Sept. 25, 2011
MILWAUKEE – No. 20/24 Notre Dame put together a pair of stirring second-half comebacks to force overtime, but No. 14/15 Marquette scored the match-winner 18 seconds into the extra session, defeating the Fighting Irish, 3-2 in BIG EAST Conference cross-divisional action on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields in Milwaukee.
Senior forward/tri-captain Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner) netted her league-leading 11th goal of the season and senior defender/tri-captain Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) sent the match to overtime with her goal in the 72nd minute. Sophomore midfielder Rebecca Twining (Houston, Texas/Second Baptist School) picked up the assist on Henderson’s score, while senior defender Ellen Bartindale (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) collected the first point of her collegiate career with the assist on Schuveiller’s equalizer.
Junior goalkeeper Maddie Fox (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) did all she could in the Fighting Irish net, tying her career high with six saves, including two brilliant stops inside the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Marquette (10-2-0, 3-1 BIG EAST) got a goal and assist from Maegan Kelly, while Ashley Stemmeler scored her first goal of the year, and Taylor Madigan potted the match-winner at 90:18. The Golden Eagles held a 19-9 edge in total shots (9-6 in shots on goal), as well as an 8-5 advantage on corner kicks, while Notre Dame (4-5-2, 1-2-1) was charged with nine of 15 fouls during the afternoon.
“It’s really tough to lose a game like this when we played so well to come back like that and then give it away at the start of overtime on a mental mistake,” Fighting Irish head coach Randy Waldrum said. “We got strong minutes out of a lot of people today, particularly (freshman defender) Sammy Scofield, and of course, our upperclassmen continue to give us all they have, but these are hard lessons to learn. We can’t keep having these lapses for small stretches, because the teams we’re playing are too good and they’re punishing us every time. We’ll either have to correct these mistakes quickly or else we’re not going to be around to play when it matters.”
Facing its fifth ranked opponent in 11 matches this season, Notre Dame would have to play from behind virtually right from the opening kickoff. The Golden Eagles worked the ball up the right side before Lisa Philbin’s cross snaked through the heart of the penalty area before Stemmeler ran on to the ball at the back post and one-timed a shot high into the net (0:30).
That lone goal would stand up through the next hour of play, although the Fighting Irish did find their footing after the rocky start, registering the other two shots on goal by either side in the first half. Notre Dame also battled well through the elements, which deteriorated throughout the match, punctuated by several heavy rain showers that left the pitch a muddy and treacherous track.
The Fighting Irish came out strong in the second half and pressured Marquette immediately, earning four corner kicks in the first six minutes. Notre Dame’s best chance in the early going of the period came in the 55th minute from Schuveiller, who fired a blast from the right channel that was ticketed for the inside of the left post, only to be denied on an alert play by MU’s Kerry McBride, who cleared the shot off the line.
Unfazed, the Fighting Irish continued to raise their intensity and it eventually paid off in the 63rd minute. Freshman forward Lauren Bohaboy (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita) won a well-timed challenge at midfield, pushing the ball up to Twining who wasted little time in chipping the Golden Eagles’ back line for Henderson on the dead run. The Notre Dame striker took a touch with purpose into the area and then cracked a low shot inside the left post past a diving MU goalkeeper Natalie Kulla (62:49).
Almost exactly three minutes later, Marquette moved back in front, as Katie Hishmeh served a wind-blown cross from the left flank that carried all the way to Kelly near the top of the box. Kelly took a touch to her right and then fired a pinpoint shot through a screen that just skipped inside the left post by an outstretched Fox (65:48).
The momentum then flipped back to Notre Dame less than six minutes after that, and it happened in the blink of an eye. Bartindale won a ball near midfield on the right side and alertly squared off a pass to Schuveiller, who was pushing up from the back line through the right channel. The Fighting Irish veteran and three-year captain took one touch and then unleashed a rising rocket from 30 yards out that nestled in the upper left corner while Kulla dove in vain to stop the perfectly-placed shot (71:30).
Both teams had opportunities to net the match-winner late in regulation. In the 81st minute, Marquette’s Britney Scott had a point-blank header off a Mary Luba corner kick, but Fox was equal to the challenge with a reflex save. Less than two minutes later, Notre Dame almost caught the Golden Eagles with a precision counterattack that featured four consecutive one-touch passes and ended up with Henderson in the right channel 15 yards out, but Kulla came off her line to cut down the angle and swallow up the shot with a dive to her left.
The last good chance for either side in regulation came with four minutes left, as MU’s Mady Vicker crossed a ball from the right side and Rachel Brown tried a right-footed volley near the penalty spot, but Fox read the play and stretched fully to her left to snare the dangerous shot that headed for the inside of the right post.
The overtime period barely lasted past the opening kickoff, as Marquette stole the ball from the Fighting Irish at the top of its defensive third and quickly countered with Vicker pushing the ball up to Kelly down the right channel. The ball squirted loose at the top of the area, where Madigan raced on to it and fired a rising right-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net, despite a valiant attempt by Fox, who got a piece on the ball but not enough to keep it out of the goal.
Notre Dame returns home to Alumni Stadium, where it will play five of its final seven regular-season matches, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday when it welcomes Connecticut to town for a nationally-televised contest on ESPNU. The Fighting Irish will wear special uniforms for the match, with those jerseys available via an on-line auction (to go live Monday at www.UND.com/auctions) and the proceeds going to the Steve Emrich Fund, helping defray medical expenses for a longtime Notre Dame women’s soccer supporter who has been hospitalized since late May (visit www.UND.com/emrich to learn more or make an on-line donation).
Live stats and a live interactive chat for the Connecticut match also will be available on the official Fighting Irish athletics web site, www.UND.com and the new Irish UNDerground blog (www.UND.com/blog).
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’s four overtime matches this season are one shy of the school record of five OT contests, set twice before (2001 and 2007) — the 2007 season was the last time the Fighting Irish played at least four overtime matches in one year … Notre Dame is 0-2-2 in extra time this year (and 20-6-13 in overtime during the 13-year Randy Waldrum era) … the Fighting Irish were playing their fifth ranked opponent of the season (all away from home – four road, one neutral), with four of their five losses this year coming to Top 25 opponents (three by one goal, two of those in overtime) … Notre Dame loses on a Sunday for just the third time in its last 25 opportunities (19-3-3), but the Fighting Irish remain a very strong 38-5-4 (.851) on Sundays since September 2007 … this was just the second time all season Notre Dame has allowed three goals in a match (also 3-1 loss to No. 21/10 Duke on Aug. 28 at the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C.) … the Fighting Irish were outshot for only the third time all season (15-11 by Duke and 22-21 at No. 2 Stanford on Sept. 9) … it’s just the second time this year that Notre Dame has not had more shots on goal than its opponent (Duke had a 9-2 edge in that category) … Henderson scored her 63rd career goal, second-most among active NCAA Division I players … Sunday marked just the second time Notre Dame has lost when Henderson has registered a goal (now 39-2-3) or notched a point (48-2-3) — the other time the Fighting Irish didn’t cash in on Henderson finding the stat sheet came earlier this month at Stanford … Schuveiller netted her sixth career goal, with all six having made a significant impact on her team’s fortunes (four match-winners, plus the tying scores on Sunday and on Sept. 2 in a 7-1 win over Tulsa) … Fox not only matched her career-high with six saves for the second consecutive outing, but it also tied the Notre Dame season high in that category, first set by freshman Sarah Voigt (Middleburg, Fla./St. John’s Country Day School) against Duke … senior midfielders Brynn Gerstle (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) and Ellen Jantsch (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa’s Academy) each earned their first career starts on Sunday.