Sept. 28, 2006
Notre Dame women’s soccer coach Randy Waldrum – whose eight Irish teams have combined for 150 wins, just 23 losses and five ties (.857) – is set to lead his number-one-ranked squad into a BIG EAST showdown with #6 West Virginia. That Friday-night game (7:30 EDT) will come on the heels of the ND football pep rally and will represent one of the top-ranked showdowns in the history of Alumni Field. The game will mark the 11th time in Alumni Field history that Notre Dame and its opponent both have been ranked sixth or higher (in regular-season games), with the Irish owning a 8-1-1 record in those big games. West Virginia (+32; 36-4) leads the nation in scoring margin while Notre Dame is second at +28 (30-2), with the Irish ranking second in goals-against average (0.22) and fourth in scoring (3.33 goals per game; WVU is first at 3.60). See the following link for video comments from Waldrum prior to Wednesday’s practice (additional notes on the ND-WVU matchup also follow below):
Randy Waldrum Interview (Sept. 27) –
Friday night’s game also will rank among the top regular-season showdowns in BIG EAST women’s soccer history. Since Notre Dame joined the conference in 1995, the Irish have played just three regular-season games versus a BIG EAST opponent that was ranked higher in the NSCAA coaches poll than West Virginia’s current number-six standing:
Oct. 6, 1995 – #5 Connecticut won at #2 Notre Dame (5-4, in overtime) … the last time that a BIG EAST team has beaten the Irish at Alumni Field (66-0-1 since that loss)
Sept. 22, 1996 – #2 ND beat #4 UConn, at UConn’s Morrone Stadium (2-1)
Oct. 26, 1997 – #2 ND beat #5 UConn, at ND’s Alumni Field (1-0)
There have been a handful of other top-10 showdowns for Notre Dame and BIG EAST opponents in the regular season:
Oct. 22, 1999 – #6 ND beat #8 UConn, at ND (2-1/OT)
Oct. 3, 2003 – #2 ND beat #8 West Virginia, at ND (2-0)
Oct. 14, 2005 – #6 ND beat #10 UConn, at ND (4-0)
When including non-conference games, Notre Dame owns an all-time record of 11-6-3 (8-1-1 at Alumni Field, with 32-11 scoring edge) in regular-season games when both teams have been ranked among the top-six, with a 46-31 scoring edge in those games. The Irish are 4-2-0 in matchups of top-six teams in the Waldrum era (since ’99; 18-10 scoring edge). The bulk of Notre Dame’s non-wins in matchups of top-six teams have come versus North Carolina (1-3-2), as the Irish are 10-3-1 versus all other teams in top-six matchups (3-2-0 vs. Santa Clara, 2-1-1 vs. UConn, 2-0-0 vs. Duke, and 1-0-0 vs. N.C. State, Stanford and Nebraska). Note that the following list is based primarily on the NSCAA coaches poll (except for the recent 2006 ND-SCU game in week-2, due to the NSCAA poll not being updated after week-1, thus the Soccer Times poll is used):
Oct. 15, 1993 – #1 North Carolina beat #5 ND, in Houston (0-3)
Sept. 24, 1993 – #3 ND beat #6 N.C. State, at ND (3-0)
Sept. 30, 1994 – #2 ND beat #6 Duke, in St. Louis (5-0)
Oct. 2, 1994 – #2 ND and #1 North Carolina tied, in St. Louis (0-0)
Sept. 17, 1995 – #2 ND beat #3 Stanford, at ND (2-0)
Oct. 6, 1995 – #5 Connecticut beat #2 Notre Dame, at ND (5-4, in overtime)
Oct. 15, 1995 – #1 North Carolina beat #6 ND, in Houston (2-0)
Sept. 22, 1996 – #2 ND beat #4 UConn, at UConn (2-1)
Oct. 4, 1996 – #2 ND beat #1 North Carolina, at Duke (2-1, in OT)
Sept. 19, 1997 – #2 ND and #1 North Carolina tied, at ND (2-2, called due to lightning)
Sept. 21, 1997 – #2 ND beat #5 Duke, at ND (5-0)
Oct. 26, 1997 – #2 ND beat #5 UConn, at ND (1-0)
Sept. 13, 1998 – #1 North Carolina beat #1 ND, at UNC (5-1)
Oct. 6, 1998 – #2 ND and #4 UConn tied, at UConn (1-1)
Oct. 17, 1999 – #1 Santa Clara beat #6 ND, at SCU (4-2)
Sept. 8, 2000 – #4 ND beat #2 Santa Clara, at ND (6-1)
Sept. 25, 2001 – #4 ND beat #3 Nebraska, at ND (1-0)
Sept. 5, 2004 – #2 ND beat #4 Santa Clara, at ND (5-2)
Sept. 9, 2005 – #6 Santa Clara beat #1 ND, at SCU (2-1)
Sept 3, 2006 – #1 ND beat #2 Santa Clara, at ND (3-1), ranking based on Soccer Times coaches poll (ND was 5th and SCU 7th in NSCAA preseason rankings, which were not updated after week-1)
The Irish lead the all-time series with West Virginia 10-1-0 (6-0-0 at home), but the 3-0 loss at WVU in 2002 represents a rare shutout loss for the Irish by a margin of theee-plus goals. The 12-year period from 1995-2006 has seen Notre Dame suffer only one other shutout loss by three or more goals, a 4-0 game versus Santa Clara that also came during the 2002 season. Notre Dame and West Virginia did not face one another during the 2005 season, with the Irish winning at #24 WVU (3-0) during the 2004 national-title season. Goalscorers in that game included current senior defenders Christie Shaner and Kim Lorenzen, plus 2006 graduate Katie Thorlakson.
West Virginia and Notre Dame have met twice in the postseason, with the Irish winning a 1998 BIG EAST quarterfinal game versus WVU (5-0) and edging the Mountaineers in the 2001 BIG EAST title game (2-1, at Rutgers). West Virginia’s previous visit to Alumni Field came in the middle of the 2003 season, as the second-ranked Irish posted a 2-0 win over a WVU team that was ranked as high as 5th in the national polls at that time (8th per the NSCAA). Mary Boland scored just 84 seconds into that game and Kim Carpenter added an insurance goal, as the Irish dominated the run of play with a 17-2 edge in total shots, 11-1 in shots on goal and 9-4 in corner kicks.
Notre Dame currently is number-one in all four of the major national rankings – by the NSCAA (coaches association), Soccer America, Soccer Times (a poll of 16 top coaches) and Soccer Buzz (women’s soccer website) – for the first time this season. The Irish have been atop the Soccer Times poll for five straight weeks and have spent the past month as the No. 1 team in the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz rankings. Florida State had been atop the Soccer America rankings until losing last week to North Carolina.
The upcoming Friday-night game (Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m.) between Notre Dame and West Virginia will rank among the top showdowns in the history of Alumni Field, as the Mountaineers currently are sixth in the NSCAA rankings and seventh in each of the other national rankings. WVU leads the nation in scoring (3.60 goals per game) and goal margin (+32; 36-4) while the Irish are second in scoring margin (+28; 30-2) and fourth in goals per game (3.33).
Notre Dame is the only team in the nation currently ranked among the top-five for both scoring and goals-against average (2nd; 0.22). West Virginia ranks 8th nationally in GAA (0.38) to join Notre Dame and Navy (8th with 3.00 gpg; 4th with a 0.30 GAA) as the only teams in the top-10 for both scoring and defense.
Michele Weissenhofer currently leads the nation in points per game, assists and assists per game (photo by Marcus Snowden).
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Boston College (3.56) and Middle Tennessee (3.40) are the only other teams scoring at a higher clip than Notre Dame, which trails just one team – yet another BIG EAST squad, Villanova (0.17) – among the national GAA leaders. Notre Dame and Villanova each have allowed just two goals this season while four other teams have yielded three goals.
Notre Dame also ranks fifth nationally in shutouts (7) – behind Villanova (9), Purdue (9), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (8) and UTEP (8) – and eighth in save percentge (.909). The Irish (9-0-0) and Navy (10-0-0) are the only teams out of 301 in Division I that have won all their games this season. Four others have at least one tie but no losses, with those teams including BIG EAST members WVU (8-0-2) and Villanova (10-0-1), plus Maine and Rice (each 8-0-1).
Lauren Karas has allowed just two goals – by top-25 teams Mississippi and Santa Clara – while playing the bulk of the minutes during Notre Dame’s 9-0-0 start (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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Freshman forward Michele Weissenhofer currently leads the nation in points per game (2.33), assists and assists per game (1.22). Her 21 total points rank fourth nationally and trail only one player from a top-25 team (Portland’s Megan Rapinoe, with 22). She ranks just two points shy of the national leader Kala Morgan of Middle Tennessee (23), with LSU’s Michelle Makasini owning 22 points. Weissenhofer is the only player in the nation with 11 assists, followed by one player with nine and two with eight assists each.
Karas is on pace to set several Notre Dame single-season records, currently ranking fourth nationally in goals-against avg. (0.27) and 12th in save pct. (.895). Navy’s Lizzie Barnes (0.12) is the national GAA leader, followed by Villanova’s Jillian Loyden (0.18) and Rice’s Amy McClintock (0.23).