Nov. 17, 2006
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Brittany Bock scored twice in the first half – making Notre Dame the nation’s only team with four double-digit goalscorers – and Kerri Hanks capped the scoring with her nation-leading 22nd goal of the season, as the top-ranked Irish women’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals with Friday night’s 3-0 victory over 16th-ranked Colorado. Notre Dame (23-0-1) has equaled the best undefeated start in the program’s history and is headed to the NCAA quarterfinals for the 10th time in the past 13 seasons, with the next game set for Friday, Nov. 24, at Alumni Field (7:00 p.m., versus Penn State).
The Irish tied a team record with their 18th shutout of the season and finished with a 26-5 edge in total shots (9-0 in shots on goal) while each team attempted three corner kicks. It marked the 20th consecutive game that Notre Dame has limited its opponent to 0-4 shots on goal and was the sixth time this season that the Irish have held their opponent without a single shot on goal. Notre Dame now owns a 78-8 season scoring edge (52-5 in the second half) and has totaled 32 more goals than its opponents’ total shots on goal (46; 1.9/gm).
Notre Dame’s 31-game home winning streak ranks fourth in Division-I history, just one out of third place on that list (32, by Santa Clara from 1997-2000). Penn State won 39 straight home games from 2001-04 while UNC holds the record with an 84-game home win streak from 1986-94. The Irish also own a 40-game unbeaten streak at home (39-0-1) that is third in D-I history, behind UNC’s 84 from 1986-95 and 56 from 1999-2004.
Notre Dame increased the second-best winning percentage in NCAA Tournament history to .770 (38-11-1), including 31-3-0 in home NCAA games.
Bock scored a world-class goal in the 16th minute, rocketing a 25-yard shot from the left side that knuckled past goalkeeper Kirstin Radlinski for her 10th goal of the season (15:39). Later in the half, Bock headed home a leftside corner kick from fellow sophomore forward Hanks for her 11th goal of the season and the 2-0 halftime lead (33:20). It marked the eighth time this season that Hanks has registered a corner-kick (6) or free-kick (2) assist.
Nearly half (11) of Bock’s 23 career goals with the Irish now have come on headers, with Friday’s sharp score ripping into the right-sidenetting. Bock now is tied with Hanks for the team lead in game-winning goals (6) and has totaled five goals in the 2006 postseason. Her six header goals this season include three in the postseason.
Notre Dame now has posted 245 consecutive victories when claiming a 2-0 lead, dating back to the early 1990s.
Hanks – who now has points in 12 of her 13 postseason games with the Irish (goals in 10 of those games) – scored in the 89th minute, becoming the first player in Notre Dame’s storied history to reach 50 career goals prior to her junior season. A set play again led to the goal, as Hanks stepped into a free kick from just beyond the left side of the box and struck a curving shot that carried into the far-right side of the goal (88:18). Hanks leads the nation with 61 points and is tied for the national lead in both goals (22) and assists (17, with teammate Michele Weissenhofer). She joins former teammate Katie Thorlakson as the only Notre Dame players ever to total 60-plus points in multiple seasons (71, in ’05).
The goal was the 15th by Hanks during BIG EAST or NCAA Tournament play, already tying the Notre Dame record for career postseason goals. Hanks maintained her pace of scoring or assisting on two-thirds of her team’s goals over the span of the past 15 games (48 pts/16G-16A, with G/A on 32 of team’s 48 goals since midseason). Her career-best 10-game point streak ranks seventh in Notre Dame history and she still is averaging better than one goal per game for her career (50G, in 49 GP).
SENIOR SALUTE – Friday’s game was the 100th for the ND senior class, which now owns an impressive 90-7-3 record spanning the 2003-06 seasons (UNC’s is the only senior class with a better mark, at 93-3-3)… senior midfielder Jen Buczkowski has played in all 100 of the games (starting 94), one shy of the Notre Dame record for career games played (shared by Shannon Boxx and Meotis Erikson) … three previous ND players logged 100 career games (Jenny Streiffer, Jen Grubb and Holly Manthei) … Buczkowski is tied with former teammate Vanessa Pruzinsky for 9th on the ND career starts list … senior left back Christie Shaner returned to action after missing the previous two games to illness (ending her own games-played streak at 94) … Shaner’s 97 career games played are tied with Kate Sobrero for 11th in ND history … the seniors own a 52-2-1 career record at home, with 66 total career shutouts, 89 games allowing 0-1 goals and 50 wins by a margin of 3-plus goals … only the class of 1998 (led by 1994-97 standouts Sobrero and Manthei) has totaled more career wins (91-6-4) … center back Kim Lorenzen and defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek both played in their 92nd career games, tying former teammate Candace Chapman for 19th in ND history … the eight seniors have combined for 571 career games played (354 starts) … the senior class never has been outshot in a game … ND is 39-1-1 during the past two seasons with Lorenzen in the starting lineup … Buczkowski, Lorenzen and Krivacek have played in all 26 postseason games from 2003-06 (Shaner in 24), with Buczkowski and Lorenzen starting all 26 (Krivacek 24, Shaner 21).
ADDITIONAL HANKS NOTES – Hanks, who joins Buczkowski among the nation’s final-15 candidates for the Hermann Trophy, now owns 31 different ND records (10 set this season) … she now shares the ND record for career postseason goals (15, along with Thorlakson, Anne Makinen and Monica Gerardo) while her 61 points have broken Gerardo’s record for points by a sophomore (59; Gerardo still owns the ND sophomore goal record of 23) … the 61 points rank 6th in ND history, behind Cindy Daws (72, in ’96), Hanks and Thorlakson (71 each, in ’05), Thorlakson’s 70 in 2004 and Streiffer’s 66 in ’96 … the 22 goals rank 7th, behind her own 28 in ’05, Heft’s 28 in ’98, Daws (26, in ’96) and three with 23G (Thorlakson in ’04, Makinen in ’97 and Gerardo in ’96) … Hanks still ranks 10th on the ND career goals list (50, five out of 8th) and 12th in points (132, three back of Boxx) … her 39 career postseason points (15G-9A) already are 4th-most by an ND player (Thorlakson 53, Makinen 43, Gerardo 40) while Thorlakson (29) and Gerardo (24) are the only ND players with more career points in the NCAAs than Hanks (20; 8G-4A) … Hanks now shares the ND record for career postseason goals with Thorlakson, Makinen and Gerardo … Gerardo had 10G in her NCAA career and Heft 9 (Hanks is next, with 8) … Thorlakson (27, in ’04) is the only ND player to total more points in one postseason than Hanks in the ’06 postseason (20; 7G-6A) … Hanks is 3A shy of becoming the 11th D-I player to post a 20G-20A season … the Irish never have lost when she scores a goal (32-0-0).
UPDATED TEAM NOTES – UNC (11) and Santa Clara (11) are the only teams with more NCAA quarterfinals appearances than ND since 1994 … ND missed the quarterfinals from 2001-03 … ND’s 1994, 1997 and 2000 teams also started 23-0-1 while the 1995 and ’96 teams combined for a similar 24-game unbeaten streak (tying the team record) … only the 2004 (25-1-1) and 1996 (24-2-2) ND teams have posted more wins than the 2006 squad … ND has posted 33 straight wins when scoring first (87-2-0 in past 89 when scoring first) … the Irish own 13 straight postseason wins at home … ND has totaled 405 more shots than its opponents this season (532-127) … ND is 36-1-1 since losing to Marquette midway through the 2005 season … Randy Waldrum’s career record at ND now is 164-23-6 (.865) … ND is 248-3-1 all-time when scoring three goals, 70-5-3 when playing as the NSCAA #1 team and 64-16-3 in Waldrum-era “big games” (top-25/postseason opponent) … ND has scored in 59 of its past 60 games … ND’s 12-0-0 record at Alumni Field this season includes a 45-3 scoring edge (Hanks has 12G-9A in those games) … teams playing ND for the first time at Alumni Field are just 3-44-1 since 1993 … ND now is 45-5-0 in all series openers since 1993 and 7-1-0 in all-time NCAA openers that have come in the NCAAs … ND is 26-2-0 in series openers during the Waldrum era (17-0-0 during the senior’s career).
ADDITIONAL INDIVIDUAL NOTES – Passes from junior right back Ashley Jones and Krivacek set up the game’s first goal, with Bock making a quick turn inside to her left before launching the hard shot … two-thirds of Jones’ 18 career points (12; 3G-6A) now have come in the postseason … Krivacek has 14 points this season (4G-6A) after totaling 19 over her first three seasons … Bock has 8G in her past 11 games played … she registered the fourth two-goal of her ND career and second of the 2006 postseason … the junior class owns a .934 career win pct. (70-4-2).
NOTRE DAME COACH Randy Waldrum – “Overall, I was extremely pleased with our intensity level tonight, with a really good focus. We were very concerned with [Nikki] Marshall up front but defensively we completely shut that down. They never really got in behind us and she never broke free to use her pace. Defensively, that’s a credit to our backs but our midfielders and forwards also did some great defending. … We created a lot of opportunities but I was a little disappointed with our finishing. Brittany had a great game and her first goal was world-class, she hit a canon. She did a really good job of holding the ball and brought the other players into the game. … It was good to get Christie Shaner back playing. She brings a calmness to that back line. … I’d like to give Colorado a lot of credit. I was very concerned about their team speed and movement off the ball. Bill Hempen is one of the best coaches in the country and has done a great job with their program. … We dealt with things much better in the midfield and our outside backs did a better job in that part of the field. Krivacek, Buczkowski and Cinalli were determined and they all were very good in the midfield, settling the ball and calming things down. … Britttany’s second goal was huge going into halftime because it changes the game a little bit. Then, later in the second half they had to go to three forwards to try to get the goal back. … I have known Bill for a long time and we go back to ODP days when he was in Louisiana and I was in Texas. He’s a very good coach, so it’s not a surprise how well they are doing. We beat a very good team tonight. … We have scored 21 or 22 goals off dead-ball situations and that is something that becomes so important at this time of year. Hanks can provide such great service on the corners and had a great goal on the free kick. There are not many players that can strike that kind of a ball.”
NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE FORWARD Brittany Bock – “The [first] goal and how I hit it fired everybody up, it helped get things moving. … I don’t feel like I’ve been playing the best that I can but coming out and being able to hold the ball and distribute and score some goals, it feels great. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that I had that type of game. … Ever since I began playing soccer, I always played other sports and so I kind of knew how to read the ball and it’s something I take a lot of pride in. I’m very aggressive up in the air. Any chance I can get my head on it, I’m going to try and score. I always feel like the ball is going to come right to me and that’s my mentality.”
NOTRE DAME SENIOR DEFENDER Christie Shaner – “Every time that we can play at home, it’s obviously to our advantage. All season, we took care of games so we could have home-field advantage in the NCAAs. It’s going to be sad to be playing my last home game but at the same time it’s going to be exhilarating because I know what that feeling is like to win on your own field on Thanksgiving weekend and go on to have a run at the championship. … Our back line in general – whatever combination it might be – has always stepped up, especially in the last few games. It’s coming down to crunch time and nobody is ready for our season to be over yet. Everybody has risen to the occasion and come out to play.”
COLORADO HEAD COACH BILL HEMPEN – “I’m so proud of my kids for battling for 90 minutes. They have been doing that since mid-October. We just succumbed to a very talented Notre Dame team that is very dangerous in the attack. … Whatever kicked in at that midpoint in the season, I think they get it now. They are going to have that same intensity whenever they step on the field with that Colorado uniform on.”
CU SENIOR FORWARD KATIE GRIFFIN – “If you have to lose to somebody, you might as well go out to the number-one team in the nation. Overall, I thought we played pretty good as a team. … Every year we are getting closer and closer and hopefully the people behind us will get even closer.”
CU FRESHMAN FORWARD NIKKI MARSHALL – “When we got in our slump this year, it was `play for the seniors’ and that’s always going to be the case, even when they aren’t here. We are going to carry on their legacy. They taught us so much.”
#16 Colorado (14-5-4) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (23-0-1) 2 1 – 3
ND 1. Brittany Bock 10th of season/22nd of career (Jill Krivacek, Ashley Jones) 15:39.
ND 2. Bock 11/23 (Kerri Hanks) 33:20.
ND 3. Hanks 22/50 (-) 88:18.
Shots: CU 3-2 – 5, ND 15-11 – 26.
Corner Kicks: CU 2-1 – 3, ND 2-1 – 3.
Saves: CU 6 (Kirstin Radlinski 5, team 1), ND 0 (Lauren Karas).
Fouls: CU 8, ND 11.
Offside: CU 0, ND 1.
Yellow Cards: Michelle Wenino (CU) 85:00; Allison Kidd (CU) 86:48.