Nov. 6, 2006
The Notre Dame women’s soccer team (20-0-1) – ranked No. 1 in all four national polls since early in the 2006 season – has been selected as one of four national No. 1 seeds and thus will have the chance to play at home through the first four rounds of the NCAA Championship, as long as the Irish can maintain their winning ways. Notre Dame will open its quest for the program’s third NCAA title – and second in the past three years – on Friday night, Nov. 10, at Alumni Field, which will serve as the site of three total women’s soccer games this weekend. Friday’s pair of first-round games will feature Wisconsin-Milwaukee versus Michigan at 5:00 p.m. EST, followed by Notre Dame versus Oakland (Mich.) at 7:30. The winners of those games then will return to Alumni Field for a second-round game on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 1:00 p.m.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for children, students and senior citizens – with the first 100 Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s/Holy Cross students admitted free of charge.
See the below link for the complete 64-team bracket:
http://www.ncaasports.com/soccer/womens/brackets/viewable/straight64_dyn/2006/DI
The past two years have seen the NCAA shift to a different seeding system for the tournament, abandoning the format where there were 16 national seeds that were assigned number 1-16. The second-year format has four seeds (listed 1-4) in each of the four quadrants of the bracket. Notre Dame is the top seed in its portion of the bracket, with Penn State (15-4-3) the No. 2 seed, Rutgers (15-3-3) the 3rd seed and Colorado (12-5-4) the 4th seed in Notre Dame’s quadrant of the bracket.
Should the top-seeded teams advance to the third round (played Nov. 17, 18 or 19), Colorado then would head to Notre Dame with a bid to the quarterfinals on the line (that game tentatively would be Nov. 17 at Alumni Field, with a 7:30 start time). If Notre Dame and Penn State each advance to the quarterfinals, that game likely would be played at Alumni Field on the Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 24; 7:30).
The other three national No. 1 seeds are North Carolina, Santa Clara and Texas – with Notre Dame and SCU lined up for a possible NCAA semifinal matchup on Dec. 1 in Cary, N.C. (that would be a rematch of the 2004 ND-SCU semifinal that was won by the Irish, 1-0, also at Cary’s SAS Stadium).
Teams from the same conference cannot play each other in the first round but second-round conference matchups were permissible in the formation of the bracket. When pairing teams, the committee was restricted by geographic proximity and sites were selected for the first and second rounds to create the fewest number of flights; therefore, only 12 of the top 16 seeds will be hosting first- and second-round competition (Florida will be playing at Marquette; Texas at UConn; Oklahoma State at Clemson; and Illinois at St. Louis).
The other quadrant on Notre Dame’s side of the bracket includes (seeds 1-4): Santa Clara, Florida State, Illinois and Oklahoma State.
The other side of the bracket features one quadrant with (1-4) UNC, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Tennessee while the top four seeds in the final quadrant are (1-4) Texas, UCLA, Florida and Utah.
The 25th annual NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup will be played December 1 and 3 at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
Oakland (8-10-1) played its way into the NCAAs by beating Southern Utah in the Mid-Continent Conference semifinals (2-1) and then claiming the Mid-Con title in penalty kicks versus Western Illinois (4-3; after a 1-1 tie).
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (16-3-1) was the Horizon League’s regular-season champion but was upset by Detroit in the semifinals of its conference tournament (1-0; after a 4-1 quarterfinal win over Cleveland State).
Michigan (9-7-5) beat Indina in the the Big Ten quarterfinals before losing to Penn State in a 2-0 semifinal game.
Friday’s game will be the first meeting between Notre Dame and Oakland in women’s soccer, although the Golden Grizzlies have played one previous game at Alumni Field. Oakland jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Cincinnati in the first round of the 2001 NCAAs (at ND) before seeing the Bearcats rally for the 3-2 victory.
Notre Dame owns a 3-1-0 series lead versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee but it has been 13 years since the previous meeting, a 6-0 home victory for the Irish. Notre Dame’s 11-2-0 series edge versus Michigan includes a 2-0 road win over the Wolverines earlier this season.
The BIG EAST Conference joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in placing seven teams (most from any conferences) into the 64-team field, representing the most BIG EAST teams ever to advance to the NCAAs. In addition to Notre Dame, the other BIG EAST participants in the 2006 NCAAs will include Rutgers, West Virginia, Marqutte, Villanova, Connecticut and Louisville. The BIG EAST also joins the ACC with the most teams that will be serving as host sites this weekend, with UConn, Marquette and Rutgers joining Notre Dame as teams that will be playing on their home fields.
Notre Dame owns a 10-0-1 record this season versus teams in the 2006 NCAA field (with a 26-6 scoring margin in those games), posting wins over USC (2-0), Santa Clara (3-1), SMU (2-0), Michigan (2-0), West Virginia (3-1), Louisville (2-0), Rutgers (2-0 and 4-2), Villanova (4-2) and Marquette (2-0) – plus the scoreless tie at UConn. The Irish also beat Virginia in a preseason exhibition, 2-0.
The Irish are entering the NCAAs with an unbeaten record for the fourth time in the past 13 seasons (also 1994, ’97 and 2000). Notre Dame’s 67-7 scoring margin this season includes 46-4 in the second half. All seven goals allowed by the Irish this season were scored by teams ranked in the national top-25 at the time of the game.
Notre Dame owns a 35-11-1 all-time record (.755) in NCAA Tournament play, including 28-3-0 (.903) in NCAA games played at Alumni Field. The Irish have claimed NCAA titles in 1995 and ’04, joining UNC and Portland as the only repeat winners in the history of the tournament.
In other news on Monday, the NCAA statistical leaders have been updated and Notre Dame joins Navy and Denver as the only teams currently ranked in the top-10 for scoring and defense. The Irish are averaging 3.19 goals per game, good for sixth-most among the 310 Division I teams and second-best in the 2006 NCAA field (behind Denver’s 3.38 gpg). Notre Dame’s 0.33 season goals-against average – on pace to set the team record – is second nationally behind Navy’s 0.23. Notre Dame’s 16 shutouts are second only to Navy’s 18 and the Irish represent the nation’s only team that has yet to suffer a loss.
Sophomore forward Kerri Hanks has emerged as the nation’s frontrunner for the prestigious M.A.C Hermann Trophy, currently ranking second in the nation (and first among players in the NCAAs) with 50 points. Hanks ranked fourth nationally in goals scored (18), trailing only Niagara’s Brittany Bisnott (21) among players in the NCAA field, while Hanks also ranks fourth in the nationl with 14 assists (third among players from NCAA Tournament teams).
Hanks and freshman sensation Michele Weissenhofer enter the NCAAs as the nation’s premier scoring tandem, representing the only players in Division I to reach 14 goals and 14 assists this season (only three others have double-digit goals and assists). Weissenhofer leads the nation in assists (17) and ranks fifth in points (43), good for third-most among players in the NCAA Tournament behind Hanks and Bisnott (45). Weissenhofer – also ranks among the nation’s top-20 goalscorers (19th) and her 13 goals are fourth-most among the nation’s freshmen, behind three players with 16 goals each (UCLA’s Lauren Cheney, Portland’s Michelle Enyeart and Colorado’s Nikki Marshall). No freshman in the country can match Weissenhofer total ponints or assist output this season.
Surging senior midfielder Jen Buczkowski – who joins Hanks, senior midfielder Jill Krivacek and sophomore center back Carrie Dew among four ND players on the recently-revised 33-player Hermann Trophy Watch List – has pushed her season assist total to 10, good for 15h-best in the nation and 10th among players in the 2006 NCAAs. Weissenhofer and Navy’s Meggie Curran (15) are the only players in the NCAA field with more assists than Hanks.
Junior goalkeeper Lauren Karas remains second in the nation with a 0.32 season goals-against average, trailing only Navy’s Lizzie Barnes (0.17).
Check back to und.com throughout the week for continuing coverage of the Irish women’s soccer team.