Aug. 23, 2007
Amanda Cinalli’s pair of goals – one of them a sharply-placed running header in the game’s third minute – paced another solid effort by the Notre Dame women’s soccer team, as the second-ranked Irish posted a 3-1 exhibition win over 11th-ranked Virginia in Thursday’s action at the Fort Wayne Sport Center. The game was played as part of the National Soccer Festival and it marked the fourth time in the past six years that the Irish women have played preseason games in the nearby city of Fort Wayne. Notre Dame has defeated Virginia in each of the past three preseasons, with earlier wins in 2005 (2-0; also in Fort Wayne, at Heffern Stadium) and 2006 (3-0; in Traverse City, Mich.).
(Note: the stats attached to this recap are unofficial, as the tournament did not provide any official stat service; changes will be made to these stats, if needed, after consulting again with both coaching staffs).
Notre Dame finished with a 17-7 edge in total shots (7-5 in shots on goal) while the game featured a low number of corner kicks (two for ND and one for UVa). The first two Irish goals came on headers – by Cinalli (via a Kerri Hanks’ free kick) and freshman Lauren Fowlkes (who flicked in a flip-throw from Michele Weissenhofer).
Notre Dame’s combined stats in its challenging pair of preseason games (also 2-2 vs. #1 North Carolina) included a 5-3 scoring edge, plus a 30-14 shot margin (13-9 in shots on goal) and a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.
The game marked the return to action for two members of the junior class – center back Carrie Dew and outside back Kerry Inglis. Dew had missed all of Notre Dame’s 2006 postseason due to an ACL knee injury suffered in the final regular-season game (a makeup game at Cincinnati in late October). Following an extensive rehabilitation, the 2006 BIG EAST defensive player of the year (also 2007 preseason honors for that award) recently was cleared to resume training. She started Thursday’s game and logged approximately 45 minutes (spread over both halves) while helping hold the Cavaliers to the single goal.
Inglis had not seen action in an organized game for 22 months, dating back to the final regular-season game of her freshman season (Oct. 23, 2005; vs. Georgetown). A chronic ankle injury and a series of surgeries have kept Inglis on the sideline but she fittingly returned the field in her hometown of Fort Wayne, playing 14 first-half minutes at left back.
Junior defender Kerry Inglis – who had not played for the Irish in 22 months, due to a nagging ankle injury – fittingly made her return to action in her hometown of Fort Wayne.
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Notre Dame opened the game by opting to start a few different players than in the UNC game, with freshman Nikki Weiss opening in goal (followed by the other two ‘keepers, with all three playing roughly 30 minutes). Two other freshmen – Rose Augustin (at forward) and Julie Scheidler (in the midfield) – also started, as did sophomore midfielder Courtney Rosen. The Irish ultimately cycled in 18 field players to go along with the three-goalkeeper rotation. Junior midfielder Brittany Bock played the full 90 minutes, as did versatile sophomore Amanda Clark (who opened as the starting defensive midfielder before also logging solid minutes at one of the center positions and later at right back).
The 2006 season saw Notre Dame score a boatload of goals on set plays and that continued to be the case in Thursday’s game, starting with the first goal that came with only 2:01 elapsed on the clock. Hanks struck a 40-yard free kick from the left flank and Cinalli was crashing in from the right side, redirecting her header into the left side of the net for the quick 1-0 lead.
Virginia had a chance to equalize three minutes later but Sinead Farrely’s shot from the center of the box was off the mark. Nikki Krzysik – a U.S. youth national teammate of several ND players – had a similar chance in the 27th minute, but her try sailed over the crossbar.
Notre Dame nearly claimed a 2-0 lead moments later, when sophomore center back Haley Ford headed a rightside corner kick from Hanks – but goalkeeper Celeste Miles barely was able to latch onto the ball.
Weiss had a pair of quality saves in the first 30 minutes before senior Lauren Karas took her turn in the nets. A strong individual effort from Virginia forward Jess Rostedt then tied the game 10 minutes before halftime. Rostedt -an Ohio native with several club and U.S. youth national team ties to the Irish – entered the attacking third with pace while slanting from the left flank into the 18-yard box. She was able to elude several Irish players while working her way down to the lower right corner of the box before deftly touching an endline shot into the far-left sidenetting (35:16).
Notre Dame produced the final margin by scoring in the final three minutes of each half, including a goal that came 15 seconds before the intermission. Sophomore forward Michele Weissenhofer’s right-side flip throw was well-place into the right side of the box and the 5-foot-11 Fowlkes completed the tricky flick. Fowlkes was facing the ball as it arrived but was able to send complete the twisting maneuver and send her header into the far-left side of the goal (44:45).
Elise Weber (left) and Haley Ford (center) led another strong day from the Notre Dame defense.
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Hanks and freshman Erica Iantorno both had strong goalscoring chances in the second half, but failed to find the net. Iantorno ended up logging 33 solid minutes while playing as a forward, with junior Susan Pinnick still sidelined due to an ankle injury. Rosen also can be used as a forward target player but she was injured early in the game – helping give Iantorno more minutes to prove herself against a top-20 opponent.
A leftside feed from Hanks helped set up the clinching goal, with Miles making the save on a shot from Weissenhofer in the center of the box. Cinalli was in position to knock in the rebound, providing the final 3-1 margin (86:55).
NOTES – Notre Dame is 7-1-1 in preseason exhibition (vs. college teams) during the nine-year Randy Waldrum era … in addition to the three wins over Virginia, the Waldrum-era preseason games have included two wins in 2001 (2-0 at Wisconsin-Milwaukee; 2-0 at home vs. Iowa), a pair of games at Ft. Wayne’s Heffern Stadium in 2002 (2-4 vs. UNC; 2-1 vs. Kentucky), a 5-0 win over Xavier in 2006 (at ND) and last Sunday’s 2-2 tie with UNC … ND’s 1999 and 2003 teams did not play any preseason games while the 1999 and 2004 squads spent their preseason training and playing local teams in Brazil (the ’04 team went 5-0-1 on its Brazil trip) … Rostedt is a longtime club teammate of Cinalli, Rosen and Augustin (on the Ohio/Cleveland Internationals) and played alongside Krzysik, Bock and Dew on the U.S. Under-20 National Team … the U.S U-21 team that recently won the Nordic Cup included Cinalli, Weissenhofer, Krzysik and UVa defender Becky Sauerbrunn … during the 2006 U-20 World Championship in Russia, the coach of the U.S. U-20s (Tim Schultz) remarked that Dew and Krzysik were the top central defenders in the world for their age group … ND junior midfielder Becca Mendoza and the UVa ‘keeper Miles were club teammates with the Dallas Sting … UVa’s Kelly Quinn (sister of former ND football quarterback Brady Quinn) played on the Olympic Development Program (ODP) Region II team alongside Clark and Weissenhofer.
ND HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – “We weren’t quite as good as we were against Carolina but the busride over today and the heat probably had a little to do with that and we played a very good Virginia team. But we are getting a lot of questions answered and we saw three goalkeepers again, plus a lot of minutes for our freshmen. The two exhibitions have been great for us. … We have thee goalkeepers who are very close and that’s going to be a tough decision. We have great depth there. Lauren Fowlkes has solidified herself as one of our key kids. Our newcomers have done well. Julie Scheidler has a nice game and we were able to get Erica Iantorno some more minutes, the same with Brittany Johnson and we continue to be impressed with Elise Weber at outside back. … Brittany Bock is ready to be that All-American that she should have been last year. Of course, it was great to get Carrie Dew and Kerry Inglis back on the field. Inglis still is not quite game-ready and does not have the pace or explosiveness. But she has been out for two years and we just are happy to get her back on the field and have a chance for her to play again.
ND JUNIOR DEFENDER Kerry Inglis – “It has been a very long time to go without playing in a game. It takes a toll on you but when you have a team that is as great as this one, with girls who are with you the whole time, they have been a real encouragement and the same with the coaches. Being out for so long has been rough but all of their encouragement has helped me push through it and you come back because you have to. It definitely feels good to be on the field again. It was a real blessing for me to have my first time back on the field be here. This whole tournament has been great.”
VIRGINIA HEAD COACH STEVE SWANSON – “It was a pretty good game and always is when we played them. I thought we played well in the first half and kind of died a little bit in the second half. We were pushing up to get a second goal and gave up a third one to them. They deserved to win but I was pleased with how we played and we created some good chances. … We have good depth and are excited about the season. I’m pleased with how we played and there’s a lot we can learn from this game. … We have seven first-year player and I think they all are going to impact our team, along with the 18 returners. Our depth is probably as good as it has been since I’ve been. … Notre Dame has a lot of options and they are very good on the restarts. They have some big bodies and they have enough good players that the set plays always are going to be a factor. They have a very diversified attack and can get goals from a lot of players. They also are strong defensively and organized. … This is our fifth or sixth year coming out to the Midwest for our preseason, either here or up in Michigan. It’s very important for us to play a strong team like Notre Dame this early in the season, to see where we are. It’s a chance to get the team away from campus, which I think is a good thing.”
#11 Virginia 1 0 – 1
#2 Notre Dame 2 1 – 3
ND 1. Amanda Cinalli (Kerri Hanks) 2:01; UVa 1. Jess Rostedt (-) 35:16; ND 2. Lauren Fowlkes (Michele Weissenhofer) 44:45; ND 3. Cinalli (Weissenhofer) 86:55.
Shots: UVa 5-2 – 7, ND 7-10 – 17
Corner Kicks: UVa 1, ND 2
Saves: UVa 4 (Celeste Miles); ND 4 (Nikki Weiss 2 SV in 30:57; Lauren Karas 1 SV/1 GA in 30:03; Kelsey Lysander 1 SV in 29:00)
Fouls: UVa 7, ND 13
Offside: UVa 2, ND 5
Yellow Card: Fowlkes (ND) 39:02