Aug. 16, 2012
Full Notes Package in PDF Format
2012 Notre Dame Women’s Soccer — Match 1
#RV/12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-8-3 / 6-3-2 BIG EAST in ’11) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (10-7-3 / 5-3-3 Big Ten in ’11)
DATE: August 17, 2012
TIME: 7:00 p.m. CT/8:00 p.m. ET
AT: Madison, Wis. – McClimon Soccer Complex (4,500)
SERIES: ND leads 13-1-1 (ND leads 4-1-0 @UW)
1ST MTG: UW 6-0 (9/9/89 @UW)
LAST MTG: ND 2-0 (8/19/11 @ND)
WEBCAST: None
LIVE STATS:
TEXT ALERT: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDsoccernews
TICKETS: Available
Storylines
- Notre Dame is 21-2-1 (.896) all-time in season openers, including an 11-1-1 (.885) record in the Randy Waldrum era.
- The Fighting Irish open against a Big Ten Conference opponent for the sixth consecutive year.
No. RV/12 Notre Dame Opens 25th Anniversary Season Friday At Wisconsin
Sparked by a considerable youth movement that includes 18 underclass players, including 12 freshmen, No. RV/12 Notre Dame kicks off its 25th anniversary season at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET) Friday when it travels to Madison, Wis., to take on Wisconsin at the McClimon Soccer Complex.
The Fighting Irish earn a win and a draw during exhibition play last weekend, defeating No. 7 Virginia (2-0 on Aug. 10) and drawing with Baylor (1-1 on Aug. 12) at the ND Practice Field. Notre Dame was less than three minutes from a pair of preseason shutouts before Baylor scored the tying goal with 2:07 left in regulation (the teams did not play overtime).
Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy scored a goal in each match, while freshman forward Crystal Thomas added an insurance tally in the second half against Virginia. Freshman Elyse Hight and Sarah Voigt split time in goal against UVa, while freshman Naomi Willett and senior Maddie Fox shared the netminding duties against Baylor.
Rankings
- Notre Dame is receiving votes in the preseason NSCAA poll and is ranked 12th in the preseason Soccer America poll.
- Wisconsin is not ranked.
A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
- Notre Dame kicks off its 25th season of varsity competition in 2012. The Fighting Irish have a 463-82-25 (.834) all-time record, with 19 NCAA Championship appearances, including 12 trips to the Women’s College Cup, eight berths in the NCAA title match and three national championships (second-most in NCAA Division I history).
- Notre Dame returns 10 monogram winners, including six starters, from last year’s team that went 10-8-3 and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the 19th consecutive season, the second-longest active streak (and third-longest overall run) in tournament history.
- The Fighting Irish were picked to win the BIG EAST National Division title according to a preseason vote of the conference head coaches released Aug. 7. Notre Dame has won 13 BIG EAST regular-season titles (division or overall) since joining the conference 17 years ago, including regular-season crowns in eight of the past nine years.
- Junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish represented the Fighting Irish on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, following up her second-team all-conference selection a year ago. Laddish had one goal and a career-high seven assists last season.
- Notre Dame will feature a very young roster in 2012, with nearly half (12) of the 25-member Fighting Irish squad made up of freshmen (plus another six sophomores). The Notre Dame incoming class is ranked No. 1 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer, with seven of the 12 Fighting Irish freshmen appearing in the top 60 of the Top Drawer Soccer Class of 2012 rankings. Leading the rookie class for Notre Dame is forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro, a two-time consensus high school All-American and New York High School Player of the Year after piling up 39 goals and 19 assists during her prep career.
- Laddish and Roccaro will miss the first three weeks of the regular season after both were named to the 2012 United States Under-20 Women’s National Team that will compete in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Aug. 19-Sept. 8 in Japan. The Fighting Irish duo are the first Notre Dame players to participate in the U-20 World Cup since 2008, when Lauren Fowlkes started all six matches and helped the United States earn the gold medal.
Scouting Wisconsin
Wisconsin brings back 15 letterwinners, including six who started at least once last season, when the Badgers went 10-7-3 and finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference (5-3-3 record).
UW is led by sophomore forward Cara Walls (9G-1A in 2011), a returning Big Ten All-Freshman Team pick, and senior defender Lindsey Johnson, who copped second-team all-conference honors last season as the anchor on a Badger defense that registered six shutouts and a 0.96 goals-against average.
Head coach Paula Wilkins is starting her sixth season at Wisconsin with a 46-37-16 (.545) record at the school. Including a prior stop at Penn State, Wilkins has a career record of 165-56-27 (.720) as she enters her 12th season on a college sideline, with an 0-4 record against Notre Dame (0-2 at PSU, 0-2 at UW).
Wisconsin played just one exhibition match this season, dropping a 1-0 decision at No. 16 Marquette on Aug. 9.
The Notre Dame-Wisconsin Series
Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Wisconsin, 13-1-1, including a 4-1 record in Madison (where the teams will play for the first time since Oct. 27, 1999, when the Fighting Irish posted a 9-2 win late in head coach Randy Waldrum’s first season at Notre Dame).
The Fighting Irish also are unbeaten in the past 14 series matches (13-0-1) after the Badgers won the first-ever meeting in 1989 (6-0 in Madison). Notre Dame and Wisconsin also played to a 2-2 draw on Sept. 9, 2001, at old Alumni Field.
The Last Time Notre Dame And Wisconsin Met
Melissa Henderson collected a goal and an assist, and Adriana Leon netted her first score of the year as No. 1 Notre Dame defeated Wisconsin, 2-0, on Aug. 19, 2011, in the season opener for both teams before a spirited crowd of 1,713 fans at Alumni Stadium.
Henderson, who registered seven shots including six on goal, set up Leon’s tally with 2:43 left in the first half. The veteran striker then added the insurance for the Fighting Irish in the 61st minute, meeting a bending cross from Molly Campbell with a point-blank header into the right side-netting.
Notre Dame more than doubled up Wisconsin in the shot department by a 17-8 margin, with the Fighting Irish putting 12 shots on goal (and another two hitting the woodwork), while the Badgers had three shots on goal (plus another that rang the crossbar). Notre Dame also held a 9-1 edge in corner kicks, while the fouls were nearly even (8-6 against the Fighting Irish).
Maddie Fox earned her first collegiate start in the Fighting Irish goal and made the most of it, registering the first solo shutout of her career with three saves. Wisconsin netminder Michelle Dalton was sharp all night and did well to keep her team within striking distance, coming up with 10 saves.
Other Notre Dame-Wisconsin Series Tidbits
- Notre Dame is 9-7-2 (.556) all-time when playing in the state of Wisconsin. Last year, the Fighting Irish split two visits to the Badger State (both against BIG EAST foe Marquette), losing 3-2 in overtime in the regular season before earning a 1-0 win in the BIG EAST quarterfinals.
- Freshman defender Brittany Von Rueden is the lone Wisconsin resident on this year’s Notre Dame roster. She’s also the fifth in the program’s 25-year history, with the most notable Wisconsin native to suit up for the Fighting Irish being high-scoring forward Jenny Heft (Germantown/Pius XI), who piled up 80 goals (still 18th in NCAA history) and 129 points from 1996-99.
Notre Dame vs. The Big Ten
Notre Dame is 69-10-3 (.860) all-time against the current Big Ten Conference alignment, including a 23-4-1 (.839) record on the road. The Fighting Irish also have won 12 of their last 13 matches against Big Ten foes, with the only blemish being a 1-0 setback at No. 16/13 Illinois in the first round of last year’s NCAA Championship (Nov. 13, 2011).
Notre Dame also is 6-0-1 all-time when facing a Big Ten opponent in its season opener, with this being the sixth consecutive year the Fighting Irish have kicked off against that conference, and the third time in four seasons they have opened against Wisconsin (4-0 at Michigan State in 1998; 2-1 vs. Penn State in 2001; 0-0 vs. Michigan in 2007; 7-0 vs. Michigan in 2008; 3-0 vs. Wisconsin in 2009; 1-0 vs. Minnesota in 2010; 2-0 vs. Wisconsin in 2011).
Blowing The Lid Off
Notre Dame holds a 21-2-1 (.896) record in season openers, including a 7-1 (.875) record on the road. In addition, under 14th-year head coach Randy Waldrum, the Fighting Irish carry an 11-1-1 (.885) mark in season openers and have outscored the opposition by a 62-8 margin in those 13 matches (22-0 in the past six matches).
Notre Dame is unbeaten in its last 12 season openers since dropping Waldrum’s debut match with the Fighting Irish on Sept. 3, 1999 (a 3-2 double overtime setback to No. 1 North Carolina at old Alumni Field).
What’s more, Notre Dame has shut out its last six season-opening opponents (five wins and a scoreless draw with Michigan in 2007) and has an active streak of 632:54 without allowing a goal on opening night. That run dates back to Aug. 26, 2005, when New Hampshire’s Ashlee Ceislak scored 17:06 into an 11-1 Fighting Irish victory at the Vermont Banknorth Classic in Burlington, Vt.
Friday’s match represents the first time Notre Dame has opened its season away from home since that 2005 lidlifter against New Hampshire, and its first true road opener since Aug. 30, 2002 (a 3-0 win at Providence).
Our Fearless Leader
Now in his 14th season at Notre Dame, head coach Randy Waldrum ranks fourth on the NCAA Division I career winning percentage list with a .782 (370-94-26) mark in his 23 years in the women’s game. He also is second among active coaches for career winning percentage, while his 370 career wins rank fifth on the all-time NCAA Division I charts — Waldrum earned his 350th career victory on Oct. 3, 2010, vs. St. John’s at Alumni Stadium.
A two-time National Coach of the Year (2009 by Soccer America, 2010 by NSCAA), Waldrum has led Notre Dame to eight NCAA College Cups, five NCAA finals and two national championships (2004 and 2010). He also is second in NCAA Division I history with eight College Cup appearances and five title-match berths in his storied career.
The 2-0 Guarantee
Notre Dame is 332-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and has won its last 309 contests when going ahead 2-0 (since a 3-3 draw with Vanderbilt on Sept. 15, 1991, in Cincinnati).
In fact, just two of the past 221 Fighting Irish opponents to face a 2-0 deficit have forced a draw, something achieved by four opponents in Notre Dame history: Duke on Oct. 17, 1993, in Houston (ND won 3-2), Connecticut on Nov. 10, 1996, in the BIG EAST final at old 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 old Alumni Field (ND won 3-2), and most recently, Villanova on Oct. 12, 2008 in Villanova, Pa. (ND won 3-2 in OT).
Three … Is The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with a 303-3-1 (.989) record in those games, including a 205-1-0 (.995) mark since Oct. 6, 1995.
Golden Domers Golden In OT
Overtime has usually been the right time for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish are 20-6-14 (.675) all-time in the Randy Waldrum era (since 1999) when going to an extra period or two. Notre Dame also is unbeaten in 12 of its last 15 overtime contests.
Last year, the Fighting Irish tied a pair of school records by going to extra time on five occasions (also in 2001 and 2007) and registering three draws (also in 1991 and 2001).
No current Notre Dame player has scored a “golden goal” in her college career. Jessica Schuveiller netted the most recent overtime matchwinner for the Fighting Irish on Nov. 6, 2009, heading home a cross from Rose Augustin at 98:42 to beat St. John’s in the BIG EAST semifinals at Storrs, Conn.
Next Up: Tulsa
Notre Dame is back on the road at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT Aug. 24 when it travels to Tulsa, Okla., to take on the host Golden Hurricane at the Hurricane Soccer Stadium.
Tulsa returns 19 letterwinners, including 10 starters from last year’s squad that posted a 10-8-3 record and tied for sixth in Conference USA with a 4-5-2 mark. The Golden Hurricane won at Oklahoma, 2-0 in lone exhibition, and kick off a five-match homestand to begin the regular season Friday night against Weber State.
Notre Dame and Tulsa met on the opening night of last year’s adidas Invitational (Sept. 2, 2011), with the Fighting Irish posting a 7-1 victory at Alumni Stadium.
— ND —