Coming off a career-high seven-point weekend, junior forward Taylor Knaack was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and earned a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Monday.

Open Road Awaits As #10/8 Irish Visit West Virginia And Pittsburgh

Oct. 1, 2009

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2009 ND Women’s Soccer — Games 11 & 12
#10/8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-3-0 / 3-0-0 BIG EAST)

at West Virginia Mountaineers (4-3-3 / 1-1-1 BIG EAST)
DATE:
October 2, 2009
TIME: 6:00 p.m. ET
AT: Morgantown, W.Va. – Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium (1,650)
SERIES: ND leads 11-1-1
1ST MTG: ND 11-0 (10/25/96)
LAST MTG: Tie 1-1 (11/11/07)
TV: ESPNU (live) (Beth Mowins – p-b-p / Wendy Gebauer-Palladino – color)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TEXT ALERT: UND.com

at Pittsburgh Panthers (5-2-3 / 0-0-3 BIG EAST as of Oct. 1)
DATE:
October 4, 2009
TIME: 1:00 p.m. ET
AT: Indianola, Pa. – Founders Field (1,000)
SERIES: ND leads 9-0-0
1ST MTG: ND 5-0 (9/12/97)
LAST MTG: ND 5-0 (10/1/06)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TEXT ALERT: UND.com

Storylines

  • With a win or tie vs. West Virginia, Notre Dame would set the NCAA Division I record for the longest unbeaten stretch in conference play at 56 games (currently 53-0-2).
  • The Fighting Irish are in the midst of a season-long four-game winning streak, having outscored their opponents, 9-1 in that span.

Open Road Awaits As #10/8 Irish Head To West Virginia And Pittsburgh This Weekend
As the calendar rolls over to October, No. 10/8 Notre Dame sets off on its longest road trip of the season, a four-game BIG EAST Conference swing that kicks off this weekend with visits to West Virginia (Friday 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU) and Pittsburgh (Sunday 1 p.m. ET).

Just two weeks into the conference season, the Fighting Irish (7-3, 3-0 BIG EAST) are the lone unbeaten and untied team remaining in the BIG EAST standings. Notre Dame is at the maximum nine points following a 1-0 victory over Louisville last Sunday (Sept. 27) at Alumni Stadium.

Junior forward Lauren Fowlkes scored the lone goal against the Cardinals, a 50th-minute strike that was her third score in as many games, and fourth in the past five outings. Senior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander made one critical second-half save to preserve her third solo shutout (and fifth overall clean sheet) this season.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is ranked 10th in the NSCAA poll and 8th in the Soccer America poll.
  • West Virginia and Pittsburgh are not ranked.

A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
After driving all the way to the doorstep of history in 2008 with a magical 26-1-0 season that culminated just short of a national championship, Notre Dame returns many of the same players that helped propel the Fighting Irish to the top of the college soccer world for much of last year.

Not only does Notre Dame bring back 19 monogram winners and seven starters, but of those 19 returnees, 15 of them have starting experience under their belt. What’s more, the Fighting Irish have more than 60 percent of their goalscoring (52 of 83) back in the fold, along with many of the defenders that were responsible for registering 18 shutouts and a 0.44 goals-against average (both among the top five marks in school history).

Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson (17G-2A in 2008) was tabbed the BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and is one of 45 preseason candidates for the Hermann Trophy after a stellar rookie campaign that included five gamewinning goals, the last coming in overtime of the BIG EAST Championship game against Connecticut.

Junior midfielders Rose Augustin (6G-2A) and Erica Iantorno (5G-7A) also likely will factor in Notre Dame’s offensive attack this season. Meanwhile, junior holding midfielder Lauren Fowlkes (1G), another preseason Hermann Trophy choice, and sophomore defender Jessica Schuveiller (1G-1A) will anchor the Fighting Irish backline.

They will be supported by senior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander, who set a single-season school record with 26 victories last season (and shared another record with 18 total shutouts). Lysander also ranked sixth in the nation last season with a 0.44 GAA and was named to the ’08 NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team.

Scouting The Mountaineers
West Virginia carries a 4-3-4 record into Friday night’s clash, including a 1-1-1 record in BIG EAST play. Last weekend, the Mountaineers defeated Marquette at home, 1-0, before dropping a 2-1 decision at South Florida. Against Marquette, freshman midfielder Caroline Szwed netted the lone goal of the match with less than three minutes remaining in regulation for the win, while junior Kerri Butler earned the shutout victory. In the USF contest, the Bulls jumped out to a 2-0 lead before senior midfielder senior Carolyn Blank put the Mountaineers on the board with a header in the 84th minute, but that was as close as the Mountaineers would get.

For the season, junior Megan Mischler has led the Mountaineer offense, recording two goals and two assists for six points. Freshman Bry McCarthy and Szwed are tied for second on the team with five points apiece. McCarthy has two goals and an assist and Szwed has added a goal and three assists. Blank also has two goals to tie with Mischler and McCarthy for the team lead. In net, Butler has played the majority of the minutes to get credit for WVU’s 4-3-4 record. She has posted a 0.60 GAA to go along with 31 saves and four shutouts.

Head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown is in the midst of her 14th season behind the Mountaineer bench and has led WVU to each of the last nine NCAA tournaments. To date, Izzo-Brown has led the Mountaineers to a 183-73-29 overall record and a 69-36-14 BIG EAST mark.

The Notre Dame-West Virginia Series
The Irish lead the all-time series with West Virginia, 11-1-1, and also hold a 46-10 scoring advantage in those 13 matches. The teams first met on October 25, 1996 at old Alumni Field, with Notre Dame earning an 11-0 win. The Irish went on to win the seven ensuing meetings before West Virginia earned its first win of the series in 2002, when the Mountaineers toppled Notre Dame, 3-0, in Morgantown.

Though WVU traveled to Notre Dame for the 2008 Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic (where the Mountaineers split with Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount), the teams have not met since the 2007 BIG EAST title game. In that classic contest, the teams played to a 1-1 tie through 110 minutes. Kerri Hanks had put the Irish up 1-0 in the 14th minute only to see the contest leveled by West Virginia’s Kiley Harris at 38:25. WVU goalkeeper Kerri Butler saved Notre Dame’s first try in the penalty-kick shootout and the Mountaineers went on to earn the championship trophy, 5-3 after nine total kicks.

Current Irish junior forward/defender Lauren Fowlkes converted a penalty kick in the shootout, while current midfielder Courtney Rosen assisted on Hanks’ goal. For a complete breakdown of the series, see page 108 of the 2009 Notre Dame women’s soccer media guide.

Scouting The Panthers
Before taking on Notre Dame, Pittsburgh will play host to DePaul on Friday night. The Panthers carry a 5-2-3 record into the weekend, including a 0-0-3 record in BIG EAST play.

Last weekend, the Panthers played in a pair of 0-0 ties versus South Florida and Marquette. Morie Kephart played both games in the Panther net to run her season total of shutouts to six. She earned the shutouts by making eight saves versus USF and adding 12 more in the Marquette tie.

Freshman midfielder Ashley Cuba has led the Pittsburgh offense, posting six goals and three assists for 15 points. Four of her six goals have proved to be game winners. Junior midfielder/forward Liz Carroll and sophomore midfielder Katelyn Ruhe are tied with Cuba for the team lead with three assists. Kephart has played every minute in the Panther net, posting a 0.47 GAA, to go along with 56 saves.

Sue-Moy Chin is in her seventh season as head coach at Pittsburgh. She has led the Panthers to three consecutive BIG EAST tournament appearances (2006, ’07 and ’08) for the first time in program history.

The Notre Dame-Pittsburgh Series
The Irish have never lost to Pittsburgh, posting a 9-0-0 all-time mark versus the Panthers. Additionally, Notre Dame owns a 38-3 scoring edge in the series and has posted six shutouts, five of those coming in the past six matchups.

The teams first met in 1997 when the Irish traveled to Pittsburgh and downed the Panthers, 5-0. The sides met continuously for the next seven years, until the series took a year hiatus during the 2005 season. Most recently, Notre Dame earned a home win, 5-0 in 2006. Current senior Michele Weissenhofer came off the bench to net two goals in that contest, while current senior Kelsey Lysander came on at halftime to take over in net and help post a shared shutout.

Beasts Of The BIG EAST
With a win over Louisville on Sept. 27, Notre Dame now owns a school-record 55-game unbeaten streak (53-0-2) against BIG EAST opposition (tying the longest steak in NCAA Division I history) dating back to a 4-1 loss at No. 15 Marquette on Sept. 30, 2005. In that time, the only ties were a 0-0 draw at Connecticut (Oct. 13, 2006) and a 1-1 deadlock at No. 12 West Virginia in the 2007 BIG EAST final on Nov. 11 (WVU won 5-3 on PKs, but the game is recorded as a tie).

Since joining the BIG EAST, the Irish are 126-8-4 (.928) all-time in regular-season conference games, 32-2-1 (.929) in the BIG EAST Championship, and hold a 689-82 scoring edge dating back to that first league season in ’95.

What’s more, Notre Dame maintains a 14-year, 89-game home unbeaten streak (88-0-1) versus BIG EAST teams, with Connecticut the lone conference team ever to defeat the Irish at home (5-4 in OT on Oct. 6, 1995 at old Alumni Field).

Fowlkes/Schuveiller Earn Top Honors
Earlier this week, two Notre Dame women’s soccer players were honored for their play in two Fighting Irish victories last weekend, earning honors from both the BIG EAST Conference and a pair national media outlets.

Sophomore defender/tri-captain Jessica Schuveiller, the reigning BIG EAST Conference Defensive Player of the Week, also was tapped for a place on the Soccer America National Team of the Week, while junior forward Lauren Fowlkes, the current BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week, is appearing on the new Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week.

Schuveiller garnered her first national award following a 2-0-0 week that included a shutout for the Fighting Irish. The sophomore also helped Notre Dame limit its opponents to 10 shots and just three shots on goal in the two wins. In a 2-1 win at Cincinnati on Sept. 25, Schuveiller scored the gamewinning goal (an unassisted tally) with 8:08 left in regulation. She is the first Fighting Irish player to earn a place on the Soccer America squad since Nov. 11, 2008, when Carrie Dew was accorded that distinction, and the first Notre Dame player to cop BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week status since Dew on Sept. 1, 2008.

Fowlkes likewise is a first-time national honoree after totaling four points (on two goals) in Notre Dame’s victories last weekend. Fowlkes scored the game-tying goal with 12:46 left in the 2-1 win at Cincinnati, before potting the lone score in a 1-0 win over Louisville last Sunday at Alumni Stadium.

On the year, Fowlkes is tied for the team lead with a career-high five goals and has scored in three of the last four matches. She is the first Fighting Irish player to make the Top Drawer Soccer weekly squad since Dew was named the TDS National Player of the Week on Nov. 10, 2008, and the first Notre Dame player to be named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week since Kerri Hanks on Oct. 27, 2008.

Senior Moments
The 2009 Irish senior class ranks as the second-most successful group in the country on the basis of wins, with a four-year record to date of 77-10-3 (.872) that includes three consecutive trips to the NCAA College Cup and appearances in the 2006 and 2008 national title games.

The .872 winning percentage compiled by the Notre Dame seniors is third on the national scene behind North Carolina and UCLA.

Game #10 Recap: Louisville
A pair of former high school teammates helped No. 14/12 Notre Dame earn a place in the NCAA record book on Sunday afternoon, as Lauren Fowlkes nodded home a cross from Molly Campbell less than five minutes into the second half, lifting the Fighting Irish to a 1-0 BIG EAST Conference victory over Louisville before 2,002 fans at Alumni Stadium. The win stretches Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak against conference opponents to 55 consecutive matches (53-0-2), tying the NCAA record first set by North Carolina during Atlantic Coast Conference play from 1994-2000.

Fowlkes’ goal — her fifth of the season and third in the past four matches — was the breakthrough Notre Dame needed on a day where the Fighting Irish created numerous scoring opportunities, only to see those chances dissolve on the doorstep. Notre Dame outshot the Cardinals, 18-6, on the afternoon, owning a 6-1 edge in shots on goal.

Goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander earned the shutout in the Notre Dame net, going the distance and making one critical second-half save for her third solo clean sheet of the season (to go along with two shared shutouts). Meanwhile, for the second consecutive match, the Fighting Irish ran up against a red-hot goalkeeper, as Louisville freshman netminder Taylor Vancil made five saves, including three exceptional point-blank stops in the first half.

The Henderson Effect
Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson has made quite an impact on the Notre Dame offense since arriving on campus last fall, netting 22 goals (including eight gamewinners) and adding three assists for 47 points in less than two full seasons with the Irish.

In fact, through her first 37 games, Notre Dame is 16-0 when Henderson scores a goal and 18-0 when she picks up a point.

Clean Sheets
In a unique twist, nine of Notre Dame’s ten games this season have been decided by shutout (five for the Fighting Irish, three for the opposition). Senior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander has had a hand in five of those Notre Dame whitewashes, earning solo shutouts against Loyola-Chicago (Aug. 28), Northwestern (Sept. 20) and Louisville (Sept. 27).

Meanwhile, junior netminder Nikki Weiss and freshman goalkeeper Maddie Fox each have split two shutouts. Weiss shared the Aug. 21 blanking of Wisconsin, and the Sept. 6 clean sheet vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, while Fox closed out the UWM contest and also backstopped Lysander to finish up the Sept. 18 BIG EAST opener vs. DePaul.

Off And Running
In four of Notre Dame’s seven wins this season (all but the Aug. 21 season opener vs. Wisconsin, the 2-1 win at Cincinnati on Sept. 25 and the 1-0 win versus Louisville), the Fighting Irish have scored their first goal in the opening 20 minutes of play. Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson has the fastest opening goal for Notre Dame this season, scoring 4:30 into the Sept. 6 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Last season, the Fighting Irish found the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes during 16 of their 27 games, including the NCAA College Cup final vs. North Carolina, when Kerri Hanks scored 16 seconds into the title game, the earliest goal in College Cup history.

Irish Debuts
In Notre Dame’s season-opening victory over Wisconsin on Aug. 21 at old Alumni Field, four of the five active Fighting Irish freshmen made their collegiate debuts. Lindsay Brown, Leah Fisher, Jazmin Hall and Tereza Stastny all saw time on the pitch as Notre Dame blanked the Badgers, 3-0. A week later, Stastny made her first career start in the 2-0 win over Loyola-Chicago, also at Alumni Field.

Then in Notre Dame’s 3-0 conquest of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sept. 6 at new Alumni Stadium, goalkeeper Maddie Fox made her Irish debut, playing the final 14:44 to share the shutout with Nikki Weiss. Fox also made two impressive saves in her first collegiate action to help preserve Notre Dame’s clean sheet.

The UW-Milwaukee game was notable for another Irish rookie as Stastny registered the first two points of her career by setting up both of Melissa Henderson’s first-half goals.

Pick Three For The Hermann Watch
Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson, junior defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes and senior midfielder Courtney Rosen have been named to the 45-player watch list for the 2009 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, it was announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

The Hermann Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I women’s soccer player, with Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks earning the prestigious crystal ball trophy last year. In the process, Hanks became the fourth Fighting Irish player to collect the award, not to mention just the fourth two-time Hermann Trophy honoree since the award debuted in 1988, as well as the first two-time national player of the year (in any sport) in the 122-year history of Notre Dame athletics.

Your 2009 Captains
The 2009 Notre Dame squad features three first-time captains, with seniors Michele Weissenhofer and Courtney Rosen and sophomore Jessica Schuveiller all selected via a vote of their teammates.

Schuveiller’s selection is noteworthy, in that she is the first non-senior to serve as a team captain since Amy Warner was one of Notre Dame’s three captains in 2002 (her junior season). This year’s triumvirate also marks the first time since 2004 (Mary Boland, Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and Melissa Tancredi) that the Irish have named three captains.

Schuveiller Goes To Camp
Sophomore defender Jessica Schuveiller was among a group of 24 players invited by head coach Bill Irwin to compete at the United States Under-23 Women’s National Team Training Camp in suburban Cleveland this past summer (June 12-19).

Schuveiller made her first appearance at a U.S. National Team training camp, joining an extensive list of Notre Dame players who have competed for Team USA at the U-23 level. Most recently, three current Irish players — senior forward Michele Weissenhofer, junior defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes and sophomore forward Melissa Henderson — were part of the U-23 player pool, along with two recent Notre Dame graduates and current WPS players Brittany Bock (now with the Los Angeles Sol) and defender Elise Weber (competing for Saint Louis Athletica). Fowlkes also struck gold with the U.S. U-20 National Team at last December’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Chile.

Our Fearless Leader
Eleventh-year Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum reached another milestone with Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Cincinnati on Sept. 25, recording the 400th win of his NCAA Div. I coaching career (counting his stints with both men’s and women’s college teams during the past 28 seasons).

Waldrum is also one of eight active women’s Division I head coaches to record 300 career wins. He now has a record of 325-81-20 (.786) in 20 seasons (including six at Tulsa and three at Baylor). His winning percentage ranks fourth among active coaches, while his 325 wins are fifth on the NCAA Div. I career list.

Three … Is The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with a 281-3-1 (.988) record in those games, including a 183-1-0 (.995) mark since Oct. 6, 1995. The Irish also are 380-9-15 (.959) when holding the opposition to 0-1 goals.

Most impressively, Notre Dame is 307-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and is unbeaten in its past 284 contests when going ahead 2-0 (dating back to a 3-3 tie with Vanderbilt on Sept. 15, 1991, in Cincinnati). In fact, just two of the past 192 Irish opponents to face a 2-0 deficit have forced a tie, something achieved by four opponents in Notre Dame history: Duke on Oct. 17, 1993, in Houston (Irish won 3-2), Connecticut on Nov. 10, 1996, in the BIG EAST final at Alumni Field (ND led 2-0, later tied 2-2 and 3-3, ND won 4-3), Duke on Nov. 30, 2007, in the NCAA quarterfinals at Alumni Field (Irish won 3-2), and most recently, Villanova on Oct. 12, 2008 in Villanova, Pa. (Irish won 3-2 in OT).

Golden Domers Golden In OT
Overtime has usually been the right time for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish are 18-3-8 (.759) all-time in the Randy Waldrum era (since ’99) when going to an extra period or two.

Notre Dame went to OT in three games last season and emerged victorious all three times. On Oct. 12, Rose Augustin potted the gamewinner at 6:58 of the first overtime for a 3-2 win at Villanova.

On Nov. 9, Melissa Henderson followed Augustin’s model and scored at 6:58 of the first OT to give the Fighting Irish a 1-0 victory in the BIG EAST Championship final at Alumni Field. It was the first “golden goal” in BIG EAST postseason history.

On Nov. 21, Alumni Field was once again the site, as Kerri Hanks slotted home a penalty kick at 6:54 of the first overtime for a 1-0 win over No. 22/24 Minnesota in the third round of the NCAA Championship. It was the first “golden goal” for the Fighting Irish in the NCAA tourney since 2000, when Meotis Erikson’s goal at 4:59 of the first OT gave Notre Dame a 2-1 win over Santa Clara in the NCAA quarterfinals at Alumni Field.

Last season marked the first time Notre Dame had ever played multiple overtime games in the postseason (BIG EAST/NCAA Championship).

Rosen Sidelined
Senior midfielder/tri-captain Courtney Rosen is out indefinitely after breaking her left foot during preseason training. Rosen underwent successful corrective surgery on Aug. 13 and is in the midst of rehabilitating her injury.

Media Guide Correction
On page 53 of the 2009 Notre Dame women’s soccer media guide, the last name of senior defender/midfielder Amanda Clark’s grandfather (Joe Kopnisky) and uncle (Jack Kopnisky) was misspelled. The Notre Dame Sports Information Office regrets the error.

Our New Digs
Located just east of the Joyce Center and approximately 500 yards west of its predecessor, Alumni Stadium is the new home for Notre Dame soccer, having opened its doors Sept. 4 to an overflow crowd of 3,007 for its debut match against top-ranked North Carolina (the Irish men played three nights earlier, blanking Michigan, 5-0).

A state-of-the-art facility built at a cost of $5.7 million, Alumni Stadium has a permanent seating capacity of approximately 2,500 fans, along with grass berm seating on the east end of the grounds. The stadium also offers upgraded and expanded restroom and concession areas, elevator access to the main concourse level, as well as numerous amenities for both Fighting Irish soccer programs (expansive locker rooms with custom-made wood lockers, spacious team lounges with flat-screen plasma TVs and high-speed Internet access, and a fully-equipped athletic training center).

What’s more, Alumni Stadium features an LED scoreboard (installed by industry leader Daktronics), enhanced lighting structures and top-of-the-line sod for the pitch (cultivated in Fort Morgan, Colo., at Graff’s Turf Farms, which also has provided the turf for numerous facilities including Notre Dame Stadium, Wrigley Field, Busch Stadium and the new MLS grounds outside Denver and Salt Lake City).

In addition, media members will enjoy the spacious new air-conditioned press box, which includes power and high-speed Internet portals at every seat (along with wireless Internet capability), three individually-wired broadcast booths and an expansive, unblocked midfield vantage point, all of which make Alumni Stadium unlike any other on-campus facility in college soccer.

The construction of Alumni Stadium was made possible because of numerous generous donations, including those by lead benefactors Tom Crotty and Rob Snyder, both former Fighting Irish men’s soccer players.

Crotty was a three-year monogram winner from 1977-79, earning team MVP honors in 1979 before graduating the following spring with a degree in finance. He currently is general partner at Battery Ventures LP in Wellesley, Mass., while he and his wife, Shari, live in Southborough, Mass.

Snyder earned two monograms from 1980-83, piling up 23 goals and 22 assists (the latter figure ranking seventh in school history). He also potted a team-high 12 goals in 1981. A 1984 graduate of Notre Dame, Snyder went on to become founder and CEO of Stream Energy in Dallas, Texas.

Taking It To The Next Level
Notre Dame had 10 players appearing on opening-day rosters for the inaugural season of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2009, ranking second among all colleges in that category. Four of those 10 (all members of the ’08 Fighting Irish NCAA runner-up squad) were selected in the league’s first-ever college draft back in January — Brittany Bock (first round, fifth overall, Los Angeles Sol), Kerri Hanks (first round, sixth overall, Saint Louis Athletica), Carrie Dew (second round, 12th overall, FC Gold Pride) and Elise Weber (third round, 21st overall, Saint Louis Athletica).

That quartet was joined by: Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol), Jen Buczkowski and Christie Shaner (Sky Blue FC), Candace Chapman (Boston Breakers), and Amanda Cinalli and Melissa Tancredi (Saint Louis Athletica).

In addition, Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf was assigned to the Chicago Red Stars as part of the U.S. National Team draft, but sat out the ’09 season while on maternity leave (she gave birth to twins in June). Kelly Lindsey began the season as an assistant coach at Sky Blue FC, then took over as interim head coach at midseason before resigning late in the year.

Midseason trades saw Hanks sent to Sky Blue FC, while Shaner went out to Los Angeles. Shaner subsequently was sidelined for the season with a broken leg.

Of the 10 active Notre Dame alums in WPS, eight saw their teams advance to the league playoffs (all but Chapman and Dew). Led by arguably the world’s top defensive midfielder in Boxx and one of WPS’ top rookies in Bock (who played center back after never playing that position at Notre Dame), Los Angeles won the regular season title and the right to host the first-ever WPS Championship Game.

In the end, five Fighting Irish alums (tying North Carolina for the most representatives from one college) worked their way into the WPS final — Bock, Boxx and Shaner for L.A., along with Hanks and Buczkowski for Sky Blue FC. The New Jersey-based club then capped an amazing string of three playoff road wins in eight days with a 1-0 upset of Los Angeles to win the inaugural WPS Championship.

Boxx was subsequently named a starter for the first WPS All-Star Game, which took place at Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in suburban St. Louis on Aug. 30.

On Sept. 16, Buczkowski was chosen by the Philadelphia Independence with the third overall pick in the 2009 WPS Expansion Draft, with Cinalli going one selection later to the Atlanta Beat.

Next Up: Rutgers & Seton Hall
Notre Dame continues a four-game road stretch next weekend with a pair of games in New Jersey.

First, Notre Dame faces No. 13 Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 9 in Piscataway — 7 p.m. (ET) kickoff from Yurcak Field, with the contest televised locally in the Garden State on Verizon FiOS. The Fighting Irish then conclude their four-game road swing on Sunday, Oct. 11 with a 1 p.m. (ET) game versus Seton Hall in South Orange.

— ND —