Oct. 1, 2004
(**full recap**)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Christie Shaner and Kim Lorenzen both scored their first goals of the season and Katie Thorlakson remained near the top of the national scoring charts with a goal and assist, as the top-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team improved to 11-0-0 (4-0-0 in BIG EAST play) with Friday night’s 3-1 win at 20th-ranked West Virginia.
Notre Dame – now 31-1-1 in its last 33 regular-season games – scored its quickest goal of the season in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay (2:54) but Shaner bettered that by 16 seconds, heading home a Thorlakson corner kick for the early lead on the homestanding (2:38).
The Irish now are the nation’s only remaining unbeaten/untied team (our of 308 in Division I), with seven games still remaining in the regular season. Virginia and Washington both suffered their first losses of the season Friday night while UC Riverside played to a tie at Cal State Fullerton.
West Virginia (8-3-0, 3-2-0) later tied the game on its own set-piece goal, with Rachael Minnich scoring on a double-header sequence after a free kick in the 52nd minute.
Lorenzen’s first goal in two seasons with the Irish came with the clock ticking under 16 minutes to play, taking a pass from classmate Lizzie Reed and ripping a 25-yard crossing shot into the left side of the net (74:53).
Thorlakson – who entered the week as the nation’s second-leading scorer – iced the game with 4:17 remaining, faking out her defender and scoring inside the near right post for her 10th goal of the season to go along with 11 assists.
Notre Dame once again juggled its goalkeepers, with junior Erika Bohn entering the game shortly after WVU had tied the game. Freshman Lauren Karas – who relieved Bohn a week ago, when the Irish rallied to a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh – had drawn the start versus the Mountaineers and saved both shots she faced prior to the goal.
Bohn delivered a huge save in the 84th minute, after the ball had been crossed into the left side of the box. Cathy Abel quickly sent a one-tough shot from eight yards out but Bohn anticipated the shot and dove to her right for the big save to preserve the one-goal cushion.
Thorlakson’s rightside corner kick set up the first goal, with Shaner snapping a header from the left side of the box that carried back into the right side of the goal.
A failed clearance preceded Reed’s pass back to Lorenzen, who took a touch from her rightside position before drilling a shot past fellow Naperville, Ill., native Lana Bannerman for the 2-1 lead. Bannerman and Lorenzen played on rival high schools but they were teammates on the Chicago Sockers club team, as were Lorenzen’s ND teammates Jen Buczkowski and Jill Krivacek.
Senior Candace Chapman assisted on the final goal by working the ball to Thorlakson on the right side of the box. Thorlakson had several options but opted to fake out her defender and pause before sending a quick 10-yard strike inside the near right post.
NOTES: Just two previous ND teams (16-0 in ’00, 13-0 in ’96) have opened with 11 straight wins while six other Irish squads have been unbeaten after 11 games … the Irish now are 105-19-4 (.836) in the six-year Randy Waldrum era … ND improved to 285-9-11 (.953) all-time when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals (89-3-4 since Sept. 9, 1999) and 206-3-1 (.983) when scoring 3-plus goals (110-1-0 since Oct. 6, 1995) … the Irish now own a 17-2 first-half scoring edge in 2004 … ND has won its last 33 games when scoring first … the Irish are 26-11-3 vs. NSCAA top-25 teams in the Waldrum era … ND now leads the WVU series 10-1-0, with the only loss coming in the previous visit to Morgantown (0-3, in ’02) … the Irish still own more goals (34) than opponent shots on goal (29) … updated season stats include a 240-67 edge in total shots (avg. 23-6), 114-29 in shots on goal (10-2) and 62-17 in corner kicks (6-2) … ND has faced just two deficits this season and has trailed for just 238 total minutes in the last 40 games … the Irish have allowed just 24 first-half goals in the past four seasons (76 games) … WVU became just the 4th opponent in ND’s last 40 games to come back and tie the Irish … ND now is 99-9-2 (.908) vs. BIG EAST teams since joining the league in ’95 … Thorlakson is riding a 4-game goal streak while her 73 career points (24G-25A) are one shy of that ND top-20 list (she needs 1G to become the 16th all-time ND player to reach 25 goals and 25 assists) … the Irish have scored in 96.4% of their regular-season games (185 of 192) since 1994.
#1 Notre Dame (11-1-0, 4-0-0 BIG EAST) 1 2 – 3
#20 West Virginia (8-3-0, 3-2-0 BIG EAST) 0 1 – 1
ND 1. Christie Shaner 1 (Katie Thorlakson) 2:38.
WVU 1. Rachael Minnich 6 (Ashley Wiemer, Ashley Banks) 51:30.
ND 2. Kim Lorenzen 1 (Lizzie Reed) 74:53.
ND 3. Katie Thorlakson 10 (Candace Chapman) 85:43.
Shots: ND 7-10 – 17, WVU 6-6 – 12.
Corner Kicks: ND 4-3 – 7, WVU 2-2 – 4.
Saves: ND 4 (Lauren Karas 2 in 60:18; Erika Bohn 2 in 29:42), WVU 4 (Lana Bannerman).
Fouls: ND 11, WVU 8.
Offsides: ND 4, WVU 1.
Yellow Cards: ND bench (77:07 and 78:12).