Oct. 29, 2006
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Brittany Bock displayed her strong play in the air with two early header goals on set plays and Kerri Hanks capped the victory with her 16th goal of the season, as the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team opened the 2006 postseason with Sunday’s 3-0 victory over St. John’s in the BIG EAST Conference quarterfinals. The victory extended the fifth-longest home unbeaten streak in NCAA history to 37 games (36-0-1) and marked Notre Dame’s 72nd consecutive home game versus a BIG EAST opponent without a loss (71-0-1).
(Note – check back for comments from head coach Randy Waldrum on Monday, looking back at the SJU game and ahead to Friday’s game.)
Kerri Hank – shown scoring in the win over St. John’s – has totaled 10 goals and 11 assists during the second half of the 2006 season (10 games).
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Notre Dame (18-0-1) – which is 40-3-0 in all postseason games at Alumni Field – posted its 15th shutout of the season while improving to 25-2-0 in all-time BIG EAST tournament games, including 8-0-0 in the quarterfinal round (which began in 1998). The Irish now head to the BIG EAST semifinals for the 11th time in 12 seasons since joining the conference, with a rematch from the 2005 semifinals set for next Friday at the University of Connecticut’s Morrone Stadium – as Notre Dame will meet Marquette in the first semifinal, a 4:30 game (EST) that will be telecast live by ESPN-U. It will be Notre Dame’s fifth televised game of the 2006 season. The Irish defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2005 BIG EAST semifinals, a 3-0 game played at Marquette’s Valley Field, before winning the program’s eighth BIG EAST Tournament title two days later with a 5-0 win over UConn.
St. John’s (10-5-4) had lost to Notre Dame two years ago in the BIG EAST quarterfinals, a 7-0 win for the Irish that featured a record-setting day from former forward Katie Thorlakson (4G-2A). But the Red Storm clearly have made significant strides since that game, giving the Irish a tough game for its 2006 postseason tuneup. Notre Dame finished Sunday’s game with a 29-10 edge in total shots and had all seven of the game’s corner kicks (each coming in the second half) – but the visitors put four shots on goal, the first time in the past 11 games that an opponent managed more than two shots on goal versus the Irish. SJU also joined Santa Clara as the only teams that have totaled four-plus shots on goal versus the Irish this season.
Notre Dame junior goalkeeper Lauren Karas stopped all four shots she faced, pushing her career record to 29-1-1 while dropping her season goals-against average to 0.31 (second-best in all of Division I women’s soccer and on pace to et the ND season record).
Bock has made a name for herself as a dangerous threat in the air and the sophomore forward added to her career totals with two more textbook scores, the first coming via a Michele Weissenhofer flip-throw and the second after a corner-kick service from Hanks. Nearly half of Bock’s 20 career goals with the Irish (8) have come on a variety of headers, in addition to assisting on three of her teammate’s goals with well-placed headers during her young career.
Weissenhofer extended her nation-leading assist total to 16, after whipping her throw-in from the right side. Bock was stationed 10 yards out and flicked her header past ‘keeper Jaime Beran for her seventh goal of the season and the early lead (7:00). It marked the third-quickest goal of the season for the Irish, trailing only the Hanks goal in the season opener versus Iowa State (1:19) and Bock’s goal in the recent game at Providence (6:25).
The first header versus SJU held up as Bock’s fifth gamewinning goal of the season, tying Hanks for the team lead. Bock – who has played in just 14 of the 19 games the season (missing the first four due to the Under-20 World Championship) – has registered four of her gamewinning goals in her past six games played, with each of those goals opening the game’s scoring.
The Irish – unbeaten at the 19-game mark for the sixth time in the past 13 seasons – now have posted 28 consecutive wins when scoring first, dating back to a loss at Marquette midway through the 2005 season. Since that loss to the Golden Eagles, Notre Dame has gone 31-1-1 (21-0-1 vs. BIG EAST teams) while compiling a 122-11 scoring margin in that 33-game span.
Hanks has turned in an impressive second half of the season that now includes scoring (10) or assisting (11) on nearly 70% of Notre Dame’s goals (21 of 31) during the past 10 games. She continues to be a key component to Notre Dame’s set-play success, as half of her 12 assists this season have come via corner-kick (4) or free-kick (2) services.
The 27th assist of Hanks’ career came on a corner-kick from the left flag. Bock again was stationed near the heart of the penalty area and went up strong for the header that produced her 20th career goal with the Irish (11:17). The Irish have scored multiple goals in the first half of just five games this season but did so twice this week, as goals from Bock and Hanks produced a 2-0 halftime lead earlier this week at Cincinnati.
It was Notre Dame’s earliest 2-0 lead since the opener versus Iowa State, when Hanks scored in the second minute and Jill Krivacek at the 8:33 mark. The Irish still have not surrendered a 2-0 lead since the early 1990s, compiling 241 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 cushion.
The Irish had several near-misses during the second half, including a rapid-fire sequence that saw Beran make a kick save on a Jen Buczkowski shot before Bock’s rebound try was saved off the line by a SJU defender. Bock had a chance later in the half to complete her hat trick – after Amanda Cinalli was tackled hard in the box – but Beran dove high and to her right for the penalty-kick save.
Hanks finally broke through for a goal with a minute left to play, on her 10th and final shot of the game. Buczkowski sent a perfect lead pass down the left side (setting up her eighth assist of the season) and Hanks ran onto the ball before slanting into the box and burying a low shot into the far-right sidenetting for her 44th goal in 44 career games played with the Irish (89:00). The goal extended Notre Dame’s second-half scoring dominance to 42-2 during the 2006 season.
Amanda Cinalli is one of four Notre Dame players with eight or more goals this season.
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UPDATED TEAM NOTES – Notre Dame is unbeaten at the 19-game mark for the sixth time (the ’94, ’97 and 2000 teams all started 23-0-1 while the ’03 team opened 18-0-1 and the ’04 team was 19-0-1 before its first loss) … the 19-game unbeaten streak is tied for sixth longest in ND history (the 1995 and ’96 teams combined on a 24-0-0 streak) … three previous ND teams have entered the postseason ranked #1 in the NSCAA coaches poll (’94, ’96, ’00) … ND has outscored its opponents 61-5, for a 12:1 scoring ratio that ranks second-best in the program’s history (the ’97 team had a 15:1 scoring ratio, at 135-9) … Navy’s 2-1 loss to Bucknell leaves ND as the nation’s only unbeaten team (out of 310 in Division I) … Navy (0.25) narrowly leads ND (0.26) atop the national goals-against avg. charts … Navy (16) is the only team with more shutouts than ND (15, three shy of tying team record) … ND’s 26-game home win streak is three shy of tying that team record … the Irish have racked up 334 more total shots than its opponents (434-100) … ND’s all-time postseason record is 64-13-1 … ND is 82-2-0 in its past 84 games when scoring first (42-1-0 in the past 43 when going up 1-0) … the team’s combined season totals in 2005 and ’06 now include a 22-0-0 record in Sunday games (91-4 scoring edge), 28 wins by 3-plus goals (44 GP), 32 games with 3-plus goals scored, and 38 games with 0-1 GA … Randy Waldrum’s eight-year record at ND (159-23-6/.862) includes a .776 win pct. in “big games” (vs. NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponents; 59-16-3) … since joining the BIG EAST in ’95, ND is 133-11-4 (.912) vs. BIG EAST teams … the Irish are 65-5-3 when playing as the NSCAA #1 team (spanning parts of seven seasons) … ND has yet to allow a goal by an unranked team.
UPDATED PLAYER NOTES – ND is 29-0-0 during the past two seasons when Hanks scores a goal … Hanks needs 3A to become ND’s 11th all-time player to reach 30G-30A in her career … she has 5G-3A in four career BIG EAST Tournament games (Bock has 3G-4A) … Karas (0.24) trails only Navy’s Emilie Barnes (0.18) among the national GAA leaders … Bock has gone over 50 points for her career (20G-13A) … Weissenhofer’s 16 assists remain fifth-most every by an ND freshman … Hanks (44) is one behind Alison Lester for 11th on the ND career goals list … the Irish are 34-1-1 during the past two seasons with senior center back Kim Lorenzen in the starting lineup … her fellow starting center back Carrie Dew missed the game due to a knee injury, with freshman Haley Ford filling in Sunday alongside Lorenzen … the Irish are close to having four players with double-digit goals (Hanks 16, Weissenhofer 11, Bock 8 and Cinalli 8) … Buczkowski has played in all 95 games of her career, tying Thorlakson for the fifth-longest streak of consecutive GP in ND history … senior D Christie Shaner has 92 consecutive GP (94 total) … the seniors now own an 85-7-3 career record (.911), trailing only UNC’s current seniors (88-3-3) … the seniors have yet to be outshot in a game during their ND career (23-5 avg. shot margin) … the seniors are 49-2-1 at home and 33-1-2- in October, with 547 combined GP in their careers (Lorenzen, Krivacek and F/M Lizzie Reed each have 87 GP), 63 shutouts and 86 games with 0-1 GA … the ND juniors own a 65-4-2 career record (.930) … Hanks remains on pace to set ND record for career goals per game (1.00; would rank 17th in NCAA history) and points per game (2.61; 21st) …noteworthy players with a better career goal avg. than Hanks include the likes of Tiffeny Milbrett (1.39), Carin Jennings (1.29), Danielle Fotopoulos (1.28), Christine Sinclair (1.17), Mia Hamm (1.12), Shannon MacMillan (1.06), Abby Wambach (1.03) and April Heinrichs (1.02) … Bock was bidding to join Thorlakson (2) and Hanks (2) as the only ND players to register a hat trick since 2003.
St. John’s (10-5-4) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (18-0-1) 2 1 – 0
ND 1. Brittany Bock 7th of season/19th of career (Michele Weissenhofer) 7:00
ND 2. Bock 8/20 (Kerri Hanks) 11:17
ND 3. Hanks 16/44 (Jen Buczkowski) 89:00
Shots: SJU 3-7 – 10, ND 12-17 – 29
Corner Kicks: SJU 0-0 – 0, ND 7-0 – 7
Saves: SJU 8 (Jaime Beran 7, team 1), Notre Dame 4 (Lauren Karas)
Fouls: SJU 10, ND 14
Offside: SJU 0, ND 2
Yellow Cards: Tara Mendoza (SJU) 73:34; Susan Byrne (SJU) 87:19
Red Card: Byrne (SJU) 89:30