Oct. 28, 2004
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Junior forward Katie Thorlakson scored twice and assisted on the other two goals as the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team completed the fourth unbeaten regular season in the program’s history with Thursday’s 4-0 win at Michigan.
Notre Dame (17-0-1) dominated the run of play with a 20-2 edge in total shots, 10-1 in shots on goal and 5-0 in corner kicks. Sophomore midfielder Jen Buczkowski continued her recent offensive surge with the game’s first goal and an assist while senior forward Candace Chapman knocked in her ninth goal of the season and freshman forward Amanda Cinalli chipped in a pair of assists.
The rejuvenated Notre Dame offense posted its most goals in a game during the month of October while the stout Irish defense turned in its 10th shutout of the season and has held the last 14 opponents to 0-1 goals. Notre Dame also maintained its perfect record on the opponent’s field during the past two seasons (13-0-0) including 8-0-0 in ’04.
Thursday’s game will be telecast on a delayed basis by Comcast Detroit on Oct. 31 (2:30 p.m. EST) and Nov. 1 (1:30 p.m. EST) and by Comcast Chicago on Oct. 30 at 8:00 p.m. CDT/EST (Comcast Chicago can be found on South Bend Comcast cable channel 37).
Thorlakson – who heads yo the postseason as one of the frontrunners for national player-of-the-year honors – entered the week leading the nation in assists while ranking sixth in total points (she was one of just three players with 12-plus goals and 12-plus assists). Her strong effort vs. Michigan makes Thorlakson the first Notre Dame player since 1997 to register 14-plus goals and 14-plus assists in the regular season, joining Cindy Daws (21G-17A in ’96) and Jenny Streiffer (18G-21A in ’96, 16G-16A in ’97) as the only Irish players ever to reach 14G-14A in the regular season (Thorlakson’s 43 regular-season points are 10th in ND history and most since ’98, see list below).
Buczkowski opened the scoring in the fifth minute of play, on a score that proved to be her third gamewinning goal in the last five games. Thorlakson registered her 13th assist of the season after chasing down a loose ball on the left side of the box and slotting a pass to Buczkowski, who scored easily into the left side of the goal from six yards out for Notre Dame’s fourth-quickest goal of the season (4:55). The goal was Buczkowski’s seventh of the season, five more than she totaled during the 2003 regular season.
Midway through the first half, Buczkowski returned the favor by assisting on Thorlakson’s 13th goal of the season. Sophomore Jill Krivacek set the play in motion with a driven ball from her defensive midfield position, with Buczkowski then launching a shot from 35 yards out on the right side. The ball deflected off a Michigan player and carried into the far side of the box, with Thorlakson angling in from the left and onetiming an eight-yard shot past the charging `keeper Megan Tuura for the 2-0 score (28:12).
Thorlakson – who recently went four games without a point but now has totaled three goals and three assists in the past two games – set up the third Irish goal after battling into the left side of the box and sliding an endline pass for the near post. Cinalli took the feed and dropped the ball back into the vacated center of box, with Chapman chasing down the ball and quickly firing into the net as Tuura was caught out of position (61:31).
Chapman, who ended her eight-game goalscoring drought in the previous game versus Seton Hall, now has three goals in the last two games and ranks second on the squad with nine totals goals in 2004.
Thorlakson worked a give-and-go with Cinalli to cap the scoring in the 73rd minute. Cinalli took a pass from Thorlakson and carried the ball into the left side of the box before returning the ball to her right. Thorlakson ran onto the pass, switched to her left foot and deftly buried a rising 14-yard shot into the upper left corner of the net (72:54).
PLAYER NOTES – Thorlakson’s 14 goals are the most by an ND player in the regular season since the program’s all-time leading scorer, Jenny Heft, had 16 in the ’99 regular season … her 43 points this season have surpassed her combined total from the ’02 and ’03 seasons (42) and are the most by an ND player since Anne Makinen also had 43 during her 2000 national player-of-the-year season … just six previous ND players have combined for nine regular-season point totals that are higher than Thorlakson’s 43: Daws (59 in ’96, 21G-17A; 44 in ’93, 13G-18A), Streiffer (57 in ’96, 18G-21A; 48 in ’97, 16G-16A), Heft (56 in ’98, 26G-4A), Monica Gerardo (50 in ’96, 20G-10A; 48 in ’95, 19G-10A), Holly Manthei (48 in ’96, 5G-38A) and Michelle McCarthy (45 in ’95, 17G-11A) … a deep postseason run for the Irish could allow Thorlakson a shot at a rare 20G-20A season, with Daws (26G-20A) and Streiffer (22G-22A) the only previous ND players to achieve that distinction (both in ’96) … Thorlakson passed former D Jen Grubb (83, ’96-’99) into 18th on the ND career scoring list with 85 points (28G-29A), just two behind M Jodi Hartwig (87, ’91-’94) … next up on that list are Amy VanLaecke (90), Tiffany Thompson (91) and her former teammate Amy Warner (99) … Thorlakson now has posted an 8-point game, a 7-point game and a 6-point game in the ’04 season … she is 2G-1A shy of becoming ND’s 10th all-time player with 30-plus goals and 30-plus assists … Thorlakson has scored or assisted on 60 percent of the team’s goals in `04 (29 of 48) … she is averaging 2.18 ppg and would total 67 points over a full season of 28 games (the ND record is 72 points by Cindy Daws in her ’96 national player-of-the-year season) … Buczkowski has 3G-3A in the last 5 games and went over 20 points for the season (7G-8A, 22 points) … the Irish again were able to rest several regulars for the final 20 minutes … Thorlakson has appeared in 61 straight games with the Irish (since returning from the ’02 Under-19 World Championship) while Schefter and Buczkowski have appeared in every game (42) over the past two seasons … the backline starters – seniors central defenders Melissa Tancredi and Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and sophomore outside backs Christie Shaner and Kim Lorenzen – now have combined for 213 career games played at ND (170 starts) … junior G Erika Bohn is 43-4-2 in her last 49 decisions with the Irish, allowing just 24 goals in that 49-game stretch.
TEAM NOTES – ND has won its last 37 games when scoring first … the Irish are 111-19-5 (.841) in the six-year Randy Waldrum era … ND now has limited 32 of its last 39 overall opponents to 0-3 shots on goal … ND remains unbeaten after 18 games for the 5th time in the program’s history (also ’94, ’97, ’00, ’03, with unbeaten regular seasons every year except `03) … the Irish now are 37-1-2 in their last 40 regular-season games … since a rare deficit vs. Pittsburgh on Sept. 24, ND has outscored the opposition 24-3 … ND has trailed for just 266 total minutes the past two-plus seasons (7% of the total minutes, spanning 47 games) … ND has seen just five of the last 46 opponents come back to tie the game … Waldrum is six wins shy of his 300th overall win as a college head coach (men’s and women’s), spanning 23 seasons … since 1994, the Irish have scored in 286 of 302 games (.947; 191 of 199/.960 regular-season) … ND is 209-3-1 (.984) all-time when scoring 3-plus goals (112-1-0 since 10/6/95) … in addition to a 48-10 season scoring edge, the Irish also hold a 395-108 edge in total shots (avg. 22-6), 199-53 in shots on goal (11-3) and 104-33 in corner kicks (6-2) … ND has allowed just 25 first-half goals in the past four seasons (81 games) … the Irish are three wins shy of the program’s 9th season in the last 11 with 20-plus wins … the Irish own a 24-4 scoring edge in the 1st half this season, 26-4 in the 2nd half … ND now leads the series with Michigan 10-2-0 … Tuura had 14 saves and just 2 GA vs. the Irish in a pair of games last season (6 SV, 4 GA on Thursday).
TV ON TAP – Notre Dame is slated to be featured on television in two lateseason games and also could play on TV twice in the BIG EAST Tournament … the Oct. 24 Seton Hall game will be aired on a delayed basis by Comcast SportsNet Detroit (Oct. 28 at 2:00 p.m. EDT; Oct. 30 at 9:30 p.m. EDT) while Comcast Chicago (available on South Bend Comcast cable channel 37) will air the ND-SHU game on Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m. CDT/EST … the Oct. 28 ND-Michigan game then will be aired by Comcast Detroit on Oct. 31 (2:30 p.m. EST) and Nov. 1 (1:30 p.m. EST) and by Comcast Chicago on Oct. 30 at 8:00 p.m. CDT/EST … if ND wins its BIG EAST quarterfinal game, the Irish will play in the late semifinal (7:00 EST) on Nov. 5 (at UConn), with that game to be telecast on a delayed basis by College Sports Television (Nov. 6, 7:30 EST) … the BIG EAST title game (Nov. 7, noon) then will be telecast live by CSTV, Comcast Net Chicago and various other affiliates (full list is TBA) … CSTV can be found on DirectTV channel 610 and via a growing number of cable outlets nationwide (see www.cstv.com).
#2 Notre Dame (17-0-1) 2 2 – 4
Michigan (9-7-2) 0 0 – 0
ND 1. Jen Buczkowski 7 (Katie Thorlakson) 4:55; ND 2. Thorlakson 13 (Buczkowski) 28:12; ND 3. Candace Chapman 9 (Amanda Cinalli, Thorlakson) 61:31; ND 4. Thorlakson 14 (Cinalli) 72:54.
Shots: ND 6-14 – 20, UM 0-2 – 2.
Corner Kicks: ND 4-1 – 5, UM 0-0 – 0.
Saves: ND 1 (Erika Bohn 1, Nikki Westfall 0), UM (Megan Tuura 6).
Fouls: ND 11, UM 8.
Offsides: ND 3, UM 0.
Yellow Cards: None.