Oct. 16, 2003
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NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER
Game Notes – vs. Connecticut (Friday, Oct. 17; 7:30 p.m. EST)
(see PDF for complete notes, with info. in chart form)
The second-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team (14-0-1; 55-5 scoring edge) enters the final game in a rare eight-game homestand (longest since ’92) with the annual showdown vs. BIG EAST rival and 15th-ranked Connecticut (8-3-3), with the late start set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, Oct. 17, at Alumni Field … the game again is being played as a “bonus game,” in addition to the set BIG EAST schedule of two cross-divisional games per game (ND was paired with St. John’s and Miami this year) … the Irish have totaled nearly double the number of goals (55) as opponent shots on goal (32, just 16 in last 12 games) … ND is riding a 6-game shutout streak and is the nation’s No. 2-ranked team for scoring (3.67 goals per game) and goals-against average (0.33) … the Irish have not lost a home BIG EAST game since a wild 5-4 overtime game with UConn in 1995 (a 48-game win streak) and are 125-8-2 (.9313) in their last 135 overall home games (147-12-2 all-time at home) … ND solidified its spot among the nation’s top teams in mid-Sept. with a dominating defensive effort vs. perennial powers Stanford (0-0) and Santa Clara (2-1) at the SCU Classic before maintaining that momentum with a convincing win over #5 West Virginia (2-0) … ND has been ranked in the top two of the NSCAA coaches poll nine of the last 11 years (all but ’01 and ’02), earning No. 1 in ’94, ’95, ’96 and ’00.
INFORMATION HIGHWAY – Live stats will be provided for all ND home games (and select away games), with a link available via the main page at www.und.com … for schedule and result information on all 26 Notre Dame varsity sports, call the ND Sports Hotline at (574) 631-3000 (press “4” for soccer information and then ‘2″ for women’s soccer results) … see www.uconnhuskies.com for UConn info.
INTERNET AUDIO – Four ND women’s soccer regular-season games (plus possible postseason) will be available via internet audio broadcasts at www.und.com – including the UConn game … the audio is available to SportsPass subscribers (see und.com audio/video link), who also can listen to audio from other ND sports and from other schools that are part of SportsPass … the ND broadcast schedule kicked off with the games vs. West Virginia (Oct. 3), Villanova (Oct. 5), plus the UConn (Oct. 17) and Michigan (Oct. 29) tilts.
CONFERENCE CALL – ND’s all-time record in regular-season conference games is 91-7-2 (.920; 72-7-2/.901 in BIG EAST games) … the Irish are 51-1 in home games vs. BIG EAST teams, with 48 straight home BIG EAST wins since a 5-4 OT loss to UConn in ’95 (237-16 scoring edge, 34 shutouts, 13 games with 1 GA) … since ’95, ND’s overall record vs. BIG EAST teams is 91-8-2 (.911; 1-1 vs. UConn in NCAAs).
HUSKIES NOTES – UConn (8-3-3) owns noteworthy OT wins at Portland (3-2) and at Boston College (2-1), also beating Central Connecticut (4-1), Yale (2-0), Long Beach State (5-0), Virginia Tech (5-3), Pittsburgh (3-0) and Providence (3-0; Oct. 15) … UConn’s losses have come vs. West Virginia (0-1), at Miami (1-3) and at Hartford (0-1), with ties vs. Wake Forest (0-0), Washington (1-1, at UP) and vs. Hofstra (0-0) … the Huskies own a 30-12 season scoring edge, led by senior F Jessica Guertsen (10G-3A) and junior F Kristen Graczyk (9G-7A; after 15G-6A in ’02) … senior Erin Rice owns a 0.87 GAA, with 50 saves and 12 GA … UConn returned 18 of 26 letterwinners and just 5 starters from its 2002 team that went 21-3-1 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals (losing 2-1 vs. Penn State) … 17 of 22 players named to the 2002 all-BIG EAST teams returned for 2003 but 4 of the non-returners were UConn players: M Sarah Popper, G Maria Yatrakis, D Naima Montacer and F Salla Ranta.
SERIES NOTES – Notre Dame leads the UConn series 11-3-2 (5-1-2 last eight), including a pair of wins in ’99 – 2-1 in double OT (at ND) and 1-0 in the BIG EAST title game (at Rutgers) – followed by an 0-0 tied at UConn late in 2000 (ND beat UC in the 2000 BIG EAST title game, 1-0 at ND on an own goal) … UConn won the ’01 game in Storrs (3-1), behind first goals of the season from Casey Zimny and Jennifer Amaio (Alexa Borisjuk also scored, with Amanda Guertin’s goal averting the shutout) … ND – which played without Mary Boland -owned a 15-9 shot edge in the ’02 game (6-6 in corners) … the Irish came back to beat UConn in ’02, 3-1 (see p. 2).
ND WOMEN’S SOCCER BY THE NUMBERS (see PDF)
RECAPPING THE ’02 ND-UCONN GAME (3-1) – Notre Dame turned in a dominant 2nd half (9-0 shot edge, 4-0 on corner kicks), yielding final totals of 17-4 in shots and 5-2 in corners … the Irish tied the game on Katie Thorlakson’s first goal of ’02 before Amanda Guertin’s pinpoint corners set up header goals by Randi Scheller and Melissa Tancredi … key lineup changes included M Ashley Dryer returning from injury while Mary Boland started at midfield, with Thorlakson shifting to forward and Tancredi moving to central defense … Boland effectively neutralized M Sarah Popper while Tancredi held top forward Kristen Graczyk in check … UConn struck first when Salla Ranta ran onto a thru-ball for a low shot, shortly before halftime … early in the 2nd half, Candace Chapman and Amy Warner worked a give-and-go and Chapman sent a lead pass, with Thorlakson one-touching a 16-yard shot into the lower left corner … Scheller later found herself unmarked at the far left post and sends an easy header on Guertin corner and Tancredi caps the big win by elevating above the defense and heading another Guertin corner under the crossbar.
SERIES SCORING – ND owns a 34-20 series scoring edge vs. UConn (20-11 in the last 10) … UConn has scored more than two goals vs. ND just three times (5-4 UC win in ’95, 4-3 ND win in ’96, 3-1 UC win in ’01) and the Irish have held UConn to 0-2 goals in 10 of the last 11 (the Huskies totaled one goal over four games vs. ND in 1999 and 2000) … ND owns a 174-101 shot edge (avg. 19-11) in the last nine games of the series … the series has produced low-scoring games (avg. 3.3 combined goals/gm), with one 0-0 game, four 1-0 games, one 1-1 game, one 2-0 game, three 2-1 games (others: 5-4, 4-3, 6-1, 4-2, 3-1).
IN THE POLLS – Prior to last season, both teams were ranked in the NSCAA poll in the first 15 games of the series, including times in which each team was ranked among the top four (10 with each in the top-five) … those rankings dropped off a bit in ’99, as ND was 6th prior to both games (UConn was 8th and 13th, its lowest rankings in the series prior to 2000) … the lower-ranked team is 5-8-2 in previous ND-UConn games, with the underdog wins coming in 1995 (#5 UConn over #2 ND, 5-4 in OT), in the 1997 NCAA semifinals (#4 UConn 2, #2 ND 1), in the 1998 BE title game (#5 ND 1, #3 UConn 0), in 2001 (#15 UConn 3, #4 ND 1) and in 2002 (ND 3, #9 UConn 1).
CT CONNECTIONS – Notre Dame fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky is a native of Trumbull, Conn., where she was an All-American at Trumbull HS, the NSCAA national player of the year as a senior and twice earned New England player of the year … Pruzinsky led Trumbull to three state titles and a 65-8-3 record in her four-year career … she earned three team MVP awards, finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 79G-59A and was part of a 20-0-0 team during her senior year that did not allow a goal … Pruzinsky helped her Weston Wild Things club team capture the ’98 national title … second-year Irish G Erika Bohn was a star player at Brookfield (Conn.) HS, where she set team records for career GAA (0.68) and shutouts (41), also totaling 16 goals as a free-kick/PK specialist … Bohn led Brookfield to state runner-up titles in 1999 and 2001 (she was all-state three times) … Bohn also led the Yankee United Rage club team to five state titles (her coach on the Rage was current Yale coach Rudy Meredith, who coached Pruzinsky on the Wild Things).
FRIEND OR FOE? – Several ND and UConn players are former teammates, most notably two of the top scorers for both teams – ND senior Amy Warner and UConn junior Kristen Graczyk ( at La Cueva HS in Albuquerque, N.M.) … ND fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky (Trumbull, Conn.) played against several former UConn players as a prep while also playing alongside several UConn players during her ODP and regional team days … UConn junior D Kim Noivadhana and sophomore M Karlyn Miselis were members of the Yankee United Rage club program, as was ND sophomore G Erika Bohn … Bohn also played on the Connecticut state ODP team with UConn sophomore M Lara Batey (they opposed each other in high school) while sophomore freshman M/F Kristi Lefebvre was a teammate of Bohn’s on the regional ODP team (she also played for the Bethesda Fury club team, an arch-rival of the Yankee United Rage).
CAREER STATS VS. UCONN – Current ND players have scored four career goals vs. UConn, by current senior F Amanda Guertin in the ’01 loss and then by three players in last year’s 3-1 win: current sophomore F Katie Thorlakson, injured senior M Randi Scheller and senior D Melissa Tancredi … current senior F Amy Warner missed the 0-0 tie at UConn in 2000 and played off the bench in the 2000 BE title game (1-0) … Tancredi missed both of those games in ’00 (ACL) while current junior F Mary Boland was sidelined for the ’01 game.
QUICK TEAM NOTES ON THE IRISH
* Shutout Streak #1 – The Irish last week had a stretch of 138 minutes without allowing a shot (vs. Butler and Georgetown) and went 149 minutes without an opponent shot on goal.
* Shutout Streak #2 – ND’s six straight shutouts (9 of last 11) tie for 2nd-longest in the program’s history, with the 1995 NCAA-title team going eight consecutive games without a goal allowed … the current shutout streak covers 584 minutes (after an earlier 418-minute shutout streak) is just one game and a half shy of the 1995 team’s record of 726 consecutive shutout minutes … the current streak is 5th in the ND record book, also behind a 652-minute streak in ’97, 627 in ’89 and 599 in another ’95 stretch.
* Balanced Dominance – Notre Dame and top-ranked UNC are the only unbeaten teams remaining among 293 Division I women’s soccer programs, with the Irish also ranking 2nd in the nation for both scoring (3.67 goals per game, behind Oklahoma State’s 3.86) and goals-against average (team-record pace of 0.33, behind UNC’s 0.28).
* Big Gamers – The current senior class carries a 26-8-2 career record when playing in the postseason and/or facing an opponent ranked in the NSCAA top-25.
* BIG EAST Home Winning Streak – UConn was the last BIG EAST team to beat Notre Dame at Alumni Field (5-4 in ’95), with the Irish winning their last 48 home games vs. BIG EAST teams (91-8-2 overall vs. BIG EAST teams since ’95).
* Games-a-Plenty – The Irish just completed a rugged stretch of six games in 13 days, followed by four days off from competition before the annual showdown with BIG EAST rival Connecticut, the final game in a rare 8-game homestand.
* 11-to-1 Scoring Margin -The Irish now own a 55-5 season scoring edge, including 26-1 in the first 7 games of the homestand (plus a 155-22 total shot edge/86-9 in shots on goal during that 7-game stretch).
* Unbeaten Start – This marks the 4th time that ND has gone this far into a season (15) without losing (the ’94, ’97 and ’00 teams all started 23-0-1).
* Historic Dominance – The only previous ND team to allow fewer goals in the first 15 games is the record-setting 1997 squad that owned an 80-4 scoring edge at the 15-game mark, before a 7-1 win over Seton Hall.
* Frontrunners – The Irish still have trailed only once all season (no deficit in the last 12 games), for just 7:18 in the third game vs. Arizona State (the Irish have led 73% of the minutes and trailed just 0.5%).
* One (Or None) Is Enough – ND has held its opponents to 0-1 goals in the last 20 fall games, good for the 2nd-longest streak of not allowing multiple goals in the program’s history and also the 2nd-best start (15 games) without allowing multiple goals (the 2000 team went 24 games before allowing UNC to score twice in the NCAA semifinals).
* Turnaround Success – ND now is 8-0 this season when playing two days after a previous game (25-2 scoring edge), after going just 4-5 (18-16 scoring edge) in 2002 regular-season “bounceback” games.
* Magic Number – Last week’s win over Georgetown avenged a 4-3 loss at GU in ’02 (minus 4 ND starters), the only time since a ’95 loss vs. UConn (5-4) that ND has scored 3-plus goals and not won (now 101-1-0 in last 102).
* Quick Strikes – The early goal vs. GU marked the 6th time this season ND has scored in the first 7:00 of a game.
* Half & Half – The Irish have been equally dominant in the first (27-3) and second half (27-2) this season, after managing just a 12-10 first-half scoring edge in ’02.
* Sharpshooters – The efficient ND offense is averaging one goal every 5.5 total shots and every 3.0 shots on goal … the Irish now have scored 5-plus goals in 5 games this season and have scored 3-plus goals in 10 games.
* Strong Stretch – Since allowing a 26th-minute goal by Oklahoma on Sept. 7, ND’s last 11-plus games (spanning 1,085 minutes) have included just 2 goals allowed, 46 opponent shots (15 on goal) and 23 corner kicks, for 90-minute averages during that stretch of 0.17 goals, 3.8 shots, 1.2 shots on goal and 1.9 corners.
* Furious Forwards – ND’s system includes a pressuring “forecheck” from the team’s frontrunners … four of those players – Mary Boland (2), Amanda Guertin (2), Maggie Manning and Katie Thorlakson – have posted multiple-goal games this season while Amy Warner ranks 4th in the nation with 9 assists.
* Meet You In The Middle – Despite the graduation of 4-year starter/defensive ace Ashley Dryer and the season-ending hip surgery to senior Randi Scheller (2nd team all-BIG EAST in ’02), the Irish midfield has been energized by the emergence of two “newcomers” in sophomore Annie Schefter (4G-4A; missed all of ’02 with ACL knee injury) and freshman Jen Buczkowski (2G-6A) – with the pair ranking 4th and 6th on the ND scoring charts.
* Depth Charges – Notre Dame players have combined to miss 140 games due to injury spanning the ’02 and ’03 seasons (36 games; 27-8-1 record), with seven players already combining to miss 76 games due to injury in ’03.
* Far & Wide – ND’s ’03 roster includes players from 14 states, two Canadian provinces and Iceland … the program’s all-time roster canvasses 30 states and three foreign countries … ND’s student-athlete population in the ’02-’03 academic year included nearly 800 individuals from 47 states (all but Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada) and 20 countries.
* OT-Tested – The Irish are unbeaten in their last 15 overtime games (11-0-4).
* Poll Position – ND has been ranked 1st or 2nd in the NSCAA poll during nine of the last 11 seasons (1st in four).
* Winning When They Should – ND is 104-3-1 all-time at Alumni Field when facing an unranked team.
QUICK PLAYER NOTES
* National GAA Leader – Sophomore G Erika Bohn has extended her personal shutout streak to 609 minutes and leads the nation with a 0.29 GAA (on pace to best LaKeysia Beene’s team-record 0.37 in ’97) … since yielding a 25th-minute goal by Oklahoma in the 4th game, Bohn has allowed just one goal in the last 11 games, spanning 984 minutes … her last 25 starts with the Irish include a 23-1-1 record and just 10 goals allowed … Bohn’s 609-minute shutout streak of 609 minutes leaves her within range of the top two marks in the ND record book, by Liz Wagner in 2000 (701; 15th in NCAA record book) and Beene in ’97 (652; 17th NCAA history).
* Senior Spark – Senior M Kimberly Carpenter has emerged as a key offensive player as the team’s attacking midfielder, ranking 5th on the team with 13 points (5G-3A) after totaling just 5 combined points in her first 3 seasons (’00-’02) … she had a 6-game point streak that ended vs. Miami and had scored 3 times in a stretch of 6 ND goals.
* Fire & Ice – Seniors Amy Warner and Amanda Guertin have combined for 81 career goals (Guertin is 9th in ND history with 46, Warner 13th with 35) and 27 GWGs (17 by Guertin) and five OT goals (ND record 3 by Guertin).
* Big-Goal Scorer – Junior F Mary Boland registered her team-leading 4th game-winning goal of the season (vs. Miami) and has opened the scoring three times in ’03 … she enters the week ranked 20th in the nation for goals (11) and points (26) … Boland spent most of her prep soccer days playing as a forward but her ND career also has included time at outside back and in the midfield, with her quick start (ND record 6G in first 3 games) igniting the ’03 offense.
* Iron Women – Senior F Amy Warner has made 56 consecutive starts while fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky has logged 87 career games and 85 starts (three shy of cracking that ND top-10 list).
* Getting Right Back – Versatile freshman Kim Lorenzen (Naperville, Ill.) was impressive in preseason training at forward but has found a home in the defense, with strong play as a starter both centrally and now right back.
* 4.0 Focus – Fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky graduated in May of 2003 with a 4.0 cumulative GPA as a chemical engineering major, becoming just the third Notre Dame student (first since ’74) ever to complete that feat.
* Fantastic Frosh – ND’s freshman class was ranked #5 by Soccer America, with M Jen Buczkowski (6th) and D Christi Shaner (22nd) rated among the top 25 freshman players.
* Goal Patrol – Irish players have combined for nine multiple-goal games (compared to five in ’02) by seven different players: Mary Boland vs. Hartford (3) and ASU (2), Maggie Manning and Amanda Guertin vs. Hartford (both with 2, with Guertin doing so again vs. Georgetown), Jen Buczkowski vs. Oklahoma (2), Katie Thorlakson and Annie Schefter vs. Western Kentucky (both with 2) and Melissa Tancredi vs. North Texas (2).
* Setup Specialist – Senior F Amy Warner ranks 4th nationally in assists (career-best 9) and 22nd in points (25).
* World Cup Starters – Two ND alums – D Kate Sobrero (’98) and defensive M Shannon Boxx (’99) – were starters for the U.S. World Cup team … Boxx was a surprise last-minute addition to the final 20-player roster and became the first player ever to score in her first three games with the National Team (in two warmup games and then in the World Cup opener vs. Sweden) … Boxx also scored on a head for the go-ahead and game-winning goal (2-1) vs. Canada in the 3- third-place game and was named to the All-World Cup team.
PLAYING THE BEST – ND has played some of its best soccer vs. ranked opponents, going 23-10-3 vs. NSCAA ranked teams in the Waldrum era (since ’99) … that trend held true in 2001 (5-1-0): 2-1 vs. Penn St., 2-0 vs. Hartford, 2-1 vs. WVU, 3-0 vs. Miami, 0-3 at UConn, 2-1 vs. Michigan … the Irish posted 2002 wins over #25 Maryland (5-2), #8 UConn (3-1), #13 Michigan (1-0) and #14 Purdue (3-1) … over the course of the ’01-’03 seasons, ND owns an 11-6-1 record vs. NSCAA top-25 teams (29-5-1 vs. unranked teams), including 2003 wins over #16 Santa Clara (2-1) and #8 West Virginia (2-0) and a scoreless tie vs. #24 Stanford.
PRIMETIME PLAYERS – Notre Dame is 26-8-2 in the last four seasons (’00-’03) when facing an NSCAA ranked team and/or playing in the postseason, with a 73-34 scoring edge in those 36 “big games” … Amanda Guertin has racked up 50 points in those big games (20G-10A) … fellow senior F Amy Warner owns 8G-5A vs. ranked or postseason opponents (she missed half of the 2000 season due to injury).
REAR-VIEW MIRROR – Notre Dame has trailed just once all season – for a span of 7:18 early in the Sept. 5 game vs. Arizona State – with the Irish leading for 73% of the 1,377 minutes while trailing for less than one-percent (0.5%) of the 2003 minutes … ND’s 2000 team held the No. 1 ranking for most of the season while trailing just once in the first 24 games (for 28 minutes, in a 2-1 win over BC) before falling behind UNC with eight minutes left to play in the NCAA semifinals (a 2-1 loss).
NCAA STAT LEADERS – ND entered the week with the nation’s 2nd-best team goals-against avg. (0.33, behind UNC’s 0.29) and is the nation’s No. 2 scoring team at 3.67 goals per game (behind Oklahoma State’s 3.78) … ND headed into the week as one of four teams (the others are North Texas, Jacksonville and Southeast Louisiana) with two players who already have posted 25-plus points (junior F Mary Boland is 12th in the nation with 26 points and senior F Amy Warner 22nd with 25) .. Boland also is 20th in the nation with 11 goals while Warner’s 9 assists rank 4th … ND’s Erika Bohn now ranks first among the national goals-against average leaders (0.29).
NOTRE DAME PLAYER QUICK FACTS (see PDF)
HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – The Irish are 88-16-4 (.833) in the tenure of head coach Randy Waldrum (since ’99), including 72-13-3 in the last 88 games (since losing 4-2 at SCU on Oct. 17, 1999) … Waldrum’s ND record spans the career of 5th-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky … Waldrum – who repeated as BIG EAST coach of the year in 2000 – in ’99 became the only coach in the 18-year history of the NCAA women’s soccer championship to lead a team to the title game in his first season as that team’s head coach … he was the fourth 1st-year coach to take his team to the NCAA semi’s, beating top-ranked and previously unbeaten Santa Clara in their backyard of San Jose … Waldrum’s 21-plus-year record as a college head coach (men’s and women’s teams) is 271-121-23 (.681) … he is 195-66-16 (.733) in 12-plus seasons as a Division I women’s coach, including 61-36-9 in six years at Tulsa (.580) and 46-14-3 in three seasons at Baylor … Waldrum entered ’03 ranked 7th among active women’s coaches for career winning percentage (min. 10 Div. I seasons).
GLORY DAYS – The 55-5 scoring edge is comparable to ND’s 5-year dominance in the mid-1990s, with 15-game scoring margins of: 63-11 in ’93, 58-6 in ’94, 49-12 in ’95, 73-9 in ’96 and 80-4 in ’97 (average of 64-8) … only one previous ND team (4 in 1997) has allowed fewer goals in the first 15 games than the ’03 squad (5) … ND’s 0.33 team GAA would rank first in ND history (ahead of the 0.36 in ’97, 0.39 in ’00) … ND already has scored 5-plus goals in five games this season.
QUICK-STRIKE ARTISTS – Notre Dame has scored in the first 7:00 of six games this season, with junior F Mary Boland responsible for three of those early goals … the team’s quickest goals have come in recent wins over West Virginia (1:24; Boland volley on long serve from Melissa Tancredi) and North Texas (4:28; Amanda Guertin shot from top of the box via short pass from Amy Warner) … other quick-strike goals by ND in 2003 have come vs. Hartford (6:32; Boland puts back own rebound, after classic 5-player combination sequence that includes right endline cross from Warner), vs. Oklahoma (5:58; Jen Buczkowski knocks in rebound after flurry in box), at Santa Clara (5:03; Boland on lunging poke after leftside service from Katie Thorlakson) and vs. Georgetown (5:39; Kimberly Carpenter redirects Vanessa Pruzinsky shot).
SECOND-GAME SUCCESS – Notre Dame has reversed its frustrating trend from recent years of struggling in the second game of a three-day stretch … the Irish are 8-0-0 this season when returning to the field two days after a previous game, with an 24-2 scoring edge … by comparison, the Irish were just 4-5-0 in 2002 during regular-season “turnaround games,” totaling just 18 goals and allowing 16 in those nine games … ND’s second-game wins in 2003 have come vs. four teams that have been in the national rankings (3-0 vs. Wake Forest, 5-1 vs. Oklahoma, 2-1 at Santa Clara, 1-0 vs. Villanova), plus wins over Western Kentucky (5-0), Indiana State (3-0), Butler (3-0) and Miami (3-0).
ROAD WARRIORS – Notre Dame has posted some noteworthy road wins the past two seasons (8-3-0), including a pair of wins at the 2000 Portland Classic (5-0 vs. Washington, 1-0 vs. the Pilots; lifting ND to the #1 ranking), 2002 wins at Maryland, Michigan and Boston College (plus vs. Hartford, at Maryland), the 2003 season-opening wins over Hartford and Wake Forest (at UConn Classic) and solid results at the ’03 Santa Clara Classic (0-0 vs. Stanford, 2-1 vs. SCU).
GOING THE DISTANCE – ND is unbeaten in its last 15 overtime games (11-0-4), since the 3-2, double-OT loss to UNC in the ’99 opener … that team went on to post a 2-1, double-OT win at UConn and played to a 1-1 tie at Nebraska in the NCAA quarter’s (adv. on PKs) … the 2000 team had OT wins over Stanford, at West Virginia and vs. Santa Clara in the NCAA quarter’s (all 2-1), also playing to 0-0 at UConn … ’01 featured an unprecedented five OT games (2-1 vs. Indiana, Villanova, WVU and Michigan; 2-2 vs. Wisconsin) while the ’02 team added 1-0 OT wins over Rutgers and BC … the ’03 team has played to a scoreless tie with Stanford (at SCU) and beat Villanova in OT (1-0).
SHARING THE WEALTH IN OT – ND’s 11 overtime wins in the five-year Randy Waldrum era include goals from seven players (plus an own goal vs. Stanford in ’00): Anne Makinen (vs. UConn in ’99), Amanda Guertin (ND record 3; vs. WVU in ’00, Michigan in ’01, BC in ’02), Meotis Erikson (vs. SCU in ’00 NCAA quarter’s), Kelly Tulisiak (vs. IU in ’01), Amy Warner (2; vs. VU in ’01, Rutgers in ’02), Mia Sarkesian (vs. WVU in ’01) and Katie Thorlakson (vs. Vill. in ’03).
OT MASTERS – Senior Amanda Guertin holds the ND record for career OT goals (3), with her classmate Amy Warner and ’96 national player of the year Cindy Daws ranking second with two (including Daws’ goal vs. Portland in the ’95 NCAA title game) … Guertin (3G-2A) owns eight career points in OT, followed by Warner (6; 2G-2A) … Guertin’s other OT goals came at WVU in 2000 and at home vs. WVU in ’01 (both 2-1) … in addition to her double-OT goal on Sept. 20, 2002, vs. Rutgers (1-0), Warner scored in OT vs. Villanova (’01) and had the primary assist on Kelly Tulisiak’s OT goal in ’01 vs. Indiana (both 2-1) … she also had the cross that produced an OT own-goal to beat Stanford in ’00 and assisted on Guertin’s OT goal in ’02 at BC (1-0), playing a key role in five of ND’s last nine OT goals (Guertin on five of the last eight).
SECOND-GAME SUCCESS – Notre Dame has reversed its frustrating trend from recent years when playing two days after a previous game … the Irish are 7-0-0 this season when returning to the field two days after a previous game, with a 22-2 scoring edge … by comparison, the Irish were just 4-5-0 in 2002 during regular-season quick-turnaround games, totaling just 18 goals and allowing 16 in those nine games … ND’s second-game wins in ’03 have come vs. four teams that have been in the national rankings (3-0 vs. Wake Forest, 5-1 vs. Oklahoma, 2-1 at Santa Clara, 1-0 vs. Villanova), plus wins over W. Kentucky (5-0), Indiana St. (3-0) and Butler (3-0).
STILL NO LOSSES – Notre Dame is unbeaten after 15 games for the fourth time in the program’s history … here’s a look at the other longest season-opening unbeaten streaks in the ND record book:
Year – Start (Scoring) … Notes
1994 – 24 games (104-11) …went 23-0-1 before losing to UNC in NCAA title game (5-0)
1997 – 24 games (134-7) … again fashioned 23-0-1 record before losing to UConn in NCAA semifinals (2-1)
2000 – 24 games (75-8) … another familiar record (23-0-1) precedes a 2-1 loss to UNC in the NCAA semifinals
2003 – 15 games (55-5) … scoreless tie vs. Stanford only non-win on 14-0-1 mark
1996 – 13 games (66-6) … started 13-0-0 prior to 3-1 loss at Santa Clara
1991 – 12 games … twice-tied team (10-0-2) drops 1-0 game at UMass
1995 – 10 games … opened 9-0-1 before losing to UConn (5-4 in OT)
MOVING ON UP – ND’s impressive career record book can be seen in the fact that Amanda Guertin did not crack the Irish top-10 career scoring list until notching her 43rd goal, roughly half of the record total racked up by 1999 graduate Jenny Heft (80) … here’s a look at where Guertin and classmate Amy Warner stand on the career points and goals list (see PDF):
STREAKY PLAYER – Amanda Guertin scored a goal in the final 10 games of 2001 – third-longest in Div. I women’s soccer history (SCU’s Brandi Chastain had a 15-game goal streak in ’90, Hartford’s Maria Kun an 11-game streak in ’97) … Guertin also scored goals in an ND-record seven straight postseason games, spanning ’01 and ’02 (she has 9G in 15 career postseason games) and had points in eight straight games (7G-6A) before the 1-0 loss at Stanford in ’02.
GETTING THE GWGs – Amanda Guertin continues to add clutch goals and assists to her career totals (46G-24A, in 82 GP) – with her 17 gamewinning goals ranking 3rd on the ND all-time list (2 shy of Jenny Heft’s record) … 7 of Guertin’s GWGs have come in one-goal games, including three in OT (ND record) … nearly half of Guertin’s career goals (17 of 46, or 39%) have been gamewinners – well ahead of the others on the GWG list (see PDF):
SCHEDULE & RESULT NOTES – The eight-game homestand includes key BIG EAST battles vs. West Virginia, Villanova and UConn … ND opened with impressive wins at the UConn Classic over Hartford (9-1) and Wake Forest (3-0), with junior F Mary Boland earning BIG EAST offensive player of the week (3G-1A) … the Irish added ND Classic wins over #13 Arizona State (3-1) and Oklahoma (5-1), followed by a BIG EAST cross-divisional victory at St. John’s (2-0) and a 5-0 win over Western Kentucky … freshman M Jen Buczkowski and 5th-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky received the respective offensive and defensive MVP awards at the ND Classic, with Buczkowski named BIG EAST rookie of the week.
PRUZSINKY DRAWS NATONAL MEDIA ATTENTION – Fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky was spotlighted in a recent feature on College Sports Television while a recent Sports Illustrated On Campus highlighted the high achiever … Pruzinsky – the national high school player of the year and a 2002 invitee to U.S. Under-21 National Team tryouts – wrapped up her undergrad studies last May with a 4.0 cumulative GPA, becoming just the third chemical engineering major (and first since ’74) to graduate from Notre Dame with a 4.0.
See PDF for rest of notes and game capsules.