Sept. 15, 2006
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CHICAGO – Brittany Bock (1G-2A) and Michele Weissenhofer (2G-1A) combined for three goals and three assists to lead a strong day from Notre Dame’s six Chicago-area natives, as the top-ranked Irish women’s soccer team improved to 7-0-0 with Friday afternoon’s 5-0 win at DePaul. Kerri Hanks and Lizzie Reed each chipped in a goal and assist for a Notre Dame team that racked up a 31-2 edge in total shots versus DePaul (3-3-1) and now owns a 26-2 scoring edge for the season. The game was the BIG EAST Conference opener for both teams.
Notre Dame – which now has opened its season with seven straight wins for the seventh time in the program’s 19-year history – extended the program’s second-longest scoring streak to 43 games while reaching five goals for the 13th time in the past two seasons.
The Irish second-half domination this season now includes a 18-0 scoring margin over the final 45 minutes. Notre Dame has allowed just 19 shots on goal all season, with Santa Clara (10) accounting for more than half of those in the recent showdown of number-one ranked teams. The other six opponents have scraped together just nine shot on goal between them, including one by DePaul (ND had 15, plus a 7-1 edge in corner kicks).
Notre Dame opened the scoring late in the first half, on yet another set-play goal. Hanks registered her first assist of the season and 16th of her young career, after playing a left-flank free kick from 30 yards out. Fellow sophomore Bock – one of four Irish players who hail from nearby Naperville – chested the free kick down to herself in the middle of the penalty area before striking the ball into the far side of the goal (36:59). It was the first goal of the season (and 14th of her career) for the midfielder Bock, who recently returned from the Under-20 World Championship.
Hanks struck early in the second half to help break open the game, as DePaul had played with five in the back and a full four-player midfield during the first half. Weissenhofer, another one of the Naperville products, raced down the right flank and was in position for an open shot at the goal before surprising most onlookers when she passed up the shot and instead sent the ball across the top of the box. Hanks – always known for her clever runs – was streaking down the left side and took the pass in stride, tucking behind the defense and ‘keeper Cara LaRocca before sending her team-leading sixth goal of the season into the vacated net (53:39). The assist was the ninth of the season for Weissenhofer, who entered the week with a share of the national assist lead.
The score gives Hanks 34 goals in 32 career games played with the Irish, tying her with Amy VanLaecke for 15th on the Notre Dame career goals list. Hanks also now has totaled 84 career points, needing 16 points in her next seven games to reach 100 points quicker than any player in Irish women’s soccer history.
Reed helped produce the third goal in the 70th minute, with the senior forward playing a pass from the left corner. Weissenhofer then spun in the box to set up her devastating leftfooted shot and placed the ball over LaRocca for a far-post goal (her third of the season) at 69:07.
Two of the local products combined on the next goal, just four minutes later, as Bock cut across the field from the right side and drilled a low shot from 25 yards out. The canon shot was headed for the lower left corner but LaRocca dove to her left and batted the ball down – with Weissenhoder running in from the left flank to send home the rebound from a tough angle (73:52).
The final goal came two minutes later, as Notre Dame completed yet another three-goal flurry (this one spanning just 6:50). Bock picked iup her second assist of the day (and 11th of her career) after winning the ball near midfield and advancing down the center before cycling the ball to junior Susan Pinnick. Reed also was in the middleof the field and received the quick pass from Pinnick before turning and smacking a shot over LaRocca and into the far-left side of the net for her second goal of the season and seventh of her career (73:52).
Freshman midfielder Amanda Clark turned in a strong all-around game while fellow Naperville native Kim Lorenzen continued to lead the defense from her center back spot (sophomore Carrie Dew logged the full 90 minutes at the other center back position).
Lorenzen’s fellow seniors and Chicago-area natives Jen Buczkowski (Elk Grove) and Jill Krivacek (Geneva) played their usual dominating midfield games, with Buczkowski actually starting the game at forward while Krivacek again was used at times in more of an attacking midfielder role.
Notre Dame improved to 256-1-0 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead (with 233 straight wins then leading 2-0) and now is 236-3-1 all-time when scoring three-plus goals (138-1-0 since mid-1995). The Irish also are 22-1-0 during the past two seasons when Hanks scores a goal and 24-1-0 with Lorenzen in the staring lineup in ’05 and ’06.
The senior class now is 74-7-2 during their four-year careers at Notre Dame, with Buczkowski appearing in all 83 of those games.
# 1 Notre Dame (7-0-0, 1-0-0 BIG EAST) 1 4 – 5
DePaul (3-3-1, 0-1-0 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0
ND 1. Brittany Bock 2nd of season/14th of career (Kerri Hanks) 36:59;
ND 2. Hanks 6/34 (Michele Weissenhofer) 53:39;
ND 3. Weissenhofer 3 (Lizzie Reed) 69:07;
ND 4. Weissenhofer 4 (Bock) 73:52;
ND 5. Lizzie Reed 2/7 (Susan Pinnick, Bock) 75:57.
Shots: ND 18-13 – 31, DP 1-1 – 2.
Corner Kicks: ND 4-3 – 7, DP 1-0 – 1.
Saves: ND 1 (Lauren Karas 0, Kelsey Lysander 1), DP 10 (Cara LaRocca).
Fouls: ND 9, DP 14.
Offside: ND 6, DP 0.
Yellow Cards: Alissa VonderHaar (DP) 36:43: Lea Hill (DP) 87:20.