Sept. 20, 2007
Weekly Release in PDF Format (includes stats and season boxscores)
ND-DePaul full-color game program in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
2007 NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – vs. DePaul (Friday, Sept. 21; 7:30 p.m.) and vs. #14 Penn State (Sunday, Sept. 23; 12:30 p.m.)
The Notre Dame women’s soccer team (2-3-1) – ranked as high as 14th in the national polls (per Soccer America) – continues its four-game homestand this weekend with games at Alumni Field vs. DePaul (Fri., Sept. 21; 7:30 p.m.) and Penn State (Sun., Sept. 23; 12:30 p.m.) … the ND-PSU game will be televised live on ESPN-U … Penn State is also listed as high as 14th in the national polls … Notre Dame (148-23-5) and Penn State (145-24-13) rank 2-3 among the winningest D-I women’s soccer teams of the decade (UNC is 167-11-7) … the ND-PSU game will be a rematch of the 2006 NCAA quarterfinal that was won by the Irish (4-0) … ND played in a rare scoreless tie in the 2007 season opener (vs. Michigan, at Alumni Field) before winning a 2-0 battle at 7th-ranked Florida, in a game that featured two weather delays that halted play for a combined five hours … the Irish then had a rough trip to the west coast for the Santa Clara Classic (7-1 loss to then-#3 SCU and 2-1 OT loss to #5 Stanford) before splitting a pair of games last week at ND’s Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic (4-2 win vs. Princeton; 2-1 OT loss to #16 Oklahoma State) … Stanford and SCU currently sit atop the national polls … ND returned seven starters and four top reserves from its dominating 2006 team that spent most of the season ranked #1 and reached the NCAA title game before finishing 25-1-1 … junior center back Carrie Dew (the 2006 BIG EAST Conference defensive player of the year) has yet to return to her elite form, after undergoing ACL knee surgery late in the 2006 season – while the team’s other starting center back (sophomore Haley Ford) missed last week’s action due to a hamstring injury … ND’s challenging start to the 2007 season also included preseason games against #1 North Carolina (2-2) and #11 Virginia (3-1; in Ft. Wayne) … note that updated game notes will be provided for the ND-PSU game, due to the TV broadcast.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION – Live-audio broadcasts and GameTracker live-stat links are available at und.com, with the Penn State game also to be televised live by ESPN-U … fans are reminded of the Irish Alert text-messaging system for free in-game updates of all ND sports (see the Irish Alert link on the und.com women’s soccer page; nearly 350 fans currently are signed up for the ND women’s soccer text messages) … the ND Sports Hotline has postgame wrapups after every game (574-631-3000, then option 4 and then option 2 for women’s soccer info.).
STREAKS LIVE ON … – Notre Dame enters the DePaul gam with:
• 248 consecutive wins when taking a 2-0 lead
• A 12-year, 72-game home unbeaten streak vs. BIG EAST teams (70-0-2)
• 67 straight wins when scoring 3-plus goals (also 149-1-0 in the past 150 games when scoring 3-plus, since 1995)
• 36 consecutive victories when scoring first
… WHILE OTHER STREAKS END … – The first three weeks of the season have seen several noteworthy ND streaks come to an end:
• ND was not outshot for 102 straight games before being outshot in the 2006 NCAA title game and three times this season (vs. Florida, Santa Clara and Stanford)
• The scoreless tie in the regular-season opener vs. Michigan ended ND’s home winning streak at 42 games (3rd-longest in NCAA D-I women’s soccer history)
• The loss at Santa Clara (7-1) ended ND’s 27-game regular-season unbeaten streak … it was the first time the Irish had allowed more than two goals since the ’05 NCAA quarterfinal at eventual national champ Portland (3-1; streak of 29 games with 0-2 goals allowed) … it was the first time in 44 games that an ND opponent had 4-plus goals (since 4-1 loss at Marquette in ’05) and was ND’s first game allowing 5-plus since a 5-1 loss at UNC in ’98 (span of 218 games without allowing 5-plus)
• The loss to Stanford halted ND’s 21-game overtime unbeaten streak (14-0-7, dating back to early in the 1999 season)
• The loss to Oklahoma State ended ND’s home unbeaten streak at 43 games (41-0-2; 3rd-longest in NCAA history)
• That loss to OSU was ND’s first defeat in a series opener since early in the 2003 season (ending a 19-game series-opener win streak) and it was the first time that the Irish have lost in a game when Kerri Hanks scored (now 33-1-0, from 2005-07)
• The loss to OSU prevented ND from winning its home tournament for the fifth straight season and ended a nine-game win streak in home tournaments … OSU became only the fourth team since 1993 (first since ’02) to defeat the Irish in their first visit to Alumni Field; ND had posted 12 straight wins over first-time visitors
• Notre Dame headed to the 2006 College Cup final weekend with a perfect two-year record in Sunday games (24-0-0, dating back to the start of the ’05 season) but the Irish now have lost three of their past four Sunday games
THE ND-DEPAUL SERIES – Notre Dame has won each of its previous two games versus DePaul: 6-0 at home in 2005 and 5-0 on the road in ’05 … Kerri Hanks has 3G-3A in two career games vs. the Blue Demons (1G-1A in 2005; 2G-2A in 2006) … Chicago-area natives Michele Weissenhofer (2G-1A) and Brittany Bock (1G-2A) combined for nine points in the 2006 game vs. DePaul (Amanda Cinalli also had two goals while Susan Pinnick added an assist).
WINDY CITY REUNION – Notre Dame’s Chicago pipeline includes juniors Brittany Bock and Elise Weber, sophomores Amanda Clark and Michele Weissenhofer, and freshmen Brittany Johnson and Erica Iantorno … those players have plenty of previous playing experience with one another and with various DePaul players … Bock has longtime playing ties to DePaul’s Molly Bochardt (namely on Team Chicago), also playing previously on teams with Lauren Holcomb (Windy City Pride), Dominique Locasio (Eclipse Select) and Alissa VonderHaar (ODP Region II and Eclipse) … Weber also played on the Eclipse with Locasio and VonderHaar … Clark and Weissenhofer likewise played on various youth teams with Bochardt while their classmate and Cleveland-area native Courtney Rosen played alongside DePaul’s Emma Liebourte on the Internationals club team … Johnson and Iantorno played on the Eclipse with DePaul’s Janinia Locasio and Tara Strickland (who also played alongside Iantorno on the state ODP team).
CONFERENCE COMMAND – Notre Dame is riding a 12-year, 72-game home unbeaten streak vs. BIG EAST opponents (71-0-1; tie vs. Rutgers in ’04) and has an active 24-game overall unbeaten streak vs. BIG EAST teams (23-0-1, since a 2005 loss at Marquette) … ND’s all-time record in BIG EAST regular-season games is 106-8-4 (.915), plus 27-2-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament and 2-1-0 in NCAA Tournament games vs. BIG EAST teams (all vs. UConn).
THE ND-PSU SERIES – Notre Dame has won both previous games vs. Penn State: 2-1 in 2001 (ND was #4, PSU #8) and 4-0 in the 2006 NCAA quarterfinals (ND #1, PSU #8), with both of those games at Alumni Field … the 2001 game saw Mary Boland score at the 6:54 mark, with a low diving header inside the near-right post (via Ali Lovelace’s right-endline cross) … Boland became the first freshman since 1992 to open the season scoring for ND and her goal was the earliest by an ND freshman since 1992 (2nd-quickest ever by an ND frosh) … the goal currently ranks as the 8th-fastest in a season opener ever by any ND player … current ND senior Amanda Cinalli later joined Boland among the four all-time ND freshmen to score in a season opener (2004, vs. Baylor) … the Irish went ahead 2-0 in the 58th minute of the 2001 game, as suber-sub Kelly Tulisiak provided the thru-ball that sprung Amanda Guertin for a sidestep of ‘keeper Emily Oleksiuk and a 14-yard shot into the vacated net … PSU set up a tense finish by scoring 10 minutes later, with Christie Welsh providing the low leftside service and Heidi Drummond scoring on a well-struck redirection … ND’s Randy Scheller cleared an early shot by Welsh off the goal line … the Irish played without two top players (Ashley Dryer and Melissa Tancredi) … PSU held a 15-12 shot edge (8-5 in shots on goal), with both teams attempting four corner kicks … see notes on next page for recap of the 2006 ND-PSU game.
VS. THE BIG 10 – The Notre Dame women’s soccer team is 53-8-2 (.857) versus Big Ten Conference teams, including 36-3-2 (.902) since joining the BIG EAST in 1995 (two losses to Michigan and one vs. Purdue, plus ties vs. Wisconsin and Michigan) … Randy Waldrum is 16-5-2 in his career vs. Big Ten teams (16-3-2 at ND) … ND’s head-to-head records vs. Big Ten teams in the Waldrum era (since ’99) include:
2-0-0 vs. Penn State
2-0-0 vs. Indiana
1-0-0 vs. Ohio State
1-0-0 vs. Michigan State
1-0-1 vs. Wisconsin
8-2-1 vs. Michigan
1-1-0 vs. Purdue
NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – BY THE NUMBERS
RECAPPING THE 2006 ND-PSU GAME – Sunday’s game will be a relatively quick rematch of the 2006 NCAA quarterfinal that sent Notre Dame on to the Cary, N.C., for the College Cup final weekend … here is a capsule review from that game:
Michele Weissenhofer became the third Notre Dame freshman ever to post a hat trick in NCAA Tournament play while Kerri Hanks helped set up all four goals (career-high three assists) to become just the 11th Division I player ever to reach 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season … the Irish advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the eighth time, delighting a spirited and overflow crowd that sent the Irish senior class off with a 53-2-1 career record at home … Notre Dame improved its all-time home postseason record to 44-3-0, with 14 straight home wins in postseason play.
The win helped set team records for overall unbeaten streak (25, ninth in NCAA history) and shutouts in a season (19) … the Irish moved on to the semifinals for the eighth time since 1994, second-most in that span … the 4-0 final represented Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory versus a top-25 NCAA Tournament opponent since 1997.
Notre Dame finished with a 27-3 edge in total shots (11-2 in shots on goal) and a 9-1 margin in corner kicks … the Irish allowed only one shot in the final 83 minutes (a harmless attempt from 35 yards) and held the visitors without any shot attempts for the final 52 minutes.
The senior class said goodbye to Alumni Field having fashioned a 32-game home winning streak and 41-game home unbeaten streak (both third in the NCAA record book) … the win yielded a 91-7-3 career record for the 2006 seniors, matching the most wins ever by a Notre Dame senior class … Jen Buczkowski’s final home game also was the 101st of her career, tying that Irish record (she finished with 103).
Notre Dame woke up from a scoreless first half to see Weissenhofer score three times in a 12-minute span … Buczkowski’s entry pass after a quick reset led to a flick from Hanks before Weissenhofer lifted a six-yard shot into the upper right corner of the net (53:05) … the goal held up as her fourth gamewinner of the 2006 postseason, setting the ND record for GWGs in one postseason.
Less than three minutes later, a classic counterattack saw Hanks loft a cross from the right flank before Brittany Bock chested the ball down in the center of the field, despite being tightly marked … Bock’s leftfooted shot deflected to the side and Weissenhofer sent the rebound inside the near-left post (the win was ND’s 246th consecutive when claiming a 2-0 lead) … a leftside free-kick from Hanks later set up Weissenhofer’s score from the top of the box, with the net vacated after a collision … Weissenhofer became the second Notre Dame player ever to register a hat trick in the NCAA quarterfinal round or later … Amanda Cinalli later headed in a corner kick from Hanks, who became the first Notre Dame player to post both a hat trick and three-assist game in NCAA Tournament play.
Cinalli’s career-best 11th goal of the season gave her 18 career points in the NCAAs (6th in ND history) … Hanks (22G-20A) and Weissenhofer (18G-17A) moved into the top spots on the national scoring charts and became the 23rd set of teammates in NCAA history to top 50 points in the same season, with Weissenhofer the second Notre Dame freshman ever to reach 17G-17A.
#8 Penn State 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame 0 4 – 4
ND 1. Michele Weissenhofer (Kerri Hanks, Jen Buczkowski); ND 2. Weissenhofer (Brittany Bock); ND 3. Weissenhofer (Hanks) 65:42; ND 4. Amanda Cinalli (Hanks) 71:55
Shots: PSU 3-0 – 3, ND 13-14 – 27
Corner Kicks: PSU 1-0 – 1, ND 4-5 – 9
Saves: PSU 7 (Kate Milstead), ND 2 (Lauren Karas)
Fouls: PSU 19, ND 14
Offside: PSU 0, ND 1
Yellow Cards: Heather Tomko (PSU), Akilah Duggan (PSU)
ND-PSU Connections
• Penn State first-year head coach Erica Walsh was at Alumni Field during the 2006 season, as head coach of Harvard … the Crimson competed in ND’s 2006 Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic, opening their season with losses vs. Santa Clara (0-3) and USC (0-2).
• ND junior midfielder Brittany Bock played on the U.S. Under-19 National Team with PSU’s Sheree Gray and Denay Riley, after earlier playing on the U.S. U-17s with PSU’s Ashley Myers and Melissa Hayes.
• ND freshman Lauren Fowlkes was a U.S. U-17 teammate of PSU’s Hayes
• The Notre Dame women’s soccer program has featured players from 30 states, three Canadian provinces, Finland and Iceland … the eight from PA have included, most notably, four-year all-BIG EAST defender Christie Shaner (’03-’06; Ambler/Germantown Academy).
• Penn State (39 games; 2001-04) and Notre Dame (32; 2004-06) own the second- and third-longest home win streaks in NCAA D-I women’s soccer history (UNC won 84 straight home games from 1986-95).
THEY’RE BACK ….
Here are the returners who played in the 2006 ND-PSU game (G-goal, A-assist, SV-save, SH-shots, F-fouls, final numbers indicate minutes played):
Notre Dame
starters (7)
G – Lauren Karas (win, 2 SV)
D – Haley Ford (90 min.)
D – Ashley Jones (83 min.)
M – Amanda Cinalli (1G, 2 SH, 2 F, 83)
F – Kerri Hanks (3A, 6 SH, F, 83 min.)
F – Brittany Bock (1A, 4 SH, 2 F, 68 min.)
F – Michele Weissenhofer (3G, 6 SH, 2 F, 54)
D/M -Amanda Clark (21 min.)
M – Courtney Rosen (2 SH, 34 min.)
F/M – Susan Pinnick (2 SH, 24 min.)
Penn State
starters (6)
D – Jessie Davis (80 min.)
D – Denay Riley (F, 90 min.)
M – Carly Bedemsem (F, 76 min.)
M – Zoe Bouchelle (2 F, 90 min.)
F – Aubrey Aden-Buie (3 F, 90 min.)
F – Ashley Myers (3 SH, 90 min.)
BLUE DEMONS NOTES – DePaul returned three starters and 12 of 22 letterwinners from its 2006 team that went 3-13-2 … DePaul opened its 2007 season with wins over at the Cleveland State Classic over Ohio University (2-0) and CSU (2-1) before losing at Loyola Chicago (0-2), dropping a 2-1 home game to Drake and losing at Southeast Missouri (1-4) and Evansville (0-1), followed by a 1-1 tie with Northern Illinois … DePaul began playing women’s soccer in 1996 and advanced to the NCAAs in 2003, after winning the Conference USA Tournament (DePaul joined the BIG EAST in 2005-06) … first-year DePaul head coach Erin Chastain is the sister-in-law of former Santa Clara and U.S. National Team star Brandi Chastain … Erin (Hussey) Chastain played at the University of Minnesota and then was an assistant at Northwestern during the 1998-2001 seasons before serving as an assistant coach at Santa Clara from 2002-06.
NITTANY LIONS NOTES – Penn State is ranked as high as 14th in the nation and is 4-2-1, after posting a 5-1 win at Bucknell on Wednesday … PSU opened its season with a 2-1 loss at #20 Tennessee before beating Central Florida at the Tennessee tournament (1-0) and then splitting a pair of road games versus BIG EAST teams (1-0 at #17 UConn, 0-1 at #18 West Virginia) … the Nittany Lions also own a 1-0 win over James Madison and a 1-1 tie with #5 Texas A&M … PSU returned seven starters and 19 of 25 letterwinners from its 2006 team that went 18-5-3, won the Big Ten regular-season (8-1-1) and tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals (4-0 loss at ND) … former PSU coach Paula Wilkins now is head coach at Wisconsin while former Harvard head coach Erica Walsh now is directing the Nittany Lions.
NOTRE DAME 2007 RESULT NOTES
• Notre Dame’s challenging first eight games (including two exhibitions) have seen the Irish face six top-20 teams (UNC, Virginia, Florida, Santa Clara, Stanford, Oklahoma State), with four of those games away from home …
• Amanda Cinalli matched her career-high with a five-point game in the 4-2 win over Princeton, with Kerri Hanks and Michele Weissenhofer (flip-throw assist) each adding 1G-1A … Hanks scored on direct free kicks in both games last week, en route to being named offensive MVP of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic (she also had an assist vs. Princeton) … ND’s defensive woes continued last week as sophomore center back Haley Ford was unable to play due to a leg injury …
• ND has posted 36 straight wins when scoring the game’s first goal (since mid-2005) but the Irish have opened the scoring in only once this season …
• The 2-1 OT loss to Oklahoma State halted ND’s 43-game home unbeaten streak (41-0-2), third-longest in NCAA history … that game also marked the only time that the Irish have lost when Hanks has scored a goal (33-1-0, from 2005-07) …
• ND’s 27-game regular-season unbeaten streak (25-0-2) ended the previous weekend at #3 Santa Clara (7-1; goal by Weissenhofer) … the home team now is 9-2 in the ND-SCU series …
• The Irish then dropped a 2-1 game to Stanford in overtime (goal by Lauren Fowlkes), ending the program’s OT unbeaten streak at 21 games (14-0-7; now 14-3-7 in the nine-year Randy Waldrum era) …
• ND had been nearly perfect in Sunday games over the past three seasons (25-1-0; 2005-07) prior to the losses to Stanford and Oklahoma State …
• The Irish played to a scoreless tie with Michigan in the 2007 regular-season opener, despite a 28-6 edge in shots (10-2 in shots on goal; 10-1 corner-kick margin) … that game ended ND’s home winning streak at 32 games, tied for third-longest D-I history … the crowd vs. Michigan (3,264) is the largest ever for an official (non-exhibition) ND women’s soccer home game … the Irish held the Wolverines without a shot for 92 straight minutes of game time, stretching into the second OT …
• The ensuing 2-0 win at #7 Florida saw newcomer Elise Weber (a transfer from Wisconsin) assist on Brittany Bock’s early diving header … following a long weather delay, Weber scored the first goal of her young Irish career to cap the win over the Gators … that game started 22 minutes late due to rain and play then was halted after 30 minutes of action (lightning strikes and a steady downpour resulted a long delay that ultimately lasted four-and-a-half hours) … more than half of Bock’s career goals with the Irish (13 of 25) have come on headers, in addition to four rare corner-kick assists in her career … the win over Florida was the 350th of Randy Waldrum’s career as a college soccer coach (combined men’s and women’s totals)
• ND’s exhibition games included a 2-2 tie with preseason #1 North Carolina (in a rare quick rematch of the NCAA title game) and a 3-1 win over #11 Virginia (in Ft. Wayne) … Cinalli scored early vs. UNC and added a pair of goals against UVa …Hanks also scored vs. UNC (moments after the Tar Heels took a 2-1 lead) while Fowlkes scored on a header vs. UVa game (off a Weissenhofer flip-throw) … Weissenhofer’s short cross helped set up Cinalli’s goal vs. UNC while Amanda Clark’s long free kick sprung Hanks for her goal … Cinalli’s first goal vs. UVa came on a header (assisted by a Hanks free kick) and she later knocked home Weissenhofer’s rebounded shot … the crowd for the UNC game (3,412) was an Alumni Field record for a women’s soccer game and is the biggest crowd at the facility since a 1994 ND-SMU men’s soccer game drew 3,502 … there was an unprecedented 1,318 presold tickets for the ND-UNC game … ND ranked 4th in 2006 avg. home attendance (1,901), behind Texas A&M, Portland and BYU …
• Notre Dame’s all-time record at Alumni Field (194-15-4/.920, from 1990-2007) includes a .960 win pct. against teams not ranked in the NSCAA top-25 (131-4-3) …
IRISH OVERCOME EXTREME WEATHER AND TOUGH FLORIDA SQUAD FOR 2-0 WIN
• Newcomer Elise Weber assisted on Brittany Bock’s early diving header and – following a long weather delay – scored the first goal of her young Irish career to help hold off the Gators … fellow Chicago-area natives Bock and Weber (who played one season of club soccer together with the Eclipse Select) showed good interplay by combining on a cross-field, give-and-go to open the scoring in the seventh minute … Bock initiated the sequence after chasing down a loose ball on the right side, in front of the Florida bench … she was able to maintain possession in the soggy sideline area and quickly reversed the field with a pass to Weber, who then sent a dipping cross into the penalty area … Bock was angling in from the right and dove low before connecting on the header from eight yards out, with the ball skipping inside the far-left post (6:28) … Weber – who started the game at left back – re-entered the game in the 60th minute, playing more in a flank midfielder role (as she did in the past two seasons at Wisconsin) … less than five minutes after checking back into the game, Weber found the back of the net for the key 2-0 cushion … junior F Kerri Hanks picked up the assist, after flaring a pass from the center of the field … Weber ran onto the ball near the right edge of the box before juking past a defender and surprising ‘keeper Katie Fraine with a sharply-struck rightfooted shot that ripped into the far-left corner of the net (64:28)…
• Bock and Hanks are tied with a team-best seven gamewinning goals each over the past two seasons …13 of Bock’s 25 career goals have come on headers …
• Hanks picked up her 38th career assist while moving closer to becoming the seventh all-time ND player with 40-plus goal and 40-plus assists (now 52G-41A, in 58 games played) …
• The ND-Florida game started 22 minutes late due to an initial downpour and play then was halted at 2:28 p.m., following 30 minutes of action … lightning strikes in the area and a steady downpour resulted in the long delay that ultimately lasted four-and-a-half hours, with the game resuming at 7:00 … ND checked back into its nearby hotel during the long weather delay before returning to Pressly Stadium a couple hours later … the ND travel party grabbed a few hours of sleep at their Gainesville hotel before taking the two-hour bus trip to Orlando for a rescheduled flight early Monday morning …
• The Gators became only the second team in four-plus seasons (spanning 105 games) to outshoot Notre Dame (11-4) but the Irish owned a 4-1 edge in shots on goal, with the only save credited to Lauren Karas coming on a harmless ball struck from 35 yards out … the hosts did not have a corner kick in the first 70 minutes of game time but went on to finish with a 6-2 edge in corners – with strong play all-around from Karas throughout the game helping Notre Dame post its 21st shutout over the course of the past two seasons (spanning 29 games) …
• The Irish now have posted 36 straight wins when scoring the first goal and have not lost since 1991 when claiming a 2-0 lead, a streak that now has reached nearly 250 consecutive wins (248) when going up 2-0 … ND also extended its regular-season unbeaten streak to 27 games (25-0-2), dating back to the middle of the 2005 season (streak ended the next week at Santa Clara) …
CINALLI LEADS IRISH TO WIN OVER TIGERS – Amanda Cinalli matched her career-high with a five-point game (2G-1A) to help Notre Dame get back on the winning track with last week’s 4-2 victory over Princeton … the win extended ND’s four-year home unbeaten streak to 43 games (41-0-2) … Princeton took the lead on the Irish in the 22nd minute, after a corner-kick scramble, but Cinalli then tied the game four minutes later, just 50 seconds after checking into the Irish midfield … freshman Lauren Fowlkes set up the score on a cross from the left endline, with Cinalli then striking a tricky leftfooted shot from the top of the box into the right side of the net for her first goal of the season and 32nd of her four-year career … sophomore F Michele Weissenhofer later headed in her 20th career goal in the 60th minute, on a classic sequence that included a setup pass from Cinalli and a sharp cross from the left endline by junior F Kerri Hanks (her team-leading fourth assist of the season and 41st of her career) … Hanks later scored directly off a free kick while Cinalli capped the scoring after nudging home Weissenhofer’s rightside flip-throw … Weissenhofer became one of the youngest ND players ever to total 20 career goals, reaching that early milestone in her 32nd career game with the Irish … she also now is two assists shy of becoming the program’s 24th all-time player to reach 20G-20A … Cinalli (33G-27A) is three assists shy of becoming the 12th player in ND women’s soccer history to reach the 30G-30A milestone … she previously had five-point games (2G-1A) vs. Baylor in 2004 (in her first career game with the Irish) and Santa Clara in ’06 (she also had 2G vs. Portland in the ’04 NCAA quarterfinals and Valparaiso in the ’05 NCAA first round) … two days later, the Irish failed to capitalize on a 20-6 shot edge and 7-2 corner-kick margin while losing to #16 Oklahoma State in overtime, 2-1 (first home loss since 2003) … ND has scored the game’s first goal only once this season (at Florida) and has scored multiple goals only twice (2-0 vs. Florida, 4-2 vs. Princeton).
HANKS PROCEEDING DIRECTLY TO GOAL – Notre Dame junior forward Kerri Hanks, the 2006 Hermann Trophy recipient, has totaled six career goals with the Irish on direct free kicks, including one in each game last week … both kicks came from similar spots on the field, roughly 25-30 yards out on the left side … Hanks opted to go low to the near post in the Friday-night game with Princeton, drilling the shot into the lower-left corner as ‘keeper Maren Dale was unable to slide over in time … two days later, Hanks showed the tremendous depth and variety in her ballstriking ability by curling the kick over the wall and into the upper right corner (tying the game with Oklahoma State) … Hanks also has scored direct free-kick goals during her ND career vs. Vermont and Louisville in 2005 (both on the road) and twice in the 2006 NCAAs (first round vs. Oakland, third round vs. Colorado; both at home) … Hanks – who also had an endline assist on Michele Weissenhofer’s goal vs. Princeton – was named the offensive MVP of the Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic.
PAIR OF RECORD CROWDS HIGHLIGHT START OF 2007 SEASON – Notre Dame’s two home games this season – in the preseason versus North Carolina (3,412) and the regular-season opener against Michigan (3,264) – are the biggest women’s soccer crowds in Alumni Field history … the attendance for the ND-UNC game is third-highest for any soccer game at Alumni Field and is the most since a 1994 ND-SMU men’s soccer game drew 3,502 … Notre Dame had the fourth-highest home attendance (1,901) of any Division I women’s soccer program in 2006, behind Texas A&M, Portland and BYU.
IRISH OPEN WITH SCORELESS TIE – Notre Dame and Michigan played to a 0-0 tie in front of one the largest women’s soccer regular-season crowd in Alumni Field history (3,264), during the season opener for both teams (Aug. 31) … a career-best 10 saves from Madison Gates prevented the Irish from cashing in on a 28-6 edge in total shots (10-2 in shots on goal) and a 10-1 corner kick margin … the tie ended ND’s home winning streak at 32 games, tied for the third-longest D-I women’s soccer history … the Irish still own the third-longest home unbeaten streak in NCAA history (42 games; 40-0-2), dating back to a 2003 loss to Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament … ND’s closest scoring chance came in the third minute of the second half, as junior F Kerri Hanks delivered a leftside free kick to the top of the 18-yard box … freshman M Lauren Fowlkes then struck a sharp header that smacked off the center of the crossbar … the Irish held the Wolverines without a shot for 92 straight minutes of game time, stretching into the second of the two 10-minute overtimes … ND extended its overtime unbeaten streak to 21 games (14-0-7), dating back to the 1999 season …. Michigan has proven to be a tough obstacle to Notre Dame in recent years, with the Wolverines beating the Irish in the final 2003 regular-season game and again in the ’03 NCAAs … the teams now have played to overtime three times in the past 10 years, with the Irish posting OT wins in 1998 and 2001 … sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander started the season opener for the second straight season while Fowlkes had another impressive outing as a starter in her official debut … another newcomer, junior Elise Weber (a transfer from Wisconsin), also started her first official game with the Irish (at right back).
LONGEST HOME UNBEATEN STREAKS IN DIVISION-I WOMEN’S SOCCER HISTORY
1. North Carolina – 84 (1986-94; 84-0-0)
2. North Carolina – 56 (1999-2004)
3. Notre Dame – 43 (2004-07; 41-0-2; ended with 2-1 loss to Oklahoma State on Sept. 16)
Note: the three longest home winning streaks are UNC’s 84 from 1986-95, plus 39 straight home wins by Penn State (from 2001-04) and ND’s 32-game streak from 2004-06 (tied with Santa Clara’s 32 straight home wins from 1997-2000)
SEASON-OPENER SUCCESS – The Irish lost the first game of the Randy Waldrum era (a 3-2, double-OT game with UNC in 1999) but have not lost a season opener in the eight years since then (47-5 scoring edge), with season-opening victories over Detroit (6-0), #8 Penn State (2-1), Providence (3-0, on road), Hartford (9-1; at UConn), Baylor (7-2), New Hampshire (11-1; at Vermont) and Iowa State (9-0) from 2000-06, followed by the scoreless tie with Michigan in the 2007 opener … Notre Dame is 17-2-1 in all-time season openers (13-1-1 in the past 15), with the other loss coming at #5 N.C. State in 1992 (3-4) …
HEADSTRONG – More than half of Brittany Bock’s career goals with the Irish (13 of 25) have come on headers, including seven in 2006 (four in the ’06 postseason) and the recent diving header that opened the scoring in the 2-0 win at #7 Florida … she also has four rare header assists in her career … Bock – who had a header assist in the 2006 NCAA semifinal vs. Florida State and then a header goal in the title game vs. UNC – closed the 2006 season with nine goals in the final 13 games … she tied for the team lead in game-winning goals (6) and totaled five goals in the 2006 postseason … Bock has 4G-5A in six career BIG EAST Tournament games and she is nearing 70 points for her career (67; 25G-17A).
OLD RELIABLES – Senior F/M Amanda Cinalli and senior D/M Ashley Jones have yet to miss a game in their Notre Dame careers (85), as the leaders of a senior class that owns an .888 career win pct. (74-8-3) … Cinalli has started 73 career games while Jones has made 43 starts, with both players having a chance to break the ND record for career games played (held by current volunteer assistant coach Jen Buczkowski, who appeared in all 103 games from 2004-07).
HANKS HAS RARE NO-POINT GAME – Notre Dame junior forward Kerri Hanks had points in each of the final 13 games during the 2006 season but failed to extend that point streak into 2007 (in the 0-0 opener with Michigan) … the 13-game point streak tied the ND single-season record set by Katie Thorlakson during the 2004 NCAA-title season (Thorlakson then entered the scoring column in the 2005 opener but had no points in the second game of ’05).
BEAT THE HEAT – For the second straight season, the Notre Dame women’s soccer season faced the tough task of opening at home and then playing later in the weekend on the road, in a warm-weather climate versus a top-25 team … the 2006 team opened with a 9-0 win over Iowa State and then won the next day at #24 Mississippi (2-1; in 90-degree conditions) … last week’s game at Florida (ranked as high as #7 in the preseason polls) presented the Irish with a similar week-one challenge.
BIG-GOAL TOTALS – The Irish scored six-plus goals in 11 games spanning the 2005-06 seasons (none since ’06 opener) and scored five-plus in 15 games during the 2005-06 seasons … ND also: notched three-plus goals in 36 of the 52 games during the ’05-’06 seasons; has gone 43-0-0 from 2005-07 when scoring multiple goals, and has totaled 34 wins the past three seasons (’05-’07) by a margin of 3-plus goals.
FIRST-STRIKE WEAPONS – In its past 92 games when scoring first, ND has gone 90-2-0 (2-1 loss to UConn in ’04 BIG EAST title game; 4-1 loss at Marquette in ’05) and is 50-1-0 in the past 51 when scoring first, including 36 straight wins … Kerri Hanks posted her ninth career first-goal in the 2006 opener vs. Iowa State, adding four more in 2006 (vs. SMU, Seton Hall and Villanova and Rutgers in the BIG EAST title game) for 13 in her career … Brittany Bock (6), Michele Weissenhofer (3), Carrie Dew (2) Amanda Clark, Jill Krivacek and Courtney Rosen also accounted for the Notre Dame first-goals in 2006 (with Bock adding one last week vs. Florida).
FANS FILL UP ALUMNI FIELD
Notre Dame’s 2006 record-setting attendance clip has continued in 2007, as 3,412 fans were attendance for the preseason exhibition vs. #1 UNC (the biggest home crowd ever for any ND women’s soccer game) while 3,264 were on hand for the regular-season opener vs. Michigan (officially the program’s biggest home attendance for a regular-season or postseason game).
Nearly 12,000 fans (11,905) were in attendance at Notre Dame during the final four 2006 regular-season home games, helping produce a season average home attendance of 1,901 that ranked fourth in the nation, behind Texas A&M (3,360), which will serve as the host site for the 2007 College Cup final weekend, defending NCAA champion Portland (3,408) and BYU (2,070) … other top 2006 attendance leaders included UNC (1,888), Florida (1,590), Santa Clara (1,372), UConn (1,369), Texas (1,339), Florida State (1,338), TCU (1,254), Georgia (1,142), Colorado (1,141) and UCLA (1,115).
The near-capacity crowds started on Sept. 29 vs. #6 West Virginia (3,056), a number that technically was the highest in ND history (pre-2007) … the 1997 ND Adidas Classic had two attendance numbers of 3,330 (announced as sellouts, vs. UNC and Duke), but those numbers included four-game tournament passes (sold to fans of ND, UNC, Duke and UConn) … two days after the WVU game, the Irish played in front of 2,681 vs. Pittsburgh – the highest official attendance for a Sunday game at Alumni Field (2,609 earlier saw the 2006 ND-Santa Clara game) … a new top number was posted as 3,168 watched ND beat Seton Hall on Oct. 6, followed by another best Sunday crowd of 3,003 for the Oct. 8 game with Rutgers … the first game of the Randy Waldrum era (a 3-2, double-OT loss to UNC on Sept. 3, 1999) drew 2,957 fans on a Friday night.
Top ND Women’s Soccer Attendance Numbers In Alumni Field History (see PDF)
Four Years of Domination (2003-06; see PDF)
WINNINGEST TEAMS OF THE DECADE (2000-07)
1. North Carolina – 167-11-7 (.922)
2. Notre Dame – 148-23-5 (.855)
3. Penn State – 145-24-13 (.832)
4. Portland – 142-24-9 (.837)
5. UCLA – 141-27-10 (.820)
MOST D-I WOMEN’S SOCCER WINS IN THE PAST FIVE SEASONS (2003-07)1. North Carolina – 101-5-3 (.940)
2. Notre Dame – 94-11-4 (.881)
3. UCLA – 84-16-5
Portland – 84-12-7
5. Penn State – 83-13-10
MOST D-I WOMEN’S SOCCER WINS IN THE PAST FOUR SEASONS (2004-07)
1. Notre Dame – 74-8-3 (.888)
North Carolina – 74-5-3 (.921)
3. Portland – 66-9-5
4. UCLA – 64-14-3
Penn State – 64-10-7
6. Santa Clara – 54-15-5
7. Texas A&M – 53-17-6
MOST WINS BY A NOTRE DAME SENIOR CLASS
92-8-3 (.908) – class of 2007 (2003-06 seasons)
91-6-4 (.921) – class of 1998 (1994-97 seasons)
89-8-4 (.901) – class of 1999 (1995-98 seasons)
89-10-3 (.887) – class of 2000 (1996-99 seasons)
MAGIC NUMBERS – The 3-goal mark has been virtually an automatic win for Notre Dame, with the Irish 247-3-1 all-time (.986) when scoring 3-plus, losing to N.C. State in ’92 (4-3), UConn in ’95 (5-4, OT) and at Georgetown in ’02 (4-3), plus a 3-3 tie vs. Vanderbilt in ’91… the Irish had won 88 straight when scoring 3-plus, before the GU loss (now 149-1-0 since 10/6/95) … ND is 343-9-13 (.957) all-time when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals (147-3-6 since 9/9/99), including 68-0-3 spanning the 2004-07 seasons … the Irish suffered 1-0 losses in 2002 (vs. eventual NCAA champ Portland) and ’03 (at #1 Stanford) … prior to the Portland loss, ND had been 56-0-3 in the previous 59 games when allowing 0-1 GA (dating back to 1-0 loss to SMU in ’99, playing minus All-American Anne Makinen) … the program’s 20-year history includes only 341 goals allowed in 451 games (0.76 GA/gm) … the Irish have allowed more than one goal in only 83 games (18.4%) and have yielded 3-plus goals in only 36 all-time games (8%; including the 7-1 loss to Santa Clara, two 6-goal games by the opponent, four 5-goal and six 4-goal) … 92% of ND’s all-time games have seen the Irish hold the opponent to 0-2 goals, with a 369-29-17/.914 record in those games (ND is just 4-31-1/.125 all-time when allowing 3-plus).
IT TAKES TWO – Notre Dame’s lone loss of 2004 saw the Irish claim a 1-0 lead at UConn in the BIG EAST title game … the Irish had several cracks at the magical 2-0 cushion that has proven to be insurmountable in the 19-year history of ND women’s soccer (instead, UConn rallied for the 2-1 win) … the Irish now are 271-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and have won 248 straight games when stretching out to a 2-0 cushion, dating back to Sept. 15, 1991 (when Vanderbilt ultimately forced a 3-3 tie) … there have been only two other games in the program’s history when the Irish gave up a 2-0 lead (but still went on to win): a 4-3 win over UConn in the ’96 BIG EAST title game (the Irish led 3-0) and a 3-2 win over Duke at a 1993 tournament in Houston … the past 162 opponents to face a 2-0 deficit versus the Irish have been unable to even tie the score (since the 1996 BIG EAST title game).
GOING THE DISTANCE IN OT – Notre Dame is 14-3-7 in overtime during the Randy Waldrum era (since 1999) and had a 21-game unbeaten streak in OT (14-0-7) spanning the 1999-2007 seasons … ND’s 14 overtime wins in the Waldrum era include OT goals from eight players (including an ND-record four from Amanda Guertin) … Kerri Hanks is the only current ND player who has scored an overtime goal (2005, at Rutgers).
RARE SCORELESS TIES – Notre Dame’s 20-year women’s soccer history includes only seven scoreless ties in 451 total games played (1.6%), with two coming at UConn (in 2000 and ’06), also vs. Dayton in ’91, North Carolina in ’94, Stanford in ’03, Rutgers in ’04 and Michigan in the 2007 opener … the 0-0 game vs. UNC (in St. Louis) halted the Tar Heels’ NCAA-record winning streak at 92 games.
BIG WINS – The 4-1 win over #11 Florida in ’05 marked the seventh time in the Waldrum era (since ’99) that the Irish have defeated an NSCAA top-25 foe by 3-plus goals, followed by five more in ’05: the 4-0 regular-season win over UConn (17th in the coaches poll), two big wins in the BIG EAST Tournament (3-0 vs. #11 Marquette, 5-0 vs. #15 UConn) and NCAA wins over #25 Michigan State (3-0) and #22 Yale (5-2), plus the 2006 NCAA wins over #16 Colorado (3-0) and #8 Penn State (4-0) … the 2005 season produced the most times (6) in one season that the Irish had defeated top-25 teams by 3-plus goals (the ’97 team had five “big wins”) … other Waldrum-era big wins over NSCAA top-25 teams: vs. #16 Michigan in ’99 (4-1), #2 Santa Clara (6-1) and #15 Washington (5-0, at Portland) in 2000, at #24 Miami in ’01 (4-0), at #25 Maryland in ’02 (5-2) and vs. #4 SCU in ’04 (5-2).
NOTRE DAME VETERANS CAREER HIGHS (see PDF)