Nov. 10, 2006
Final Stats (HTML; includes play-by-play)
Boxscore in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – There were plenty of lightning strikes in the vicinity of Alumni Field on Friday night but Notre Dame sophomore forward Kerri Hanks provided the biggest sparks of what turned into a very long evening. Hanks served up a corner-kick assist on the game’s first goal before taking care of the next three Irish scores herself, as the Hermann Trophy frontrunner led the way in the 7-1 NCAA Tournament opening victory over Oakland (Mich.) University. Notre Dame extended one of the longest home unbeaten streaks in NCAA D-I women’s soccer history to 38 games (37-0-1) and now moves on to Sunday’s second round (Nov. 12; 1:00 p.m.) to will face Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which outlasted Michigan on penalty kicks in Friday’s first game at Alumni Field.
Notre Dame (21-0-1) – now 36-11-1 in all-time NCAA Tournament games (760), including 29-3-0 at home – held a 2-0 first-half lead when the game was halted due to lightning, sending the teams to their locker rooms 55 seconds early. A series of nearby lightning strikes pushed the delay to nearly two hours before the teams returned to quickly finish the first half and then immediately started the second half.
The Irish finished with a 25-2 edge in total shots, including 17-1 in shots on goal. Notre Dame attempted three of the game’s four corner kicks and now has held 18 straight opponents to 0-4 shots on goal. The Irish have yielded just 44 shots on goal all season (2.0/gm, ND-record pace) and are unbeaten at the 22-game mark for the fourth time in the program’s history (the ’94, ’97 and ’00 teams all started 23-0-1).
Junior midfielder Amanda Cinalli volleyed home the corner kick from Hanks to open the scoring in the 13th minute and Hanks later scored directly off a free kick for the 2-0 cushion with 10 minutes left in the first half. She added a pair of goals early in the second half, yielding Notre Dame’s first hat trick in an NCAA Tournament game since 1998. Hanks also became the first Irish player ever to total four career hat tricks prior to her junior season.
Molly Iarocci and Susan Pinnick later came off the bench to assist on each other’s goals while Michele Weissenhofer capped the scoring with her 14th goal of the season.
Hanks – who has surged atop the national scoring charts with 57 points – now has reached 20 goals in each of the past two seasons (28 in ’05, 21 in ’06), in addition to posting 15 assists in both ’05 and ’06. She reached the 30G-30A milestone in her 47th career game, second-quickest in Notre Dame history behind Jenny Streiffer’s impressive start back in 1996 and ’97. Streiffer reached 30G-30A in just 39 games and went on to total 70G-71A in her career (she and former UNC great Mia Hamm remain the only 70-70 players in D-I history).
Nearly half of Hanks’ 15 assists this season now have come via set-play services (5 CKs, 2 free kicks), including the early corner kick in Friday’s game. Hanks struck the ball from the left flag and accounted for the strong wind that was blowing toward the goal. Her looping kick curved for the far-right post and Cinalli was unmarked for the volley that produced her 10th goal of the season (12:40). Cinalli now has totaled 10 goals in each of her three seasons with the Irish, still ranking 17th on the ND career goals list (30; four behind Amy VanLaecke).
The recent surge for Hanks includes an eight-game point streak (one shy of tying her career-best) while factoring into two-third of the team’s goals (29 of 44; 15G-14A) since the midpoint of the regular season, with points in 12 of those 13 games. She already ranks as one of the top postseason scorers in Notre Dame history, with her 35 career postseason points including 16 in 2006 (6G-4A, in 4 GP).
Cinalli now has opened the scoring in six postseason games during her career, the most postseason “first goals” by any player in Notre Dame history.
Hanks sent home a free kick later in the opening half, converting from the center of the field just a few yards beyond the penalty box. With the wall of opponents stationed in front of her, the crafty Hanks calmly placed a low shot into the right corner of the net for her 19th goal of the season and 47th of her career (35:00).
Oakland briefly jumped back into the game shortly after the resumption of play, as Kristi Evans converted her own free-kick goal from just outside the 18-yard box. The shot tucked under the center of the crossbar for a 2-1 game and just the eighth goal allowed by the Irish this season (48:59). It also marked the first time all season that an unranked opponent has scored versus Notre Dame.
Less than three minutes later, Hanks answered with another score of her own and then completed her hat trick in the 56th minute for the 4-1 lead. Senior midfielder Jen Buczkowski – appering in her 98th consecutive game (the 3rd-longest streak in ND history) – sent a long thru-ball that sprung Hanks into the box. Hanks dribbled to her left while going around goalkeeper Kim Herbst before firing into the open net (51:46). It was the 11th assist of the season for Buczkowski (all in the past 13 games), matching her career-high from the 2004 NCAA-title season. Buczkowski entered the week ranked 15th nationally in assists and third on the Irish team, behind Weissenhofer (17; 1st in nation) and Hanks (14, now 15; entered week 4th in nation).
Hanks becomes the fourth player in Notre Dame history to post multiple 20-goal seasons, joining Monica Gerardo (20 in ’95, 23 in ’96, 20 in 98), Jenny Heft (28 in ’98; 20 in ’99) and Streiffer (22 in ’96, 20 in ’97) in that distinction. Hanks is the only Irish player ever to go beyond 20 goals in multiple seasons.
Cinalli has drawn several penalty kicks during her career and such was the case four minutes later, with Hanks then sending home a low shot on the PK as the Irish suddenly owned a three-goal lead (55:24).
Iarocci knocked in a deflected Pinnick shot for her second goal of the season and third of her four-year career (82:32), starting a four-minute stretch in which the Irish scored three times. Less than two minutes later, Pinnick headed in a cross from Iarocci for her own second goal of the season and ninth of her career (84:20). Senior forward Lizzie Reed also assisted on that goal and picked up another assist on the final goal, as Weissenhofer placed a shot inside the far-right post for the 7-1 final (86:39).
Notre Dame has won by a larger margin just twice in 47 previous NCAA Tournament games: an 8-0 NCAA quarterfinal vs. UCLA in 1997 and the 8-1 game vs. Indiana the previous season (in the 1996 first round). This marks the second straight season that the Irish have opened the NCAAs with a six-goal margin (6-0 vs. Valparaiso, in ’05), also winning by six goals in the 1997 first and second round (7-1 vs. Cincinnati, then 6-0 vs. Nebraska).
Senior left back Christie Shaner did not play due to illness, ending the seventh-longest streak of consecutive games played in Notre Dame history (94). Buczkowski extended her own consecutive games played streak to 98 (all of her career), tying 1997 graduates Jen Renola and Kate Fisher for third in Notre Dame history. Junior Ashley Jones shifted from right to left back while freshman Amanda Clark made the start on the left, joining center back Haley Ford as freshmen who started Friday’s game on the back line.
POSTSEASON HAT TRICK HISTORY – ND’s 80 previous postseason games featured seven hat tricks, including five in the NCAAs: Shannon Boxx in the ’95 second round (3G vs. Wisconsin), Heft in the ’96 first round (3G vs. Indiana), VanLaecke in the ’96 second round (3G-1A vs. Wisconsin), Gerardo in the ’97 first round (3G-1A, vs. Cincinnati) and Heft in the ’97 quarterfinal (3G vs. UCLA) … Anne Makinen had a hat trick in the 1997 BIG EAST Tournament final vs. UConn and Katie Thorlakson had 4G vs. St. John’s in the 2004 BIG EAST quarterfinals.
ADDITIONAL HANKS NOTES – The seven-point game gives Hanks 128 career points, moving past Amanda Guertin and Alison Lester into 12th on the ND career points list (7 behind Boxx) … Hanks (49) also passed Guertin into 10th among the ND career goalscoring leaders (next are Thorlakson and Rosella Guerrero, each with 55) … Hanks ranks 14th in NCAA history with 1.04 career goals per game, with several noteworthy names above her on that list (Tiffeny Milbrrett, Carin Jennings, Danielle Garret Fotopoulos, Christine Sinclair, Mia Hamm and Shannon MacMillan) … Hanks now has 12 career gamewinning goals (9th in ND history, one behind Meotis Erikson) … her four career hat tricks trail only Heft (6), Guerrero (5) and Gerardo (5) in the 19-year history of ND women’s soccer … she has scored (12) or assisted (9) on nearly half of ND’s gamewinning goals (21 of 43) during the past two seasons … her 18 gamewinning points this season (6 GWG, 6 GWA) are 5th in ND history, behind Thorlakson (23, in ’04; 20, in ’05), Heft (19, in ’98) and Guerrero (19, in ’94) … Hanks and Thorlakson (8 GWG-7 GWA, in ’04) are the only ND players ever to reach 6 GWGs and 6 GWAs in the same season … Hanks is the only ND player with 6-plus GWGs in multiple seasons (6 in ’05 and ’06) … the 7-point game was one shy of her personal best for points in a game … Hanks now needs 5A to become the 11th D-I player ever to reach 20G-20A in a season … she has points in 10 of 11 postseason games during her career (goals in 9) … her 35 career postseason points (14G-7A) already rank 6th in ND history, behind Thorlakson (53), Makinen (43), Gerardo (40), Streiffer (39) and Erikson (36) … her next postseason goal (15) will tie Thorlakson, Makinen and Gerardo for that ND record … Hanks has scored seven career goals in the NCAAs, good for 4th behind Gerardo (10), Heft (9) and Guertin (8) … Hanks has totaled six postseason goals this season (Thorlakson had 9 in ’04 and 8 in ’05, Makinen 8 in ’97) … Hanks also owns the 5th-most points by an ND player in one postseason (16), behind Thorlakson (27 in ’04, 20 in ’05). Hanks (19, in ’05) and Makinen (19, in ’97) … ND is 31-0-0 during the past two seasons when Hanks scores.
UPDATED TEAM NOTES – The Irish have won 31 straight when scoring first and are unbeaten in their past 244 games when claiming a 2-0 lead … the current 27-game home winning streak is two shy of tying the team record … ND has posted 11 straight postseason wins at Alumni Field … ND’s 74-8 season scoring margin includes 51-5 in the second half … Friday’s game was the first even between ND and Oakland … since 1993, teams that have come to Alumni Field for a series opener vs. ND are just 3-43-1 in those games … Cinalli (10) joins Hanks (19) and Weissenhofer (14) in giving the Irish three double-digit goalscorer … ND is 68-5-3 when playing as the #1-ranked team in the NSCAA poll … the Irish own a 41-3 scoring edge at home this season (Hanks has 11G-7A in the 10 home games).
UPDATED INDIVIDUAL NOTES – Weissenhofer has points in 18 of the 22 games this season … the only ND freshmen who have totaled more goals than Weissenhofer (14) are: Hanks (28), Makinen (23), Erikson (22), Streiffer (22), Gerardo (20) and Daws (16) … Cinalli needs 4A to become ND’s 12th player with 30G-30A … Randy Waldrum’s record at ND now is RW is 162-23-6 (.864) … the senior class now owns an 88-7-3 career record (.913) … Buczkowski is tied for 7th on the ND career games played list (98, alongside Renola, Fisher and Gerardo) … the only ND players to appear in more games that Buczkowski are Boxx (101), Erikson (101), Holly Manthei (100), Streiffer (100), Jen Grubb (100) and Kara Brown (99) … the seniors have combined for 564 career games played (347 starts) … center back Kim Lorenzen and defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek became two of 27 ND players to reach 90 GP (Reed has 89) … the Irish are 37-1-1 during the past two seasons with Lorenzen in the starting lineup … Buczkowski, Krivacek and Lorenzen have appeared in all 24 postseason games during the past four seasons.
Oakland (8-11-1) 0 1 – 1
#1 Notre Dame (21-0-1) 2 5 – 7
ND 1. Amanda Cinalli 10th of season/30th of career (Kerri Hanks) 12:40.
ND 2. Hanks 19/47 (-) 35:00.
OAK 1. Kristi Evans 8 (-) 48:59.
ND 3. Hanks 20/48 (Jen Buczkowski, Courtney Rosen) 51:46.
ND 4. Hanks 21/49 (-) 55:24.
ND 5. Molly Iarocci 2/3 (Susan Pinnick) 82:32.
ND 6. Pinnick 2/9 (Iarocci, Lizzie Reed) 84:20.
ND 7. Michele Weissenhofer 14 (Reed) 86:39.
Shots: OAK 2, ND 25
Corner Kicks: OAK 1, ND 3
Saves: OAK 10 (Kim Herbst), ND 0 (Lauren Karas/1 GA; Kelsey Lysander)
Fouls: OAK 5, ND 15
Offside: OAK 0, ND 3
Yellow Card: Oakland bench (67:26)
Michigan (9-7-6) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (16-3-2) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Shootout (UWM advances 5-3)
UWM – shots converted by Joanna Severson, Louise Vraney, Molly Duffy, Pam Shipway and Bailey Briggs
MICH – shots converted by Judy Coffman and Kaitlin Spencer, miss by Lindsey Cottrell, converted by Katie Miller
Shots: MI 6, UWM 12.
Corner Kicks: MI 5, UWM 3
Saves: MI 4 (Megan Tuura), UWM 2 (Erin Kane)
Fouls: MI 14, UWM 15
Offside: MI 0, UWM 0
Yellow Card: Taylor Powell (UWM) 78:55