Nov. 2, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Amanda Guertin entered the 2003 season already ranking as one of the most clutch goalscorers in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with her poised finishing skills impressing both in terms of their quantity and the quality of the game situation. So it was only fitting that she would choose the third minute of overtime in Sunday’s BIG EAST quarterfinal to register her first big-game goal of the season, taking a short free-kick pass from fellow senior Kimberly Carpenter and ripping a 20-yard shot into the upper-right corner of the net – thus sending Notre Dame on to the BIG EAST semifinals following a 2-1 victory over Miami.
Notre Dame (19-1-1) overcame a fluke Hurricanes goal and the continued absence of top scorer Mary Boland, with the nation’s second-ranked team scoring first on sophomore forward Katie Thorlakson’s 16th-minute goal. Miami tied the game moments later when sophomore midfielder Jackie Garcia alertly sent a direct free kick into the right side of the net for her first goal of the season, with goalkeeper Erika Bohn caught on the other side of the goal as she was trying to set up the Notre Dame wall at the top of the box (17:26).
The Irish quickly regrouped after the opportunistic equalizer, holding Miami without a shot for the next 52 minutes. The Hurricanes managed just two shots the rest of the way, with Notre Dame rolling up a 27-5 edge in total shots and a 10-3 margin in shots on goal (the 17th time in the last 18 games that the opponent has been held to 0-3 shots on goal). The Irish also held a commanding 11-3 edge in corner kicks but failed to cash in any of those chances for scores.
With the win, the Irish took another step towards securing one of the top four seeds for the upcoming NCAA Tournament (which equates to home-field advantage until the College Cup semifinals). Top-ranked North Carolina is the nation’s only unbeaten team while Notre Dame is one of just five others with one loss (out of 297 Division I women’s soccer programs).
A yellow-card caution was issued to Miami’s Ashley Durkee in the early moments of overtime, allowing Notre Dame plenty of time to set up the game-winning play – with Carpenter lightly tapping a pass to her right before Guertin unloaded her rightfooted shot for her 48th career goal with the Irish (92:54).
Notre Dame next will face Boston College (a 2-1 winner over Rutgers) in the first BIG EAST semifinal on Friday, Nov. 7, at RU’s Yurcak Field (5:00 EST). The BIG EAST championship game is slated for the same location, on Sunday at noon. The other semifinal features West Virginia (a 2-1 winner over St. John’s) versus Villanova, a 1-0 upset winner over Connecticut in the quarterfinal round. (College Sports Television will provide delayed broadcasts of both semifinals on Nov. 8, with Fox SportsNet affiliates providing live and delayed broadcasts of the final – check back to und.com later in the week for more TV coverage details).
The Irish now are unbeaten in their last 16 overtime games (12-0-4), dating back to a season-opening, double-overtime loss to North Carolina in the 1999 NCAA runner-up campaign. Guertin’s score extended her Notre Dame record for career overtime goals to four, with her 18 game-winning goals now one shy of that Notre Dame record (held by ’96 graduate Rosella Guerrero). Guertin also tied 1999 graduate Monica Gerardo for the most postseason game-winning goals in Notre Dame history (5).
The current senior class now owns a 28-7-2 record during the past four seasons when facing a ranked or postseason opponent, with Guertin totaling 52 points on 21 goals and 10 assists in those 37 games (nine of her 18 career game-winning goals have come in such big-game situations).
Carpenter had the primary assists on both goals, with her pass from the right corner setting up Thorlakson’s quick shot inside the left post (15:47), for her 10th goal of the season. Senior forward Amy Warner fed the ball to Carpenter for her 12th assist of the season, good for fourth in the nation while pushing her career point total with the Irish to 99 (one shy of becoming the 14th ND player to reach the century mark).
Notre Dame has four double-digit goalscorers for the first time since 1999: Boland (12), Guertin (11), Thorlakson (10) and Warner (10), with each player also owning 28-32 points (Warner 32, Thorlakson 29, Boland 28 and Guertin 28).
The Irish now are 29-2 in all-time postseason games played at home and never have lost in the BIG EAST Tournament (19-0-0). Sunday’s game marked the program’s 50th consecutive home win over a BIG EAST opponent, dating back to the 1995 season.
Fifth-year Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum picked up his 200th career victory as a women’s college soccer head coach, including a 92-17-4 mark with the Irish.
BIG EAST SEMIFINAL NOTE UPDATES – Guertin has scored an OT goal in each of her four seasons, also: at West Virginia (’00, 2-1), vs. #23 Michigan (’01, 2-1) and at Boston College (’02, 1-0) … her nine career big-game GWGs include Sunday’s goal and the ’01 score vs. Michigan, plus: vs. #25 Michigan in the 2nd round of the 2000 NCAAs (3-1); vs. #8 Penn State in the ’01 opener (2-1), St. John’s in the ’01 BIG EAST quarterfinals (2-0) and Eastern Illinois in the 1st round of the ’01 NCAAs (2-0); at #25 Maryland (5-2) and #13 Michigan (1-0) in ’02, and vs. #14 Purdue in the 2nd round of the ’02 NCAAs (3-1) … Guertin now ranks 8th in ND history with 28 career points in the postseason (13G-2A; three behind Jenny Heft) while her 13 postseason GWGs rank 5th behind Gerardo and ’01 grad. Anne Makinen (both with 15) and ’00 classmates Heft and Jenny Streiffer (both with 14) … Guertin (48G-27A) and Warner (37G-25A) now have combined for 222 points, 85 goals, 52 assists and 29 GWGs … they rank 6th in ND history for combined goals by classmates (10 behind ’97 grads Cindy Daws and Amy Van Laecke) while only two previous pairs of ND classmates have combined for more GWGs … ND now leads the Miami series 6-0-0 (24-s scoring edge) … fifth-year D Vanessa Pruzinsky logged her 93rd career games and 91st start, tying Daws for 9th in ND history … the only ND defenders ever to start more games are Jen Grubb (100) and Kate Sobrero (97) … ND’s last quartet of double-digit goalscorers came in ’99: Heft (20), Streiffer (19), Meotis Erikson (14) and Makinen (13) … Bohn is 28-2-1 in her last 31 starts with the Irish (14 GA, includes five games in the ’03 spring season) … Carpenter’s 15 points this season (5G-5A) are triple her combined point total from 2000-02 (2G-1A) … Warner appeared in her 70th consecutive game while making her 64th straight start … Guertin’s 123 career points rank 12th in ND history, now just three behind Alison Lester (’94) and 12 shy of the 10th spot held by Shannon Boxx (’99) … nearly 40 percent of Guertin’s career goals have been GWGs (18 of 48) … Guertin now has 4G in four career games vs. Miami (Warner 3G-1A) … eight ND players now have combined to miss 97 games this season, most notably: junior right back Candace Chapman and senior M Randi Scheller (21 each), Boland (3), senior central back Melissa Tancredi (3) and junior central back Gudrun Gunnarsdottir (4) … Sunday’s final play was similar to the end of the Oct. 5 Villanova game, with the play vs. VU going the other way as Carpenter sent a tap to her left and Thorlakson skipped a 20-yard leftfooted shot through the box and inside the far left post … ND will be looking to jumpstart its offense next week after totaling just 12 goals in the last six games (compared to 55 in the first 15) … Santa Clara (Sept. 21, 1-1, ND won 2-1) and Miami are the only teams to come back and tie ND this season … Waldrum is 200-67-16 in 14 seasons as a Division I women’s soccer head coach (also six years at Tulsa and three at Baylor) and is 276-122-23 in 23 overall seasons as a college men’s and women’s head coach … four seniors who are nearing the end of their ND careers – Pruzinsky, Carpenter, Guertin and Warner – were honored prior to the game … the current senior class has helped ND post a 72-13-3 record from 2000-03, with three BIG EAST regular-season titles, two previous BIG EAST Tournament titles, three previous NCAA appearances (as freshmen, they were members of the 2000 team that was top-ranked and advanced to the NCAA semifinals) … the Irish are 80-9-4 in Pruzinsky’s four healthy seasons (without her, they went 13-8-0 last season) … ND is 126-9-2 in its last 137 home games, with a 45-7 scoring edge at home this season … the Irish own an all-time record of 105-4-1 when facing an unranked team at Alumni Field … the other four teams with one loss include top-25 squads UCLA, Princeton and Cal Poly, plus unranked Southeastern Louisiana.
1 2 OT – F
Miami (9-9-1) 1 0 0 – 1
#2 Notre Dame (19-1-1) 1 0 1 – 2
ND 1. Katie Thorlakson 10 (Kimberly Carpenter, Amy Warner) 15:47; MIA 2. Jackie Garcia 1 (-_ 17:26; ND 2. Amanda Guertin 11 (Carpenter) 92:54.
Shots: MIA 3-2-0 – 5, ND 12-13-2 – 27.
Corner Kicks: MIA 2-1-0 – 3, ND 7-4-0 – 11.
Saves: MIA 8 (Alex Alford 7, team 1), ND 2 (Erika Bohn).
Fouls: MIA 13, ND 8.
Offsides: MIA 0, ND 2.
Yellow Cards: Britney Butcher (MIA) 92:29; Ashley Durkee (MIA) 92:53.