Nov. 5, 2004
Play of the Game (Video)
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STORRS, Conn. – Jen Buczkowski and Katie Thorlakson continued their recent goalscoring surges while the Irish defense logged another strong performance, as the second-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team posted a 2-0 win over No. 19 Boston College in Friday night’s BIG EAST semifinal action at Morrone Stadium.
Notre Dame (19-0-1) – now 21-1-0 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play – moves on to Sunday’s final (noon EST) and will face host Connecticut looking to claim the program’s eighth tournament title in 11 seasons of BIG EAST play. The Irish posted a 15-8 edge in total shots and 9-2 in shots on goal while attempting six of the game’s seven corner kicks.
Friday’s ND-BC game will be telecast on a delayed basis by College Sports Television on Sat., Nov. 6, at 5:30 EST (see www.cstv.com for cable systems that carry CSTV, which also can be found on Direct TV channel 610). Sunday’s BIG EAST title game will be telecast live by CSTV, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, MSG Network and Comcast Local (Michigan), plus the following delayed broadcasts: Fox SportsNet Pittsburgh (11/7; 1:00 p.m. EST); Fox SportsNet New England (11/7; 1:00 p.m. EST); Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (11/7; 1:00 p.m. EST); Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (11/8; 1:00 p.m. EST); and locally in South Bend on WHME 46 (11/8 – 7:00 p.m. EST). CSTV also will air the semifinals and final several other times next week.
Boston College (14-6-0) now awaits Monday’s announcement of the NCAA field and pairings, to be telecast live on ESPN News at 4:30 EST.
Connecticut advanced past Villanova in penalty kicks, after both teams scored a single goal in 110 minutes of the second semifinal.
Notre Dame – which is unbeaten after 20 games for the fourth time in the program’s history – continued its recent domination and now has scored 16 straight unanswered goals, dating back to a rare deficit early in the Oct. 24 game vs. Seton Hall. Jenny Maurer’s shot in the 12th minute was the first shot on goal allowed by the Irish in the last 124 minutes of game action, spanning parts of three games.
Senior forward Candace Chapman helped set up both goals while freshmen Ashley Jones and Amanda Cinalli also played key roles in the goalscoring sequences.
Midway through the first half, Chapman played a ball in the center of the field to Jones and the feisty midfielder dribbled away from the pursuit before playing a pass into the upper left corner of the box. Buczkowski was being tightly marked but she was first to the ball and struck a tough leftfooted shot that found its way into the far right-sidenetting for her eighth goal of the season (27:04). Jones also had provided the primary assist when Buczkowski scored two beat BC three weeks ago at Alumni Field (1-0).
Friday’s goal held up as Buczkowski’s fourth gamewinning goal of the season (and second vs. the Eagles), after not registering a GWG in the first 37 games of her Irish career.
Cinalli – who was the late goalscoring hero in Notre Dame’s previous visit to UConn this season (a 1-0 win over the Huskies) – nearly found the net early in the second half, after drilling a shot from the upper left corner of the box. The shot smacked off the center of the crossbar and deflected near the right endline, where Chapman and BC `keeper Kate Taylor batted for the ball. Chapman was able to tap the ball back into the box and Thorlakson slid into the play, driving her 19th goal of the season into the net from close range (59:30).
Thorlakson pushed her season point total to 55, passing NCAA all-time assist leader Holly Manthei (54, in `96) into eighth on the Notre Dame single-season scoring list.
Notre Dame continues to own more goals (57) than opponent shots on goal (54) and has allowed just 33 corner kicks in 20 games this season.
Junior Erika Bohn – who was left off the all-BIG EAST teams – now ranks second in the nation with a 0.34 season goals-against average that would best the Notre Dame record set by LaKeysia Beene in 1997 (0.36). Bohn, a native of Brookfield, Conn., also pushed her personal shutout streak to 566 minutes and is 46-4-2 in her last 52 overall starts with the Irish.
UPDATED PLAYER NOTES – Thorlakson’s 97 career points (33G-31A) remain 15th in ND history, two behind former teammate Amy Warner … next up on the season points list is Meotis Erikson 56 in 1997 … Thorlakson has totaled 14 points (5G-4A) in six games this season vs. top-25 teams … her 2.75 points per game now is on pace for 77 in the full 28-game season (Cindy Daws owns the ND record with 72 in ’96) … she has 8G-5A (21 points) in ND’s last 5 games and has scored or assists on 13 of the team’s last 14 goals … Buczkowski had doubled her goal total from 2003 (4) and has 14 points (4G-6A, 4 GWG) in the last 6 games … Bohn’s 0.34 season GAA trails only Loyola’s Kate Gilfillan (0.27) among regular `keepers from 306 Division I teams … she has allowed just 24 goals in her last 52 games plated with the Irish and has limited the opponent to 0-1 goals in 44 of her last 47 appearances.
UPDATED TEAM NOTES – ND now leads the BC series 10-1-0 (3-1-0 in the BIG EAST semifinals) … ND held its last 16 opponents to 0-1 goals (0.37 GAA in that stretch) … since a rare deficit vs. Pittsburgh on Sept. 24, ND has outscored the opposition 33-3 (2 GA in last 9-plus games) … since joining the conference in ’95, ND is 106-9-3 in all games vs. BIG EAST teams … the Irish own a 52-11-1 all-time record in postseason play (.820) … ND owns a 9-1-2 all-time record (29-7 scoring edge) at Morrone Stadium … the Irish have won their last 39 games when scoring first … ND holds a 28-4 first-half scoring edge this season … ND has won more than 75% of its “big games” during the Randy Waldrum era (’99-’04), posting a 43-12-3 record (.767) when facing an NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponent … the Irish are 113-19-5 (.843) in the six-year Waldrum era … Waldrum now is four wins shy of his 300th overall win as a college coach 296-124-24 (.694) … ND has allowed just 4 shots on goal in the last 355 minutes of game time … the Irish now own a 57-10 season scoring edge, plus 438-118 in total shots (avg. 22-6), 224-54 in shots on goal (10-3) and 125-34 in corner kicks (6-2) … ND has limited 34 of its last 41 overall opponents to 0-3 shots on goal … since the 2-1 win at Georgetown on Oct. 10, ND has posted a 17-1 scoring edge, plus 127-23 in shots (avg. 21-4), 51-8 in shots on goal (avg. 8-1) and 23-2 in corner kicks (avg. 4-0), in 6 GP … the 1994, 1997 and 2000 ND teams also went unbeaten after 20 games (each started 23-0-1) … ND is one win shy of reaching 20 victories for the 9th time in the last 11 seasons.
#2 Notre Dame (19-0-1) 1 1 – 2
#19 Boston College (14-6-0) 0 0 – 0
ND 1. Jen Buczkowski 8 (Ashley Jones) 27:04; ND 2. Katie Thorlakson 19 (Candace Chapman) 59:30
Shots: BC 2-6 – 8, ND 5-10 – 15.
Corner Kicks: BC 1-0 – 1, ND 2-4 – 7.
Saves: BC 7 (Katie Taylor 2, team 0), ND 2 (Erika Bohn).
Fouls: BC 11, ND 13.
Offsides: BC 0, ND 6.
Yellow Cards: Candace Chapman 1 (ND) 44:57; Laura Georges (BC) 45:46.