Sept. 20, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame freshman midfielder Elizabeth Tucker (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) has been selected as the BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Week, the league office announced Monday. In addition, Tucker was named to the 11-player Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week, the third time this season a Fighting Irish player has been chosen for that honor, after junior defender/co-captain Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) copped that distinction on Aug. 23 and Sept. 6.
Junior forward Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner) also earned recognition for her play last week, garnering a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, which recognizes notable performances by conference players outside those chosen for the BIG EAST’s weekly individual awards. Henderson joins senior forward Rose Augustin (Silver Lake, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and senior defender/co-captain Lauren Fowlkes (Lee’s Summit, Mo./St. Teresa’s Academy) as Fighting Irish players who have appeared on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this season (Augustin and Fowlkes both made the list on Sept. 6).
Tucker is the first Notre Dame player to earn the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week award since Oct. 27, 2008, when Henderson collected the second of her two weekly honors that year. Henderson also was the last Fighting Irish rookie to make the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week, doing so on Sept 29, 2008.
This past weekend, Tucker scored three of Notre Dame’s four goals in road wins at BIG EAST foe DePaul (2-0) and non-conference opponent Northwestern (2-1). The rookie netted both scores against DePaul, including the second off an assist from Henderson with 1:48 remaining to clinch the victory. Two days later, Tucker scored 4:16 into the match at Northwestern (again courtesy of a Henderson assist) to help propel the Fighting Irish to the win.
In addition to her assists on two of Tucker’s three goals last week, Henderson also scored the game-winning goal at Northwestern, converting a penalty kick in the 21st minute. It was Henderson’s 18th career game-winning goal, tying her for fourth place on Notre Dame’s all-time list, and it was her 39th career score, tying her for 15th place on the Fighting Irish career goals chart.
For the season, Tucker and Henderson are tied with Augustin for the team lead in goals with four apiece, Henderson also leads the squad with 12 points and 14 shots on goal.
No. 7/11 Notre Dame (7-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) returns home at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday as it plays host to Cincinnati in a BIG EAST match at Alumni Stadium — a live audio broadcast and live in-game blog of that contest will be available through the official Notre Dame athletics web site, www.UND.com. The Fighting Irish then will head to Louisville on Sunday (Sept. 26) for a 1 p.m. (ET) match against the No. 23/16 Cardinals.
Season and single-game tickets for the 2010 Notre Dame soccer campaign are available by contacting the Murnane Family Ticket Office by phone (574-631-7356) or in person (Gate 9 in the Rosenthal Atrium at Purcell Pavilion) weekdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET). Fans also can purchase tickets on-line through the official Notre Dame athletics ticket web page (www.UND.com/tickets) or by visiting the ticket windows at Alumni Stadium on match night.
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s soccer program, join the Fighting Irish women’s soccer news Twitter page (www.twitter.com/NDsoccernews) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the sidebar on the women’s soccer page at UND.com.
— ND —