Oct. 22, 2006
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Carrie Dew headed in a Kerri Hanks free kick early in the second half and helped the Notre Dame defense hold Georgetown to a single shot on goal, as the Irish women’s soccer team maintained its hold on the nation’s number-one ranking with Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Hoyas. Notre Dame’s 13th shutout of the season clinched its 10th BIG EAST regular-season title in the past 12 seasons but the Irish still have one regular-season game remaining, as they now must play a makeup game at Cincinnati on Tuesday, Oct. 24 (time TBA, tentatively 7:00 p.m.). Seton Hall’s win on Sunday over Cincinnati moved the Pirates ahead of the Bearcats in the battle for the National Division’s fifth and final BIG EAST Tournament spot.
Notre Dame (16-0-1; 9-0-1 BIG EAST) – now unbeaten at the 17-game mark for the sixth time in the past 13 seasons – opted to rest two of its top starters, as sophomore forward Brittany Bock and senior center back Kim Lorenzen did not play in Sunday’s game. Bock – a preseason all-BIG EAST pick who missed the first four games of the season while competing in the Under-20 World Championship – has helped spark the Irish offense in recent weeks by providing a boost to the front line, due to her ability to hold the ball, play with her back to pressure and help spring fellow frontrunners Hanks and Michele Weissenhofer (plus provide her own scoring punch that includes several header goals during the past two seasons). Lorenzen is a four-year starter on the back line whose steady leadership and strong all-around defensive skills have helped Notre Dame go 31-1-1 in 2005 and ’06 games she has started.
The Irish now have totaled nearly twice as many goals (55) as its opponents’ combined shots on goal (31) this season, with the average of 1.8 opponent shots on goal per game on pace to set a Notre Dame defensive record.
Notre Dame has led at halftime in just seven games this season but the Irish now own a 40-2 second-half scoring edge, as part of a 55-5 overall scoring margin in 2006. Dew’s goal marked the 10th time this season that Notre Dame has come out of the halftime locker room and scored in the first 10 minutes of the second half, a scoring rate that factors out to 5.3 goals per 90 minutes.
Dew has scored just twice this season but each goal has come in the second half of a scoreless game (also Sept. 24 in the 2-0 win over Louisville). Hanks picked up her 10th assist of the season and 25th of her career with a free-kick service from the right corner and the 5-foot-9 Dew was positioned near the far post, elevating for the header that tucked under the crossbar on the left side (46:55). It was the fifth career goal for the sophomore center back and represents Notre Dame’s quickest second-half goal of the season, besting Amanda Cinalli’s score in the 2-0 win over Rutgers (48:23).
Seton Hall now stands fifth in the National Division with 11 points while Cincinnati has dropped to sixth with 10 points. The Bearcats would need to beat the Irish on Tuesday to claim the playoff spot, as SHU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker if there is a tie in the standings with Cincinnati. Tuesday’s game is a makeup for the Sept. 22 game at Cincinnati that was halted and ultimately called off due to lightning (the Irish led 1-0 after 50 minutes of play, with 70 minutes needed for an official game). The makeup will include a full restart, at 0-0.
The National Division’s fifth-place team (SHU or Cincinnati) will play a BIG EAST first-round game on Thursday, Oct. 26, at St. John’s, which finished fourth in the American Division. The winner of that game then would travel to Notre Dame for a BIG EAST quarterfinal matchup on Sunday, Oct. 29 (tentatively at 1:00 p.m.).
The other first-round game will involve Pittsburgh (A-5) playing at Louisville (N-4), with the winner of that game then earning a BIG EAST quarterfinal game at American Division champion West Virginia. The other two quarterfinal matchups will pit Connecticut (A-3) at Rutgers (N-2) and Villanova (N-3) at Marquette (A-2). If Notre Dame wins its quarterfinal, it will face the Villanova-Marquette winner in the semifinals (Nov. 3, at UConn). If the seeds hold, the other semifinal will feature WVU versus Rutgers.
Hanks (14G-10A) now has posted double-digit goals and assists in both of her seasons with the Irish and has scored (8) or assisted (9) on nearly 70% of Notre Dame’s goals (17 of 25) during the past seven games.
Notre Dame’s defensive alignment on Sunday consisted of Dew, senior Christie Shaner, junior outside back Ashley Jones and freshman Haley Ford, who (like Shaner) has been used as an outside and central back this season. The Irish now have limited 13 opponents this season (nine straight) to 0-2 shots on goal and it has been five weeks since a Notre Dame opponent managed even three shots on goal in a single game (3 by Michigan, on Sept. 17). The past seven games have seen the defense allow just 34 shots, seven shots on goal and 18 corner kicks (avg. of 4.9 shots, 1.0 SOG and 2.6 CKs per game).
Georgetown’s five corner kicks match the third-most by a Notre Dame opponent this season, with the Irish uncharacteristically failing to register even a single corner kick in the game. The Hoyas had no shots on goal until the game’s 88th minute, when a rightside corner kick led to Chrissy Skogen’s header try – but Jen Buczkowski cleared the ball away for the team save.
NOTES – The Irish are 19-0-0 in Sunday games during the past two seasons, with a 79-4 scoring edge in those games … this marks the third time that the current seniors have been unbeaten this deep into a season, as the 2003 team was 18-0-1 before its first loss and the ’04 team started 19-0-1 … three previous ND teams (’94, ’97 and 2000) all opened 23-0-1 before losing in the NCAA semifinals (’97, ’00) or final (’94) … Sunday’s game was just the second time all season that the Irish have not scored multiple goals (ND has posted 13 shutouts and has held three other teams to one goal) … ND is unbeaten in 24 straight regular-season games (23-0-1) and is 40-1-0 in its past 41 games when scoring first … ND’s 131-11-4 overall record vs. BIG EAST teams (since ’95) includes 105-8-4 in the regular season (nearly +100 in wins minus losses) … the senior class improved to 83-7-3 in its career (.909) … Buczkowski has played all 93 games of the ’03-’06 seasons while Shaner has appeared in 91 (90 straight) … the senior class has logged 535 career games played (also 85 for both Lorenzen and Jill Krivacek).
#1 Notre Dame (16-0-1, 9-0-1 BIG EAST) 0 1 – 1
Georgetown (5-9-5, 2-7-2 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0
ND 1. Carrie Dew 2nd of season/5th of career (Kerri Hanks) 46:55
Shots: ND 6-8 – 14, GU 2-6 – 8
Corner Kicks: ND 0-0 – 0, GU 1-4 – 5
Saves: ND 0 (Lauren Karas 0, team 1), GU 5 (Jade Higgins)
Fouls: ND 12, GU 15
Offside: ND 4, GU 0
Yellow Cards: Ashley Jones (ND) 84:14, Christie Shaner (ND) 89:58