Oct. 6, 2006
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For Kerri Hanks, it was just a matter of time. The sophomore forward entered Friday night’s game with eight goals for the season but the All-American also had endured plenty of frustrating near-misses during the first 11 games of 2006. That all changed against Seton Hall, as Hanks scored the first three goals and assisted on the fourth while leading the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team to a 5-0 victory over the Pirates. The Irish once again attracted a near-capacity crowd – with the 3,168 attendance number yielding a total of nearly 9,000 fans during the three-game stretch over the past two weekends. Friday’s crowd was just 133 shy of breaking the Alumni Field record, with that 3,000 figure from the 1997 Notre Dame Adidas Classic having the benefit of counting four-game tournament passes in each game’s attendance.
Notre Dame (12-0-0, 5-0-0 BIG EAST) – which has opened with 12 wins for the fourth time in the program’s history – will play its final regular-season home game of 2006 on Sunday, Oct. 8, versus Rutgers (1:00), as one of the top all-around classes in the program’s history will be honored during a rare early-October Senior Day (the team’s final two weeks of the regular season come on the road). The current seniors have yet to be outshot in a game during their four years with the Irish while owning the second-best career winning percentage (.909; 79-7-2) in Notre Dame women’s soccer history. North Carolina is the only team – out of 310 in Division I – with a current senior class that has totaled more career victories (83-3-3).
Hanks registered her 10th career multiple-goal game but just the third this season, in the process pushing her 2006 goal total into double-digits (11). The three goals produced her third career hat trick while the seven points were one shy of matching her career high. Hanks now has 97 points (39 goals, 19 assists) in her Notre Dame career and needs just three points in her next two games to reach 100 points quicker than any previous player in the Irish women’s soccer program’s history. Half of her 26 points this season – five goals and three assists (13) – have come in front of the big crowds over the stretch of the past three games .
Less than halfway through her Notre Dame career, Hanks finds herself on an extended pace to challenge two impressive records in the Irish record book: the 80 career goals by Jenny Heft and the 211 career points (70G-71A) by her fellow class of 2000 member Jenny Streiffer. Heft also owns the Irish record for career hat tricks (6) while only three others – Rosella Guerrero (5), Monica Gerardo (5) and Michelle McCarthy (4) – have totaled more career hat tricks than Hanks (whose three HTs are tied with seven others, most recently class of ’01 teammates Anne Makinen and Meotis Erikson).
Hanks joins Guerrero, Gerardo and Makinen as the only Notre Dame women’s soccer players ever to total three career hat tricks prior to their junior season (each had three HTs in their first two seasons).
Surging offensive force Jen Buczkowski added a goal and two assists in the win over Seton Hall (6-6-1, 2-3-1 BIG EAST), making the senior midfieldeer the 22nd all-time Notre Dame player to reach 20 goals (20) and 20 assists (29) in her career. Buczkowski has registered points in four of the past five games (1G-5A), accounting for all seven of her points this season. Her 69 career points place Buczkowski 24th on the Notre Dame career points chart, a list that also includes Hanks (16th; 97) and junior F/M Amanda Cinalli (21st; 77).
Freshman forward Michele Weissenhofer – the reigning national player of the week – chipped in her ninth goal of the season and 13th assist (extending her nation-leading total). Weissenhofer has points in 11 of 12 games this season (six straight) while her team-leading 31 points have her on pace for one of the top all-around seasons ever by a Notre Dame freshman. She needs only one more goal to become just the eighth Irish freshman with double-digit goals and assists in her debut season (Hanks, who had 28G-15A in ’05, is the only ND freshman since ’99 to reach 10G-10A).
Notre Dame racked up a 27-1 edge in total shots and had all five corner kicks in the game. Seton Hall’s shot was a harmless try from outside the box and technically went down as just the 26th shot on goal allowed by the Irish all season (an average of 2.2 per game).
Since allowing an early goal by West Virginia a week ago, Notre Dame has yielded just two shots on goal in the past 194 minutes of game action. That span of nearly 200 minutes also includes just six total shots by the opposition and only three corner kicks (all by WVU). The Irish have held their past two opponents (Pittsburgh and Seton Hall) to one shot each and no corner kicks.
Notre Dame is unbeaten in its past 35 home games (34-0-1) – fourth-longest in D-I women’s soccer history – and has not lost to a BIG EAST team at home in a span of 70 games, dating back to 1995 (69-0-1). The Irish extended their dominating season scoring edge to 43-3, including 32-0 in the second half. Seventh-ranked West Virginia remains the only team to score on the Irish in the past eight-plus games, a 798-minute stretch that includes a 30-1 scoring edge.
Notre Dame also: pushed the second-longest scoring streak in the program’s history to 48 games (seven shy of the record); extended its home winning streak to 26 games (three back of that record); and registered its 19th straight win during regular-season play (one away from tying that Irish mark).
Senior midfielder Jill Krivacek assisted on the first two goals, extending the best single-season point total of her career to 11 (3G-5A, after totaling just 5G-9A in her first three seasons). Krivacek’s feed to sophomore forward Brittany Bock helped set up the first goal in the 19th minute, with Bock then springing Hanks into the left side of the box. The ‘keeper Amanda Becker came out to challenge but Hanks showed her scoring savvy by sending a shot past the charging ‘keeper and inside the far post for her team-leading fifth gamewinning goal of the season (18:22).
Five minutes later, senior center back Kim Lorenzen picked up her 11th career point (first of ’06) and fifth assist, after feeding the ball to Krivacek down the center of the field. The 5-foot-11 Krivacek shielded the ball before suddenly delivering a thru-ball that again sprung Hanks – this time into the right side. The charging Becker met a familiar fate, as Hanks sent her shot past the ‘keeper for the 2-0 cushion (24:42).
Notre Dame has scored a boatload of goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half this season and another landed in the nets on Friday night. Hanks worked an elongated give-and-go with Buczkowski to complete her hat trick and yield the 3-0 lead at the 54:12 mark. Buczkowski returned the ball with a pass from beyond the right side of the box and Hanks slipped her shot past the diving Becker into the right corner.
That pair combined to set up the fourth goal of the game, just two minutes later. Hanks lofted a cross from the right flank and Weissenhofer was in position to one-time her shot by Becker for the 4-0 lead (56:18).
Buczkowski’s first goal of the season then capped the scoring, on a play set up by junior forward Susan Pinnick’s pass to Weissenhofer. Buczkowski received the ball on the left side of the box and sent a rising 12-yard shot into the far right side of the goal, giving the Irish their second straight 5-0 victory (65:62).
Freshman midfielder Courtney Rosen returned to action after missing the past seven games due to a foot injury. |
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NOTES – Freshman M Courtney Rosen returned to action after missing the past seven games due to a foot injury … the 1996 team is the only other ND squad to open the season by scoring multiple goals in each of the first 12 games (13) … the current team holds the ND record for fewest goals allowed in the first 12 games (3) … a win Sunday over Rutgers would match the 1996 ND team’s 13-0-0 start (the 2000 team opened 16-0-0, the ’04 team 15-0-0) … the Irish have scored first-half goals in back-to-back games for the first time all season … a win over RU also would tie the ND record for consecutive wins in regular-season play (20) … the 1999 ND team won its final four regular-season games before the 2000 team opened 16-0-0 … ND’s 32 second-half goals are more than most Division I teams have totaled all season (when including first half, second half and OT), as the Irish now are averaing nearly 3.0 second-half goals per game (2.7) … ND owns 237 consecutive wins when going up 2-0 (260-0-1 all-time) … Hanks had not posted a hat trick since opening week of the 2005 season, when she had 3G-1A vs. New Hampshire and 4G vs. Vermont (her top point totals with the Irish, in addition to Friday’s 3G-1A vs. SHU) … Hanks is two points behind Amy Warner for 15th on the ND career points list (her seven points vs. SHU moved Hanks past Tiffany Thompson’s 91 career points) … the hat trick moved Hanks into a tie with Warner for 14th on the ND career goals list (next is current USA National Team standout Shannon Boxx, who totaled 39 career goals from ’95-’98) … Hanks also is tied with Warner for 10th on the ND career gamewinning goals list (11) … Streiffer (’96-’99) and Makinen (’97-’00) both reached 100 points in their 40th career game with the Irish … in addition to Hanks, Makinen and Erikson, the other five ND players who have totaled three career hat tricks include Suzie Zilvitis, Stephanie Porter, Alison Lester, Cindy Daws and Streiffer … the Irish rested many of their top players at different stages in the game … Buczkowski and senior D Christie Shaner did not start but each entered midway through the second half to extend their impressive games-played streaks … Buczkowski has played all 88 games of her career while Shaner has missed just one (with 85 straight GP) … the eight members of the senior class have combined to log 510 career games played (including 82 by F Lizzie Reed, 81 by Lorenzen and 80 by Krivacek) … ND now leads the series with Seton Hall 12-1-0 (59-8 scoring edge), with nine straight wins … ND is 25-1-0 in its past 26 games (with the loss coming in the ’05 NCAAs to eventual champ Portland).
Seton Hall (6-6-1, 2-3-1 BIG EAST) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (12-0-0, 5-0-0 BIG EAST) 2 3 – 5
ND 1. Kerri Hanks 9th of season/37th of career (Brittany Bock, Jill Krivacek) 18:22
ND 2. Hanks 10/38 (Krivacek) 24:42
ND 3. Hanks 11/39 (Jen Buczkowski) 54:12
ND 4. Michele Weissenhofer 9 (Hanks, Buczkowski) 56:18
ND 5. Buczkowski 1/20 (Weissenhofer, Susan Pinnick) 65:52
Shots: SHU 1-0 – 1, ND 13-14 – 27
Corner Kicks: SHU 0, ND 5
Saves: SHU 6 (Amanda Becker), ND 1 (Lauren Karas 1, Kelsey Lysander 0)
Fouls: SHU 11, ND 11
Offside: SHU 2, ND 4
Attendance: 3,168
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