Sept. 4, 2011
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Senior All-America forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner) registered the fourth hat trick of her remarkable career, pacing No. 10/7 Notre Dame to a 4-1 victory over Indiana and the championship of the Notre Dame adidas Invitational on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,463 at Alumni Stadium.
For the second consecutive match, sophomore midfielder Mandy Laddish (Lee’s Summit, Mo./Lee’s Summit) delivered a pair of assists, while sophomore Adriana Leon (Maple, Ontario/The Country Day School) netted her career-high third match-winning goal of the young season and sophomore midfielder Rebecca Twining (Houston, Texas/Second Baptist School) tacked on an assist as the Fighting Irish set or tied several team and individual tournament records on the way to their 14th title in the 19-year history of their home invitational.
Henderson was selected by the tournament’s head coaches as the Offensive Most Valuable Player, while her classmate and fellow tri-captain Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) was voted as the tournament’s Defensive Most Valuable Player. Laddish and Leon joined their senior teammates on the 11-player all-tournament team.
Notre Dame (3-2) finished with a 34-12 shot advantage over Indiana, including a 9-2 edge in shots on goal. The Fighting Irish also held the upper hand on corner kicks by a 7-5 margin, while the tournament runner-up Hoosiers were whistled for 10 of the 16 fouls in the match, as well as three of the five offside calls.
Freshman goalkeeper Sarah Voigt (Middleburg, Fla./St. John’s Country Day School) picked up her second win of the weekend, going the distance and making one save. Indiana netminder Lindsay Campbell recorded five saves and was chosen as the tournament’s Most Valuable Goalkeeper.
“On the offensive side of things, I was pretty pleased with our performance this weekend,” Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum said. “We created a ton of great chances, but we also need to do better when it comes to finishing those opportunities. Melissa (Henderson) was exceptional today, and Adriana (Leon) just continues to get better and better each day, but the one player that I was most excited about was Rebecca Twining. She’s given us great minutes lately and really elevated her play over the past couple of weeks, and I like what she’s adding to our rotation.”
The Fighting Irish were on the front foot almost from the opening kickoff on Sunday, although they found themselves playing from behind for the second consecutive match when Indiana scored against the run of play in the 12th minute. Carly Samp collected the ball on the left flank, cut inside her defender and unleashed a rising 25-yard blast that nestled into the upper right corner of the net (11:06).
As it turned out, that would be the Hoosiers’ lone shot on goal until well into the second half, while Notre Dame countered with a three-goal flurry in less than nine minutes to seize control of the match. Leon started the progression on the first score, winning a ball in the right channel at the edge of the attacking third and pushing it to her left, where sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Tucker (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) continued to switch the point of attack to Henderson at the top left of the penalty area. Henderson then wriggled free from a pair of defenders and chipped a knuckling shot that caught Campbell off-guard and found the upper left corner (23:55).
Just 83 seconds later, the Fighting Irish grabbed the lead for good. Laddish latched on to a ball near midfield and quickly slipped a through-ball to Leon who timed her run brilliantly and found herself with a breakaway against Campbell. The IU goalkeeper charged off her line to try and cut down the angle, but Leon patiently waited for her chance and zipped a shot underneath Campbell and off the inside of the left post for her career-high-tying fourth goal of the season (25:18).
Henderson capped Notre Dame’s offensive surge in the 33rd minute, taking a pass from Laddish in the left channel and racing to the edge of the six-yard box. She then crossed over her defender before sending Campbell the wrong direction with her short-range shot, giving the Fighting Irish a 3-1 lead at 32:15.
It didn’t take long in the second half for Henderson to complete her hat trick, as she potted her third score less than eight minutes into the period. Twining stopped an Indiana clearing try in the right channel and quickly threaded the needle with a pass in tight quarters to Henderson on an angled run into the penalty area. Henderson was able to get a touch towards goal and then finished from eight yards out (52:34).
Notre Dame will head back on the road next weekend for its bi-annual trip to the West Coast. The two-match swing starts at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT Friday when the Fighting Irish visit No. 2 Stanford in a rematch of last year’s NCAA national championship match (won by Notre Dame, 1-0, in Cary, N.C.). The Fighting Irish then will head down to No. 16/15 Santa Clara on Sunday for a 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT match with the Broncos.
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s soccer program, join the Fighting Irish women’s soccer news Twitter page (@NDsoccernews) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the sidebar on the women’s soccer page at UND.com.
— ND —
POST MATCH NOTES: Notre Dame is 31-5-2 (.842) all-time in its home tournament with a 108-38 scoring margin since the event began in 1992 … the Fighting Irish earned their second consecutive Notre Dame adidas Invitational title, the first time they have won back-to-back tourney championships since they won four in a row from 2003-06 … Notre Dame set a new tournament record with 11 goals, topping its old mark of 10 goals set in 2005, after scoring a record-setting seven goals in Friday’s 7-1 win over Tulsa … Henderson is the first Fighting Irish player with a hat trick since Nov. 15, 2009, when Henderson herself tied the school record with four goals in a 6-1 win over Central Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Championship at Alumni Stadium … Henderson is the sixth player in school history with at least four career hat tricks — Kerri Hanks (2005-08) and Jenny Heft (1996-99) each netted six hat tricks, while Monica Gerardo (1995-98) and Rosella Guerrero (1992-95) had five three-goal matches and Michelle McCarthy (1992-95) did so on four occasions … Henderson moved up to ninth place on Notre Dame’s career goals list with 57, passing Guerrero and Katie Thorlakson (2002-05), who each had 55 goals … Henderson rose into a tie for 12th place in school history with 135 career points (57G-21A), tying current U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder and two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup All-Star Shannon Boxx (39G-57A from 1995-98) … Henderson becomes the fifth player in Notre Dame adidas Invitational history to register a hat trick, joining Guerrero (1993 vs. SMU), Heft (1998 vs. Wake Forest), Thorlakson (2004 vs. Santa Clara) and Hanks (2008 vs. Loyola Marymount) … Henderson also tied the tournament record with four goals this weekend, duplicating Heft’s feat in 1998 … Notre Dame is 38-0-2 (.975) all-time when Henderson scores a goal, and 47-0-2 (.980) all-time when she registers a point, including a 3-0 record this season … Laddish set a new tournament record with four assists this weekend, breaking the previous record of three that had been held by four Notre Dame players — Ragen Coyne (1993), McCarthy (1993), Thorlakson (2005) and Michele Weissenhofer (2006) … Leon now is second on the team in goals (4) and has all three of the team’s match-winning scores this season after the Canadian sophomore had four goals all of last season (two of which were match-winners, including the NCAA final against Stanford) … Twining has a goal and an assist on 13 shots in five matches this year after appearing in nine contests last season (when she had one shot) … the Fighting Irish piled up 73 shots (25 on goal) this weekend, their highest combined two-match shot total since Aug. 27 and Sept. 1, 2000, when they amassed a combined 84 shots in wins over Detroit (49 shots) and Tulsa (35 shots) … this weekend also marked the first time Notre Dame posted back-to-back matches with at least 30 shots since Oct. 16 & 21, 2005, when they tallied 34 shots against Providence (6-0 win) and 37 shots against Villanova (4-0 win) … Henderson’s 10 shots were a season high and one off her career best set last season against Seton Hall (Oct. 8, 2010, at Alumni Stadium) … the Fighting Irish rise to 298-3-1 (.988) all-time when scoring three goals in a match, including a 200-1-0 (.995) record since Oct. 6, 1995 … Notre Dame earns its 12th consecutive win over Indiana (60-6 scoring margin in that streak), improving to 12-1 all-time against the Hoosiers in the first installment of this in-state matchup in almost exactly 10 years (Sept. 7, 2001 — a 2-1 overtime win for the Fighting Irish at old Alumni Field) … Notre Dame also records its 12th consecutive victory over a Big Ten Conference opponent (and second this season, having down Wisconsin, 2-0 back on Aug. 19 at Alumni Stadium) — the Fighting Irish are 69-9-3 (.870) all-time against the current Big Ten membership, including a 45-6-2 (.868) record at home … Notre Dame is 41-2-1 (.943) all-time vs. in-state opponents (28-1-1 at home), and has not lost to an Indiana school since Oct. 8, 2002 (a 3-1 setback to 17th-ranked Purdue at old Alumni Field) … the Fighting Irish improve to 180-5-2 (.968) all-time when playing at home vs. unranked opponents (according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll).
Notre Dame adidas Invitational All-Tournament Team
Offensive MVP — Melissa Henderson, Notre Dame
Defensive MVP — Jessica Schuveiller, Notre Dame
Goalkeeper MVP — Lindsay Campbell, Indiana
Lindsay Campbell, Indiana
Anina Cicerone, Western Michigan
Rachel Garcia, Tulsa
Melissa Henderson, Notre Dame
Mandy Laddish, Notre Dame
Adriana Leon, Notre Dame
Lisa Nouanesengsy, Indiana
Jessica Schuveiller, Notre Dame
Stephanie Skowneski, Western Michigan
Abby Smith, Indiana
Orianica Velasquez, Indiana