Oct. 14, 2007
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 17th-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team rolled to its sixth straight win on Sunday, 5-0 over Villanova, as the Irish clinched a spot in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament with four games still remaining in the regular season. Despite again playing without two starters and seeing another limited due to her own lingering injury, the Irish offense continued to click – led by five-point games from the forward duo of junior Brittany Bock (who now owns a five-game goal streak) and freshman Rose Augustin, with each player totaling two goals and an assist.
Notre Dame (9-4-1, 7-0-0 BIG EAST) – which scored more goals than Villanova had allowed in its previous 14 games this season (4) – handed the Wildcats their most lopsided defeat since losing by the same score at Connecticut in the 1998 BIG EAST tournament. Villanova had not allowed five goals in a game during its previous 164 games, dating back to a 5-2 loss at James Madison early in the 1999 season. The Wildcats have allowed only 41 goals during the past three seasons (2005-07) but Notre Dame has accounted for nearly one-third of those opponent goals (13; also 4-0 in ’05 and 4-2 in ’06).
The Irish are unbeaten in 76 consecutive games at Alumni Field versus BIG EAST opponents (75-0-1, dating back to 1995) and have extended the program’s overall BIG EAST unbeaten streak to 31 games (30-0-1; the eighth-longest conference unbeaten streak in NCAA history and third-best ever by an ND team). Notre Dame has outscored its opponents 22-2 in the current winning streak while allowing only 11 shots on goal (1.8/gm) and nine corner kicks (1.5/gm) in that six-game span.
The Irish already have secured one of the five National Division spots in the 10-team BIG EAST Tournament, with Notre Dame also on the verge of clinching home field for the BIG EAST quarterfinal round. The division’s second-place team, Louisville (5-2-0), is six points behind Notre Dame and would need the Irish to lose at least two of its four remaining games (and tie a third) in order to keep Notre Dame from winning the BIG EAST regular-season title for the 11th time in 13 league seasons.
Sophomore center back Haley Ford did not play for the 10th straight game while senior F/M Amanda Cinalli was sidelined for the third game this season, with each player suffering from hamstring injuries. Sophomore forward Michele Weissenhofer – who ranked second among the national scoring leaders in 2006 – was limited to 52 minutes in Sunday’s game, as she tries to return to form following a recent ankle injury.
Augustin – who had a productive 38-minute stint off the bench – continued her recent surge while making up for the absence of Cinalli and Weissenhofer’s limited play. The Irish back line also remained on pace in becoming a more cohesive unit, with strong play from the center back pair of junior Carrie Dew and freshman Lauren Fowlkes while the outside backs Elise Weber (left side; two assists) and Julie Scheidler (right; assist) again provided dynamic runs into the attacking third.
Notre Dame limited Villanova (8-2-5, 2-2-3) to one shot in the first half but the Wildcats then matched the Irish with 12 shots in the final 45 minutes. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Karas stopped all four shots she faced and has yet to allow a goal in BIG EAST play this season (spanning 552 minutes in the nets). Karas also has dropped her season goals-against average to 0.67 and now owns a 44-4-1 career record.
Both of Bock’s goals came on headers, giving the U.S. youth national-team standout 15 career header goals with the Irish. Junior forward Kerri Hanks provided the assist on a free kick from outside the right edge of the penalty box. Bock was stationed in the center of the penalty area and All-BIG EAST goaleeper Jillian Loydan charged out in an attempt to box the ball away – but Bock had inside position and sharply snapped her 10-yard header into the vacated net (24:01). Hanks now has either scored or assisted on 26 set-play/deal goals during her Notre Dame career – with nine corner-kick assists, seven free-kick assists, six goals scored directly on free kicks and four penalty-kick goals.
Scheidler sliced through the center of the field to set up the second goal, sending a pass to Weber on the left flank. Weber then teed up a deep cross from the edge of the attacking third and Bock executed a twisting header on the far-right side, near the top of the six-yard box. Loydan had shifted far to her left and shuffled back inside the post before jumping up for what appeared to be a routine save – but the knuckler glanced off her hands and into the right side of the net for her team-leading 10th goal of the season (34th of her career) and the key 2-0 cushion (37:26).
Bock endured a seven-game goal drought during nearly the entire month of September (Sept. 3-28) but now has totaled nine goals in her current five-game hot streak – including a hat trick at Syracuse on Oct. 5 and two-goal efforts in both games this weekend (ND beat Georgetown 3-0 on Friday).
Notre Dame now owns 254 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 lead (dating back to 1991) but Villanova still had a chance at the comeback, before seeing the Irish score three times in the final nine minutes.
A crisp combination sequence led to the third goal, with Bock providing a short entry pass from the right side before Augustin pulled off a quick sweep-tap on the ball that sent senior midfielder Ashley Jones into the right side of the six-yard box. Jones made a touch and then fired the ball inside the far-left side of the net for her second goal of the season and the sixth of her Notre Dame career (81:20).
Weber’s pass from the left side then set up a booming shot from Augustin, whose 30-yard shot ripped into the far-right side of the net for her third goal of the season (83:18). Rightside passes from freshman forward Erica Iantorno and sophomore midfielder Micaela Alvarez then led to the final goal, as Augustin came free on the right side of the box and scored to the far side (89:38).
NOTES: All four of Augustin’s goals have come in the past five games … Bock leads the team with four game-winning goals and has a team-best 10 GWGs over the past two seasons … Jones had assists in each of the previous four games and now is riding a five-game point streak … Hanks has tied Meotis Erikson for 8th-place on the ND career assists list (46) and still is ninth on the points list (162, with 59 goals), just two points back of Erikson … Bock’s 85 career points (34G-17A) move her past Jen Grubb into 21st on the ND career points list, two behind Jodi Hartwig … Bock’s 34 career goals are tied with Cinalli and Amy VanLaecke for 16th in ND history … Weber’s six points (1G-4A) are most among the ND defenders … Jones (2G-5A) ranks fifth on the team in scoring with nine points (tying her career-high, also in ’06), one behind Cinalli and senior F Susan Pinnick (Hanks has 25 pts/8G-9A while Bock had 22 pts/10G-2A) … Jones still has yet to miss a game in her ND career and now ranks 21st on the ND career games played list (93), one behind Cindy Daws … ND’s 20-year women’s soccer history now has included 29 winning streaks of six games or longer … the Irish have scored only 13 first-half goals (in 14 games) but have totaled 23 goals in the second half.
Villanova (8-2-5, 2-2-3 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0
#17 Notre Dame (9-4-1, 7-0-0 BIG EAST) 2 3 – 5
ND 1. Brittany Bock 9th of season/33rd of career (Kerri Hanks) 24:01; ND 2. Bock 10/34 (Elise Weber, Julie Scheidler); ND 3. Ashley Jones 2/6 (Rose Augustin, Bock) 81:20; ND 4. Augustin 3 (Weber) 83:18; ND 5. Augustin 4 (Micaela Alvarez, Erica Iantorno) 89:38.
Shots: VU 1-12 – 13, ND 10-12 – 22
Corner Kicks: VU 3, ND 3
Saves: VU 7 (Jillian Loyden), ND 4 (Lauren Karas 3 in 83:04; Nikki Weiss 1 in 6:56)
Fouls: VU 23, ND 16
Offside: VU 3, ND 4
Yellow Cards: Kelly Eagan (VU) 10:01; Melissa Murowski (VU) 34:28