Oct. 3, 2006
Notre Dame freshman forward Michele Weissenhofer has been named the BIG EAST Conference women’s soccer offensive player of the week while also collecting national player-of-the-week honors from Top Drawer Soccer (other weekly national honors still are TBA, as of Tuesday night). Weissenhofer paced the Irish offense last week with three goals and her nation-leading 12th assist of the season. Senior center back Kim Lorenzen joined her fellow Naperville, Ill., native Weissenhofer as one of nine total women’s soccer players recognized by the BIG EAST this week, with Lorenzen earning a spot on the weekly honor roll for the second time this season.
This marks the second consecutive week that a Notre Dame player has been recognized with top national honors, as sophomore center back Carrie Dew was named the Soccer Timesnational player of the week for games of Sept. 18-24, in addition to receiving several other national team-of-the-week honors. Notre Dame players have been recognized with national weekly honors throughout the 2006 season, including junior forward Amanda Cinalli being tabbed by Top Drawer Soccer as the national player of the week in early September.
Notre Dame captain and senior center back Kim Lorenzen leads an Irish defense that has allowed just three goals all season and is limiting opponents to 2.3 shots on goal per game.
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Weissenhofer’s game-tying goal in the second half sparked a three-goal comeback versus sixth-ranked West Virginia (3-1) and she added the primary assist on Amanda Cinalli’s goal that capped the win over the Mountaineers. Two days later, Weissenhofer scored twice in the 5-0 win over Pittsburgh – giving her a share of the team goal lead (8) and 28 total points that currently rank second among all players from 301 Division I women’s soccer teams.
Weissenhofer – who continues to add a dangerous dimension to the Irish attack due to her flip throw-in style – has emerged as the leading candidate for national freshman-of-the-year honors and also should be heavily in the mix for All-America consideration. She has registered points in 10 of 11 games this season and is on the verge of becoming the eighth Notre Dame freshman ever to reach 10 goals and 10 assists in her rookie season (only one other ND player, current sophomore Kerri Hanks, has been a 10G-10A freshman since 1999).
Lorenzen captained Notre Dame’s defensive effort that limited the nation’s top-scoring team West Virginia to one goal before holding Pittsburgh off the board for the team’s eighth shutout of the season. Lorenzen made several key plays in a high-paced first half to thwart developing West Virginia goal chances. She led a defense that allowed just eight shots, three shots on goal and three corner kicks in the weekend action. Lorenzen was on the field for a 106-minute stretch (spanning both games) in which the Irish did not allow a shot on goal and she was part of the defense that responded to the West Virginia goal by not allowing a shot on goal in the final 74 minutes of that game (with two off-frame shots allowed in the final 65).
Lorenzen is part of a veteran Irish defense that has allowed just three goals all season (none in the second half) and 25 shots on goal (2.3 per game). She ranks third on the 2006 team with 818 minutes played (74/gm), has appeared in 80 games during her career (70 starts) and the Irish are 28-1-0 during the past two seasons when she is in the starting lineup (the only loss came to eventual national champ Portland in the 2005 NCAA quarterfinals). Lorenzen and her classmates have combined for a 78-7-2 career record, giving them the second-most wins of any current senior class in Division I women’s soccer and the second-best four-year win pct. (.908) in the 19-year history of Notre Dame women’s soccer.
Notre Dame – which owns a season goal total (38) that is 13 more than the opponents’ combined shots on goal versus the Irish this sesaon (25) – currently ranks third nationally in both goals per game (3.45) and goals-against average (0.27) while leading the nation with a +35 scoring margin (38-3). The Irish join Navy (12-0-0) and Villanova (11-0-2) as the only remaining teams in all of Division I women’s soccer that have yet to suffer at least one loss.
Middle Tenneessee’s Kala Morgan (30) is the only player in the nation with more points that Weissenhofer (28), whose 2.55 points per game trail only Erin Finlay of Jackson State (2.55). She also leads the nation in assists (12) and assists per game (1.09) and is tied with Hanks for 14th in the nation with eight goals each, as the Irish are one of just six teams that feature two players with eight-plus goals. Notre Dame junior goalkeeper Lauren Karas currently ranks sixth nationally with a 0.32 season goals-against avg., trailing only Navy’s Lizzie Barnes (0.11), Villanova’s Jillian Loyden (0.15), Rice’s Amy McClintlock (0.28), California’s Anna Key (0.29) and IUPUI’s Jamie Farrell (0.30), among the nation’s regular starting goalkeepers. Karas also checks in at 26th nationally in save pct. (.860).
Kerri Hanks scored in both games last weekend, pushing her sesaon total to eight and giving her 36 goals in 36 career games with the Irish.
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Two teams that have faced a significantly lighter schedule than Notre Dame – Jackson State (5.71 gpg) and Middle Tennessee (4.17) – lead the nation in scoring while Villanova (0.15 GAA; 2 GA) and Navy (0.25; 3 GA) are the only teams with better goals-against averages than Notre Dame. The Irish also rank seventh nationally in shutouts (8) and 13th in save pct. (.880). The nation’s shutout leaders include Villanova (11), Purdue (10) and four teams with nine each (Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Navy, UNC and Boston University). Notre Dame’s 9-1 season-opening win over Iowa State represents one of 13 games this season in which a D-I team has scored nine-plus goals in a game.
Notre Dame’s 0.27 season GAA is on pace to break the team record (0.36, in ’97) that has stood for nearly a decade. The suffocating Irish team defense has limited opponent to 5.2 shots per game and 2.27 shots on goal/gm, both of which would rank fourth-best in the program’s history. Notre Dame also owns an average shot margin of +17.1 per game, which would rank fifth in the ND record book and second-best of the Randy Waldrum era (since ’99; the ’05 team had a +17.9 shot margin).
Notre Dame’s senior class still has never been outshot in a game during their career (87 games), with the Irish allowing an average of just 2.33 shots on goal per game in that four-year span of domination.
Lauren Karas remains on pace to post one of the top statistical seasons ever by a Notre Dame goalkeeper.
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The Irish have scored two-plus goals in all 11 games this season (only the ’96 team has done better, scoring 2-plus in each of the first 13 games that season). Only three previous ND teams have compiled longer streaks of scoring multiple goals in a game (at any time in a season): 1999 (16 staight games with 2-plus goals), 1993 (13) and 1997 (12).
Karas (0.32) is on pace to best LaKeysia Beene’s ND record for GAA in a season (0.36, in ’97) while her .860 save pct. would rank third-best (second-best since ’91, with Liz Wagner posting an .870 save pct. in 2000). Weissenhofer is on pace (over 25 games) for 64 points and 27 assists, which would rank sixth and fifth respectively in the Notre Dame record book.