame soccer fans, as that was the spot from which Katie Thorlakson provided the corner that led to Jill Krivacek’s goal in overtime of the 2004 NCAA second-round game versus Wisconsin (four games later, the Irish were national champs). Fans who were on hand Sunday – and those watching the online video – now have another memory from that scoreboard corner, after Hanks teed up her rightfooted inswinger.
With the winds gusting up to 30 miles-per-hour, Hanks had the benefit of a strong tailwind as she launched her kick into the heart of the six-yard box. The ball kept on carrying and flew into the upper corner of the far-right side, suddenly tying the game with just minutes to play (85:46).
Notre Dame won the crucial coin toss prior to overtime and elected to play with the wind for the first 10-minutes of overtime. That decision would play a role in the game’s final goal, as Weber’s cross came from the same quadrant of the field as the Hanks’ corner kick. Sophomore midfielder Courtney Rosen also picked up an assist on the play, after alertly changing the attack to the left side. Weber then was set to make a long run down the left flank but she surprisingly stopped 25 yards shy of the endline and drove a leftfooted cross into the penalty area.
Weber’s cross carried to the far side of the six-yard box and Bock was in position to snap her header off Labbe’s hands and into the top of the net, ending the game (93:09).
Hanks and Bock are not the only top All-America candidates emerging from the 2007 team, as Weber continues to impress during her first season with the Irish. A junior transfer and former midfielder at the University of Wisconsin, Weber has made a smooth transition to Notre Dame’s 4-3-3 formation while proving to be a multi-dimensional threat attacking from her left back spot. Sunday’s assist was her sixth of the season, to go along with a goal that clinched the early-season win at Florida (2-0).
Prior to Sunday’s game, members of the senior class – Hanks (who has a year of eligibility left), Karas, forwards Amanda Cinalli and Susan Pinnick (she also could return in ’08), midfielder Ashley Jones and outside back Jennie Bireley – were recognized and honored for their career accomplishments. The three who have been active four-year players with the Irish (Cinalli, Jones and Karas) have helped lead Notre Dame to an 83-9-3 record spanning the 2004-07 seasons.
Notre Dame continued to play without its team captain Cinalli, who now has missed five of the past six games due to a hamstring injury. Weissenhofer also continues to work back from her ankle injury while sophomore center back Haley Ford has been sidelined 12 straight games with her own lingering hamstring problem.
Postgame comments from Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum follow below, as do additional note updates and linescore.
COMMENTS FROM NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – – “I was very pleased with the poise we showed in battling back today against a very good opponent. I feel that UConn is the best all-around team we have faced this season and it took a strong effort today to win this game. This game had a lot of implications for us and keeps this rolling in terms of the winning streak and the team’s confidence. We had troubles in the first half going against the wind. It was hard to play out of the back in those conditions, but we made up for it with a very strong second half and into the overtime. … Kerri [Hanks] had some trouble with her corner kicks and free kicks during the game, due in large part to not judging the wind quite right. But it says a lot about her competitiveness that she was able to strike one right in the danger spot there, and it led to the goal. … We felt that we created some good chances in the second half, but UConn was dangerous as well on some of those counterattacks. In the first half, we had some problems recognizing all the interchanging that they did with their forwards and midfielders, and it appeared that confusion helped set up what was a great shot from Yi. …
“As I think about it, Elise Weber probably flows into the attack better than any other outside back we’ve had in my nine years at Notre Dame – and that’s comparing her to some great players. She just seems to flow so seamlessly into the attacking third, with great pace and skill on the ball. But the thing that makes her so effective is the multi-dimensional aspect of her offense. She can provide a great leftfooted cross, but she also can beat players off the dribble and get into the box, as well as being able to crack a very strong and accurate shot of her own. I can’t imagine there being many outside backs in the country who are better at those things than Elise, and I really hope she gets some consideration for postseason awards – including All-American. She has just been tremendously valuable to us this season, game in and game out. … The strong play of Elise has been three all year but the entire back line, and Lauren Karas in the goal, have really come on over the past month to help lift us on the winning streak. Carrie Dew is just starting to get back into her stellar form and Lauren Fowlkes has done great at the other center back spot, filling in for Haley Ford. We also have another freshman, Julie Scheidler, at left back – so it’s basically an entirely reworked back line and they have played very well as a unit over the past few weeks. Fowlkes has been very steady and, like Dew, has a great combination of physical presence and skill on the ball. …
“Brittany Bock has been so impressive over the past few weeks, after we again asked her to make the move to forward. That’s something we did as well last year, and it sparked us during the second half of the season. I have been very impressed with how Brittany has handled the shift this year. She realized it was something that had to be done for the team and she certainly is making the most out of it. She is a tremendous midfielder and can really impact the game in so many ways at that position, but right now she and Hanks are forming a great duo and make it very tough for teams to mark up on defense. You watch the games and see Bock and Hanks out there hustling both ways, tracking back to dig balls out. Those types of things are contagious and really fire up the team.”
NOTES – The Irish have not lost in 33 consecutive overall games vs. BIG EAST teams (32-0-1, since mid-2005) … ND now is 114-8-4 in all-time BIG EAST regular-season games (plus 27-2-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament) … the Irish have not been outshot in 65 straight games vs. BIG EAST teams (since mid-2002) … a look at the BIG EAST playoff picture will be forthcoming in a couple days (ND will play host to a BIG EAST quarterfinal, likely on Nov. 4, with several teams potential opponents in that game due to the tightly-bunched standings in the 4-5 spots) … the Irish now are 15-3-7 in overtime games during the Waldrum era but had lost the two previous OT games (vs. Stanford and Oklahoma State, both 2-1) … the only players in ND women’s soccer history with more career goals than Hanks are Heft (80), Monica Gerardo (73), Jenny Streiffer (70), Anne Makinen (65) and Cindy Daws (61) … Hanks now owns 166 career points (46 assists), putting her alone in eighth place on that list (11 points behind Holly Manthei) … Bock’s team-best five gamewinning goals include four in the past six games.
#13 Connecticut (11-3-1, 7-1-1 BIG EAST) 1 0 0 – 1
#15 Notre Dame (11-4-1, 9-0-0 BIG EAST) 0 1 1 – 2
UConn 1. Annie Yi 5th of season (Kacey Richards) 25:16; ND 1. Kerri Hanks 10th of season/60th of career (corner kick) 85:46; ND 2. Brittany Bock 11/35 (Elise Weber, Courtney Rosen) 93:09.
Shots: UConn 8-3-0 – 11, ND 7-15-1 – 23
Corner Kicks: UConn 2-0-0 – 2, ND 3-2-0 – 5
Save: UConn 6 (Stephanie Labbe), ND 2 (Lauren Karas)
Fouls: UConn 17, ND 11
Offside: UConn 2. ND 1
Yellow Card: Brittany Taylor (UConn) 86:07