Nov. 7, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — For the fifth consecutive year and the 12th time in 14 seasons, the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team has advanced to the BIG EAST Conference Championship final by virtue of a 2-0 win over No. 25 Marquette on a cold and blustery Friday night at Alumni Field. The Irish will go after their 10th conference title and third in four years on Sunday when they play host to Connecticut at noon (ET) at Alumni Field, with the championship game to be televised live to a national cable audience on CBS College Sports (DirecTV channel 613/Dish Network channel 152), as well as on a pay-per-view basis via the official BIG EAST multimedia web site (www.bigeast.tv), and regionally on several outlets associated with the BIG EAST TV package (see post-game notes at end of this release for a full rundown of those regional affiliates).
Junior forward Michele Weissenhofer (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and sophomore forward Taylor Knaack (Arlington, Texas/Martin) both continued their recent resurgence, with Weissenhofer potting her fourth goal of the year and scoring a point for the fourth time in six games. Meanwhile, Knaack came off the bench to score a goal for the third consecutive game (and fourth time this season), getting an unassisted tally early in the second half. High-scoring forward Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner), the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year, registered her first assist as a collegian after setting up Weissenhofer’s goal.
Notre Dame (20-0-0) was sharp at both ends of the field on Friday, outshooting the Golden Eagles, 27-4, including an 11-1 margin in shots on goal. The Irish also chipped more than their fair share of paint off the woodwork, hitting the post or crossbar an amazing five times on the night. In addition, Marquette goalkeeper Natalie Kulla was outstanding between the pipes and was largely responsible for keeping her team in the contest, making a career-high nine saves, including a couple of eye-popping one-handed stops on point-blank shots that seemingly were destined for goal.
Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) was called upon to make one save while recording her fifth shutout of the season and the 13th clean sheet of the year for the Irish. Notre Dame now has blanked five of its last six opponents and has allowed a combined nine shots on goal in those six games (four by No. 24/18 Rutgers on Oct. 24).
“I thought we did a terrific job of dictating the tempo right from the opening whistle tonight,” Irish head coach Randy Waldrum said. “We came out with a purpose and didn’t get too frustrated when we weren’t able to get one past their ‘keeper. Once we were able to get on the board, and then Taylor got that insurance goal just after halftime, we started to settle into a little more of a comfort level. Our back line was also outstanding once again, especially our freshman Jess Schuveiller, who played a tremendous game and really showed once again why she should have been on the all-conference team. Give Marquette a ton of credit — they are as hard-working a team as any you’ll find in the country and without question, they’re going to be a tremendous representative for the BIG EAST in the NCAA Tournament.”
Notre Dame has faced numerous challenges this season and the Irish had to deal with a couple more hurdles on Friday, starting with the absence of senior All-America forward/Hermann Trophy candidate Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas/Allen), who had her streak of consecutive starts snapped at 85 games when she was held out of action as a precaution after taking a knock to the knee in last weekend’s BIG EAST quarterfinal against Cincinnati. Midway through the first half, Hanks’ fellow senior All-America forward/Hermann Trophy candidate Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill.Neuqua Valley) had to come out of the game after a collision with a defender, and Waldrum elected to hold her out the remainder of the evening once the Irish took a two-goal lead.
Despite missing two of their top offensive threats, Notre Dame didn’t miss a beat on Friday, leaning hard on Marquette early, throwing five shots on frame in the first 20 minutes, while senior co-captain and two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Carrie Dew (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) almost got into the act on offense, driving a header off the underside of the crossbar at the 13:58 mark. Kulla also came up large, swatting away a pair of opportunities by Henderson, the second a 1-v-1 chance near the left side of the six-yard box less than two minutes after Dew’s bid clanged off the iron.
After Henderson was denied by the Marquette ‘keeper for a third time just past the 20-minute mark of the first half, the splendid Notre Dame rookie changed tactics and punished the Golden Eagles as a playmaker, driving down the left flank toward the endline before sending a low cross into the box. Weissenhofer came crashing in from the weak side and roofed her sliding shot from eight yards away before Kulla could recover (27:00).
Bock tried to double the lead less than three minutes, taking a crack from 35 yards out, but Kulla dove to get a fingertip on her swerving left-footed shot and parry it off the left post. Sophomore Erica Iantorno (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale) also was unable to successfully negotiate with the woodwork, ripping a shot off the crossbar in the final minute of the first half.
Notre Dame’s pressure finally paid off shortly after halftime, as Henderson raced down the left side and threaded a cross into the six-yard box that Kulla dove out to tip away. However, with the netminder out of position, Knaack pounced on the loose ball, settled and chopped a shot toward the center of the goal that MU defender Allison McBride could only poke at in vain before it found the back of the net (49:42).
Now staring at a precipitous 2-0 deficit (Notre Dame now is 300-0-1 all-time when going ahead by that score), Marquette (11-7-3) tried to battle back, as Danielle Martens took the one shot on goal for the Golden Eagles at 58:13, rolling a shot in on Lysander from distance. MU had a much better scoring opportunity about seven minutes later, when Martens took the ball in the left channel and set off for goal, but her left-footed shot rolled wide of the right post and with it, the visitors’ last scoring chance of the evening.
Tickets for Sunday’s BIG EAST Championship final at Alumni Field are available by going on-line to the tickets page of the official Irish athletics web site, or visiting the Alumni Field ticket booths on game day. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for youths (21-and-under) and seniors (55-and-older), with Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s/Holy Cross students admitted free when presenting their valid student ID — restrictions for some pricing offers may apply.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame reaches the 20-win mark for the fifth time in six seasons and the 12th time in school history … the Irish also earn their seventh win over a Top 25 opponent this season, outscoring those “unlucky seven” by a combined 17-4 margin … Notre Dame stretches its unbeaten streak against BIG EAST Conference teams to a school-record 51 games, passing Florida (50 from 1997-2001) for second on the NCAA Division I list; North Carolina holds the NCAA record with a 55-game unbeaten run against ACC opponents from 1994-2000… the Irish also extend their home unbeaten streak against BIG EAST teams to 86 games (85-0-1), dating back more than 13 years (Oct. 6, 1995 – a 5-4 OT loss to Connecticut) … the Irish improve to 31-2-1 (.926) all-time in BIG EAST Championship play, including a 15-0 record at Alumni Field (57-4 scoring margin) and a 12-1 mark in conference semifinals (3-0 at Alumni Field, winning also in 1996 over Villanova (7-0) and in 2000 over Boston College (3-0)) … Notre Dame is 10-0-1 in its last 11 BIG EAST Championship games, dating back to a 2-1 loss at Connecticut in the 2004 conference final … the Irish seniors now are 15-0-0 all-time in postseason games (BIG EAST and NCAA tournaments) at Alumni Field, shutting out 12 of those 15 opponents … the Irish have led for nearly 73 percent of the total minutes played this season (1,315:51 of a possible 1,806:58) and have trailed for a total of 1:59 (all against Friday’s opponent Marquette back on Oct. 5 at Alumni Field) … Notre Dame scored multiple goals for the 13th consecutive game, matching the second-longest streak of consecutive two-goal games in school history (done two others time before, most recently from Aug. 31-Oct. 8, 2006); the school record in this category is 16 consecutive multi-goal games from Sept. 24-Nov. 14, 1999 (Waldrum’s first season as Notre Dame’s head coach) … Notre Dame and Connecticut will meet to decide the BIG EAST title for the ninth time since the Irish joined the conference in 1995; Notre Dame has won seven of the eight previous championship game encounters with the Huskies, taking six consecutive BIG EAST finals against UConn from 1995-2000, and then more recently posting a 5-0 win in the 2005 final in Milwaukee; UConn’s win was that 2-1 victory in 2004 in Storrs, the last time the Irish lost in BIG EAST Championship play … Connecticut advanced to this year’s BIG EAST final after topping No. 13/12 West Virginia on penalties, 4-2, after the teams played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie; it’s believed to be the first women’s soccer shootout in Alumni Field history … Sunday’s title game will be broadcast through the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Networks package with live clearances as follows: Sportsnet New York (SNY), Comcast Sports Net Chicago, Cox Sports Television in New England/Florida/Louisiana/Texas, Time Warner Cable Sports 32 in Wisconsin, West Virginia PBS and Bright House Sports Network in Tampa … in addition, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) will air the game on a same-day tape delay basis (Philadelphia at 1 p.m. ET, and MASN at 7 p.m. ET), while CSS Comcast Charter Sports Southeast will air the game on Nov. 11 (1 p.m. ET) and Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh will broadcast the final on Nov. 28 (12:30 p.m. ET).