Nov. 9, 2008
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Freshman forward and BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Year Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner) scored at 6:58 of the first overtime, lifting top-ranked Notre Dame to a 1-0 victory over Connecticut in the BIG EAST Championship final on a cold and damp Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field. It’s the 10th conference title for the Irish in their 14 seasons as a BIG EAST member and gives Notre Dame the league’s automatic berth into the 64-team field for the NCAA Tournament, which gets underway Friday at campus sites around the country. The full NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced Monday evening on ESPNEWS during the 8:00-8:30 p.m. (ET) window.
Henderson was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Offensive Player (just the second rookie ever to earn the honor following Notre Dame’s Anne Makinen in 1997) after also assisting on the opening goal by junior forward Michele Weissenhofer (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) in Friday’s 2-0 semifinal win over 25th-ranked Marquette. Weissenhofer returned the favor in Sunday’s title game, earning the assist on Henderson’s winning tally when her initial shot from the top of the penalty area was stopped by Connecticut goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe, but the rebound squirted towards the goal line and Henderson pounced on the loose ball, poking it home from two yards out. It was the first postseason “golden goal” for Notre Dame since Nov. 2, 2003 against Miami (Fla.) in the BIG EAST quarterfinals, when Amanda Guertin scored 2:54 into the first overtime to give the Irish a 2-1 victory.
With two of its top offensive threats in senior All-America forwards/Hermann Trophy candidates Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas/Allen) and Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) sidelined for precautionary reasons due to minor injuries, Notre Dame (21-0-0) still held a significant statistical edge throughout Sunday’s championship game, outshooting the Huskies, 29-13, with a 15-2 edge in shots on goal. UConn (7-9-6) had the upper hand on corner kicks by a 5-3 margin, while the Irish committed 14 fouls to 11 for the Huskies in what was a physical, yet cleanly-played affair worthy of a conference final.
Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) worked seamlessly with the Notre Dame defense all afternoon, making two saves to record her sixth shutout of the season and the team’s 14th clean sheet in 21 games this year. The Irish also now have blanked six of their last seven opponents, including all three BIG EAST Championship foes (the first time Notre Dame has ridden three consecutive shutouts to the conference title since 2005).
Henderson, Weissenhofer and Lysander were joined on the BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament Team by senior defender/co-captain and two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Carrie Dew (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon), who also was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and senior defender and two-time all-BIG EAST selection Elise Weber (Elk Grove, Ill./St. Viator Academy).
Labbe, the hero of Connecticut’s semifinal shootout win over No. 13/12 West Virginia, turned in another superb performance on Sunday, tying her career high with 13 saves, a mark she originally set in the regular-season matchup with Notre Dame back on Oct. 19 (a 2-0 Irish win in Storrs).
“I just can’t say enough about the determination and resolve our players showed all weekend long, and particularly this afternoon,” Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum. “We’ve had to deal with a bit of adversity in the past few days with Kerri (Hanks) and Brittany (Bock) taking some knocks, but other players like Michele (Weissenhofer) and Melissa (Henderson) really stepped up and took on that added responsibility to keep us moving forward. Connecticut played a tremendous game today and I give all the credit in the world to (head coach) Lenny (Tsantiris), his staff and all their players who came on so well down the stretch. They gave us a really strong test and it’s one that I think will be very valuable for us with the NCAA Tournament getting started next weekend.”
It didn’t take long for Notre Dame to begin pressuring Labbe, with sophomore midfielder Rose Augustin (Silver Lake, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) teeing up a low liner from the top left corner of the box just 25 seconds into the game, but the try skidded wide right on the slick and cold Alumni Field tundra. That would prove to be a recurring theme during the afternoon, as the Irish had numerous opportunities, but couldn’t seem to get all the tumblers to click into place and crack the safe that was the Connecticut goal during the BIG EAST Championship. Weissenhofer had perhaps the most tantalizing scoring chance of the first half at 21:23, as she rose to meet Augustin’s free kick from the right flank and snapped a flick header to the far left post, but the UConn defense covered well for Labbe and cleared the ball off the line.
Augustin herself got another crack on goal two minutes after Weissenhofer’s try, and sophomore forward Erica Iantorno (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale) did likewise in the 37th minute, but while both shots from distance were on frame, Labbe was there to keep the scoreboard spotless. Meanwhile, the Irish defense was playing at its usual high level, allowing only a long-distance daisy cutter from Elizabeth Eng to skip in on Lysander during the first half. Dew also made an outstanding defensive play midway through the first half, racing over from her center back position to deliver a perfectly-timed tackle on UConn’s Erin Clark, who appeared to be headed for a 1-v-1 chance down the left channel.
Notre Dame looked poised to take the lead right out of the locker room, as freshman midfielder Courtney Barg (Plano, Texas/Plano West) squeezed off three shots in the 3:15 of the period. The last of those was particularly promising, as Henderson sent a cross from the right endline that Weissenhofer dummied brilliantly, leaving Barg alone on Labbe near the top of the six-yard box, but the Irish rookie sent her shot just over the crossbar.
Playing for its postseason life, Connecticut answered well, as Annie Yi drove a twisting shot on goal from long range that Lysander was able to corral by ranging to her right in the 51st minute. Clark had an even better look for the Huskies in the 69th minute, getting loose in the offensive third and firing a shot that was ticketed for the top left corner of the goal, but drifted just high. UConn also earned three consecutive corner kicks for Ashley O’Brien in the final five minutes, but couldn’t capitalize on any of those set pieces.
The overtime period belonged largely to Notre Dame, with the Irish taking all four shots in the abbreviated session, with three of the four winding up on frame. Weissenhofer started the sequence that finally defrosted the UConn goal, taking a direct line down the center of the offensive third before angling slightly to her left and ripping a low drive that Labbe attempted to hug to her chest as she was falling to her left. However, she misjudged the power on Weissenhofer’s left-footed shot and the ball caromed toward the right post, where Henderson outraced the Husky goalkeeper to the loose ball and jabbed at it with her right foot, shepherding the rolling sphere into the empty net for her 16th goal of the season and the championship-winning score.
Should Notre Dame and Alumni Field be selected as one of 16 host sites for first- and second-round games in the 2008 NCAA Tournament when the selection show takes place Monday night, tickets for those NCAA games will go on sale Tuesday through the Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office (second floor ticket windows at the Joyce Center via Gate 1; 574-631-7356). Ticket also will be 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.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame will make its 16th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament later this week, a streak that now ranks as the second-longest active string in the country behind North Carolina, which advanced for the 27th consecutive season after winning the ACC title on Sunday; Connecticut had its 26-year run of NCAA Tournament berths snapped with Sunday’s loss to Notre Dame, while Santa Clara also will miss the postseason for the first time in two decades … the Irish improve to 17-3-8 (.750) in overtime games during the Randy Waldrum era (since ’99), going to the extra period for the second time this season; in a bizarre twist, the gamewinning goal in that 3-2 OT win at Villanova back on Oct. 12 was scored by Rose Augustin at 96:58 (6:58 into the first overtime), the exact same time that Melissa Henderson scored the “golden goal” in Sunday’s BIG EAST final against UConn … the Irish now are 8-1 all-time against Connecticut in the BIG EAST Championship title game, with no other rivalry producing more than one finals matchup in the 16-year history of the tournament (five of those nine head-to-head matchups have been decided by one goal) … Henderson’s “golden goal” also was the first overtime gamewinner in BIG EAST Championship history, after two other BIG EAST title games ended in 1-1 double-overtime ties and had to be decided on penalty kicks (2003 when Villanova edged Boston College, 7-6; 2007 when West Virginia shaded Notre Dame, 5-3) … the Irish continue their amazing run of recent success in the BIG EAST Championship, where they are 11-0-1 in their last 12 conference tournament games since a 2-1 loss at Connecticut in the 2004 final … what’s more, Notre Dame has not trailed in its last four BIG EAST finals appearances since that ’04 loss, winning the crown in 2005 (5-0 over Connecticut) and 2006 (4-2 over Rutgers) before falling in the ’07 shootout at West Virginia (game is registered as a tie) … Notre Dame is 32-2-1 (.929) all-time in BIG EAST Championship play with a 16-0 record at Alumni Field, where it has a 58-4 scoring margin in the BIG EAST tourney … the Irish senior class improves to 16-0 all-time in postseason games at Alumni Field, shutting out 13 of those 16 opponents … since beginning last season with a 3-4-1 record, Notre Dame has posted a 37-1-1 (.962) record, with the only loss coming in last year’s NCAA College Cup semifinals (3-2 vs. #14 Florida State) and the only tie coming in the ’07 BIG EAST final … Notre Dame stretches its unbeaten streak against BIG EAST Conference teams to a school-record 52 games, which ranks 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 87 games (86-0-1), dating back more than 13 years (Oct. 6, 1995 – a 5-4 OT loss to Connecticut) … Notre Dame had its 13-game streak of two-goal games snapped with Sunday’s 1-0 triumph; that run still equals the second-longest streak of consecutive two-goal games in school history (done two other times before, most recently from Aug. 31-Oct. 8, 2006); the school record in this category remains 16 consecutive multi-goal games from Sept. 24-Nov. 14, 1999 (Waldrum’s first season as Notre Dame’s head coach) … the Irish were tied at halftime for only the fifth time all season, with all five of those intermission deadlocks being scoreless (at #3/2 North Carolina, vs. #12/11 Duke, at DePaul and the first meeting vs. Marquette) … Henderson notched her 16th goal of the season on Sunday, tying Cindy Daws (1993) for the seventh-highest total ever by an Irish freshman; ironically, next up on that list is her current junior teammate and the helper on Sunday’s gamewinner, Michele Weissenhofer (18 in 2006) … Weissenhofer’s three assists in this year’s three-game BIG EAST Championship series are tied for third-most in school history (she also had two flip-throws that were uncredited assists, but led directly to Cincinnati own-goals in the quarterfinals), with Katie Thorlakson (5) and Brittany Bock (4) owning the top two spots from their performances in the 2005 tournament … sophomore midfielder Lauren Fowlkes started and played 78 minutes in Sunday’s conference final, her last game with the Irish before she leaves for Chile on Monday to join the U.S. U-20 National Team for the start of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on Nov. 19.