Sept. 9, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second consecutive day, three members of the second-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team were honored for their play in helping the Irish to the Carolina Classic title last weekend, collecting national honors from two media outlets on Tuesday.
Senior All-America forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) earned a place on the Soccer America National Team of the Week, just 24 hours after she was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week. Bock scored the game-winning goal in last Friday’s 1-0 win at No. 3/2 North Carolina before assisting on Notre Dame’s first goal in a 3-1 victory over No. 12/11 Duke (tallying her first points of the season). This week’s selection marks the fourth time in her career Bock has garnered national team-of-the-week honors, and first since she was designated the National Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks last year on Oct. 9 (NSCAA and Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week) and Oct. 16 (Soccer America).
Two of the pillars of the rock-solid Irish defense were rewarded for their contributions last weekend, as senior defender/co-captain Carrie Dew (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and freshman defender Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) were selected for the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week. Manning the center back positions, Dew and Schuveiller (pronounced SHOE-vy-ler) anchored a Notre Dame defense that yielded just one goal and six shots on goal during the victories over North Carolina and Duke, as the Irish handed UNC their seventh home shutout since 1979.
Dew now has earned three national team-of-the-week citations in the past two weeks, making the Soccer Buzz squad twice (giving her three honors from that outlet in her career) and adding a place on the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Monday. In addition, she is a two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week this season, taking home the league’s first two weekly honors on Aug. 25 and Sept. 1.
Meanwhile, Schuveiller, who has started every game for the Irish during her rookie season, picked up her first weekly honor of any kind (national or conference) and becomes the first Irish freshman to take home a national weekly award since current junior forward Michele Weissenhofer (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was named the Soccer America and Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week on Oct. 3, 2006. Weissenhofer went on to be chosen as the 2006 Soccer America National Freshman of the Year.
For the season, Notre Dame has scored more goals (17) than its five opponents’ total shots on goal (11), holding a 17-1 scoring edge and 56-11 shots on goal margin. In fact, the Irish have amassed 104 total shots this season, with their 20.8 shots-per-game average not far behind their opponents’ total shots for the season (33).
Notre Dame (5-0) now is the consensus No. 2 team in the nation, and the second-ranked Irish will be back in action at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday when they welcome SMU to Alumni Field. Tickets for this, and all Notre Dame home games this season, are available through the Irish Athletics Ticket Office (574-631-7356; second floor of the Joyce Center via Gate 1), by going on-line to the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.UND.com) or by visiting the Alumni Field ticket windows on game night.
— ND —