Sept. 29, 2006

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(Note: see PDF for complete full-color game program)

BIG EAST WOMEN’S SOCCER – #1 Notre Dame vs. #6 West Virginia … Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 … Alumni Field (Notre Dame, Ind.)

GAME NOTES – Notre Dame (9-0-0) and West Virginia (8-2-0) are two of just five unbeaten teams left among 301 in D-I women’s soccer (as is fellow BIG EAST team Villanova) … tonight’s game marks the 11th time in Alumni Field regular-season history than ND and its opponent are in the top-six of the national polls (ND is 8-1-1 in those big games) … WVU (+32; 36-4) leads the nation in scoring margin while ND is second at +28 (30-2), with the Irish ranking 2nd in goals-against avg. (0.22) and 4th in scoring (3.33 goals/gm; WVU is 1st at 3.60)… ND leads the all-time series with WVU (10-1-0; 6-0-0 at ND) but the teams did not meet in ’05 … ND won at WVU in the ’04 NCAA-title season (3-1), behind goals from current senior defenders Christie Shaner, Kim Lorenzen and ’06 grad. Katie Thorlakson … WVU’s 3-0 home win over ND in ’02 is one of just two times in the past 12 seasons that ND has suffered a shutout loss by 3-plus goals … WVU’s previous visit to Alumni Field saw the Irish win 2-0 (ND was #2 and WVU ranked as high as 5th) … ND beat WVU in the ’01 BIG EAST title game (2-1) … ND’s Jen Buczkowski, Jill Krivacek and Lorenzen played on the Chicago Sockers club team alongside WVU ‘keeper Lana Bannerman … ND’s Susan Pinnick and WVU’s Kiley Harris were teammates on the Carmel Commotion, as were ND’s Courtney Rosen and WVU’s Rachel Dahlstrand on the Cleveland-based Internationals … the Irish are riding a 528-minute shutout streak (5-plus games), own a 22-0 scoring edge in the 2nd half, are riding the 2nd-longest scoring streak (45 games) in the program’s history, own the 4th-longest home unbeaten streak (32; 31-0-1) in D-I women’s soccer history, and have not lost at home vs. a BIG EAST team since the middle of the 1995 season (66-0-1).

NSCAA Coaches Poll (includes this week’s results and schedule for top-25 teams) – see PDF

2006 Schedule and Results (see PDF)

Notre Dame full-color headshot page (see PDF)

ND and WVU rosters, with stats (see PDF)

QUICK KICKS – Notre Dame is in the midst of a five-game homestand … ND’s 30 goals in 2006 have come from 12 different players … shutout streaks have been the 2003 (10) and 1993 (8) squads ND has racked up 80 second-half goals (2.4/gm) spanning the 2005 and ’06 seasons … a win over West Virginia would give ND a 10-0-0 start for the fourth time … ND has allowed just 22 shots on goal all season (2.4/gm), with Santa Clara (10) accounting for nearly half (the other eight opponents have combined for 12 SOG) … the senior class now is 76-7-2 during their four-year careers at Notre Dame, with Jen Buczkowski appearing in all 85 of those games … Amanda Cinalli (19th; 25G) and Kerri Hanks (15th; 34G) give the 2006 Irish squad two players who rank among ND’s top-20 career goalscorers … ND is No. 1 in the NSCAA coaches poll for the seventh season in its history (also ’94, ’95, ’96, 2000, ’04, ’05) … the Irish are 56-5-2 when playing as the top-ranked team in the NSCAA poll (40-2-2 in the regular season) … Michele Weissenhofer leads the nation with 11 assists and 2.33 points per game (21, with 5 goals) … ND is the only team in the nation ranked in the top-5 for offense (3.33 goals/gm) and defense (0.22 goals-against avg.) … Lauren Karas ranks 4th nationally in GAA (0.28) and 12th in save pct. (.895), with both marks on pace to set ND single-season records … the Irish have three players with 5-6 goals for the season (also Hanks with six and Cinalli with five) … the current senior class owns the second-best four-year win pct. (.906) in the Irish program’s history … ND’s win last week over Louisville was be the 150th in eight seasons under head coach Randy Waldrum (150-23-5; .857) … freshman M Courtney Rosen has missed the past four games, due to a foot injury … ND’s game at Cincinnati on Sept. 22 was called off due to lightning (ND held a 1-0 lead, after 50 minutes of play) … a possible makeup game (with full restart, at 0-0) would be played on Oct. 24, if needed for BIG EAST postseason seeding (1st-5th, in each eight-team division).

WVU NOTES – West Virginia returned eight starters and 12 of 18 letterwinners from its 2005 team that went 12-6-3 (7-2-1 BIG EAST), lost to UConn in the BIG EAST semifinals and advanced to the NCAA 2nd round (5-2 loss to Penn State) … the Mountaineers have tied Virginia (1-1) and St. John’s (0-0) while posting wins over Richmond (3-0), James Madison (5-1), Western Michigan (4-0), Binghamton (4-0), Penn State (2-1), St. Bonaventure (8-0), Pittsburgh (4-1) and Syracuse (5-0).

SILVER STREAKS – Notre Dame is riding the longest home unbeaten streak in the program’s history (32 games; 31-0-1), spanning all of the ’04-’06 seasons (23 straight home wins) … that streak ranks 4th in the history of D-I women’s soccer … UNC is the only other team ever to compile longer home unbeaten streaks than ND (84 from ’86-’94, 56 from ’99-’04 and 40 from ’81-’84) … the Irish also have posted 235 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 lead (258-0-1 all-time), are 34-1-0 in their past 35 games when scoring first and have not been outshot during the entire career of the senior class (85 games) … ND’s 45-game scoring streak is 2nd in the program’s history (the 1997-99 teams combined to score in 55 straight) … ND has won 92% of its all-time home games (184-14-3) 1… the Irish are unbeaten in their past 19 overtime games (14-0-5, since 1999) … since a midseason loss at Marquette in 2005, the Irish have won 22 of their past 23 games (with a loss to eventual `05 NCAA champ Portland), including 16 straight wins in the regular season …a shutout of WVU would give ND a six-game shutout streak (the longest ND shutout streaks are 10 in ’03 and 8 in ’95).

CLASSY CLASS – Notre Dame’s senior class owns the second-most wins in the nation (76-7-2), spanning the 2003-06 seasons (North Carolina is 81-3-3) … dating back to ND’s 2004 NCAA-title season (25-1-1), the Irish have the most wins in the nation during the past three seasons (56-4-1), followed by UNC (54-3-3), Portland (50-6-3), Penn State (48-5-5) and UCLA (47-10-3).

HOW TO FOLLOW THE IRISH – Fans are reminded of the new Irish Alert text-messaging system for all sports in season (see Irish Alert link on the und.com women’s soccer page) … the ND Sports Hotline also provides postgame wrapups after every game (574-631-3000, then option 4 and then option 2) … free live audio of all home games – plus upcoming road games at UConn and PC and any road postseason games – is available at und.com (which also includes links to GameTracker/live-stats, when available).

ACADEMIC ELITE – The Notre Dame women’s soccer program’s academic tradition just keeps getting better and better, with the team’s 3.42 GPA in the 2006 semester (best among ND’s 26 varsity programs) … several players will be top candidates for Academic All-America honors, led by junior D Ashley Jones and her 3.96 cumulative GPA as an accounting major (her 19 classes so far have produced 17 A grades and a pair of A-minuses) … other top candidates for Academic All-America include senior M Jen Buczkowski (3.39, marketing), senior D Kim Lorenzen (3.43, finance), senior D Christie Shaner (3.44, design), sophomore M Brittany Bock (3.45, business) and sophomore D Carrie Dew (3.33, business).

WHO’S BACK, WHO’S GONE – Notre Dame lost four key regulars from the 2005 team, in All-Americans Katie Thorlakson (forward) and Candace Chapman (right back), along with the Academic All-America duo of goalkeeper Erika Bohn and midfielder Annie Schefter, from the 2005 team that went 22-3-0, led the nation in scoring (4.40 goals per game) and allowed just 54 shots on goal all season … top returners include two other All-Americans, senior M Jen Buczkowski and sophomore F Kerri Hanks, who both were among the final-15 candidates for the 2005 Hermann M.A.C. Trophy … six others return who have received all-BIG EAST honors, among them: versatile senior D Christie Shaner, senior midfielder Jill Krivacek, junior F Amanda Cinalli, sophomore M Brittany Bock, sophomore central D Carrie Dew and senior utility player Lizzie Reed … the only returning starter who has yet to be honored by the BIG EAST is the highly underrated Kim Lorenzen, a senior center back who will serve as the team’s solo captain in 2006 … top candidates to fill the open starting spots included three juniors – forward Susan Pinnick, outside back Ashley Jones and goalkeeper Lauren Karas – plus freshman forward Michele Weissenhofer … Hanks and Buczkowski are among the 25 players named to the Hermann Trophy watch list for the 2006 season (they are two of five returners from the final-15 candidates for the 2005 Hermann … Hanks (the preseason BIG EAST offensive player of the year) and Buczkowski (picked to repeat as midfielder of the year) were joined by Shaner, Bock and Cinalli in comprising five of the 11 players who were named to the 2006 preseason all-BIG EAST team.

NATIONAL TEAMERS – ND’s 2006 squad boasts three (Jen Buczkowski, Amanda Cinalli and Kerri Hanks) who have played with the U.S. U-21 National Team, two others – Brittany Bock and Carrie Dew – who reported a couple weeks late after wrapping up play with Team USA at the U-20 World Championship, and two (Susan Pinnick and Courtney Rosen) who are products of the U-17s.