Oct. 28, 2007
Kerri Hanks scored Notre Dame’s first goal and assisted on two more, helping deliver the 10th straight victory for the 13th-ranked Irish (3-1 at Rutgers) while becoming the 19th player in Division-I women’s soccer history ever to reach 50 career goals and 50 assists (Hanks is the third ever to reach 50-50 as a junior)). Susan Pinnick continued her strong play by scoring the eventual game-winning goal and Becca Mendoza scored for the third time in the past five games, as the Irish closed strong by holding the Scarlet Knights without a shot on goal over the final 66 minutes of game time.
Notre Dame (13-4-1, 11-0-0 BIG EAST) – which has not lost during the month of October since 2003 – went unbeaten in BIG EAST regular-season games for the eighth time in its 13 years of league membership. This marks the first time in 10 years that the Irish will enter the postseason riding a double-digit winning streak, a distinction shared with the potent 1997 squad that won its final 12 regular-season games.
Hanks (61G-50A) has joined former Notre Dame standout Jenny Streiffer (70G-71A; ’96-’99) and former UNC star Mia Hamm (103G-72A; ’89-’99, ’92-’93) as the only D-I players ever to reach the 50-50 milestone prior to their senior season. Three other Notre Dame players reached 50-50 in their senior seasons: midfielders Cindy Daws (61G-67A; ’93-’96) and Anne Makinen (65G-65A; ’97-’00), plus forward Katie Thorlakson (55G-73A; ’02-’05). With the 2007 postseason still in front of her, Hanks already owns the sixth-most career points (172) and sixth-most assists (50) ever totaled by a D-I player prior to her senior season.
Next up for the Irish is a BIG EAST quarterfinal on Sunday, Nov. 4, at Alumni Field (1:00 p.m.). Notre Dame actually could face an immediate rematch with Rutgers (9-8-2, 4-5-2), which fell back to fifth place in the BIG EAST National Division standings. The Scarlet Knights must hit the road for a midweek BIG EAST first-round game at St. John’s, with the winner of that game advancing to take on Notre Dame next weekend. SJU (11-5-2, 6-5-0) finished fourth in the BIG EAST American Division, after a pair of double-overtime wins this weekend over Connecticut (1-0) and Providence (2-1). The Red Storm dropped a 3-0 game to visiting Notre Dame three weeks ago.
One month into the 2007 season, Notre Dame was under .500 (3-4-1) after losing to four different top-25 opponents (including three by 2-1 scores, two of them in overtime). Five weeks later, the Irish now find themselves in position to make a run at a top-8 seed (or higher) in the NCAA Tournament while owning a season win total that is just two shy of the national lead. Only nine teams in all of Division I women’s soccer (more than 300 teams) have more wins than Notre Dame, with the most notably teams on that list including 15-win teams Texas A&M, BYU and Purdue, plus North Carolina, Penn State and Georgia (each with 14 victories).
Notre Dame’s 10-game win streak includes a 34-5 scoring edge (3.4 goals/gm; 0.50 goals-against avg.), plus the following statistical edges: 188-67 in shots (avg. of 19-7 per game), 95-23 in shots on goal (avg. 9-2) and 35-16 in corner kicks (3.5-1.6). The Irish have scored three-plus goals in eight games during the win streak (four-plus in four games) while winning by a margin of three-plus in six of those games (only two of the games have been one-run wins). Eleven different ND players have scored in the win streak, led by the junior forward duo of Brittany Bock (10G-3A) and Hanks (5G-9A).
The Irish limited the Scarlet Knight to a pair of shots on goal (none in the final 66 minutes) and three corner kicks during Sunday’s game. Rutgers did become the first team to hold a lead on Notre Dame during the win streak, after a score by Kristen Edmonds in the 20th minute. Jennifer Anzuvino assisted on the goal when she lofted an unusually high cross from the left flank. The moon ball kept carrying and eluded backpedaling ‘keeper Lauren Karas near the far post, with Edmonds in position to score from close range for her second goal of the season (19:48).
Hanks appeared to have scored minutes before the Rutgers goal, after breaking free for a 25-yard shot rocket that clipped the bottom of the crossbar and bounced straight down – but the linesman trailing the play did not signal for a goal and the game remained scoreless.
The deficit lasted only 12 minutes, as Hanks was taken down by a slide tackle from behind to set up a penalty kick. Hanks then converted a well-struck shot to the corner of the net (31:15), giving her a share of the team lead with 11 goals this season.
Hanks now has scored 14 of her 61 career goals with the Irish on penalty kicks (6-of-6), direct free kicks (7) or directly off a corner kick (1). Sunday’s goal extended her point streak to nine games, tied for the second-longest by Hanks during her three seasons with the Irish. Hanks joins former teammate Thorlakson as the only Notre Dame players ever to have three different scoring streaks of nine games or longer and – with a goal or assist next weekend – she again would join Thorlakson as the only ND players ever with two double-digit point streaks.
The second Irish goal featured more set-play skill from Hanks, who served a leftside free kick from 10 yards in front of the midfield line. The ball found junior center back Carrie Dew’s head near the top of the 18-yard box and Dew sent a flick on to the far post. Pinnick ran onto the ball and – with the ‘keeper Erin Guthrie charging out – placed her low shot into the center of the goal for the 2-1 lead and eventual gamewinner (37:02).
Pinnick now has totaled 12 points (5G-2A) in the win streak and picked up both game-winning goals on the weekend’s roadtrip (also in Friday’s 3-1 game at Seton Hall). All but one of Notre Dame’s GWGs this season have come from three players this season: Bock (5), Hanks (4) and Pinnick (3; after totaling just a pair of GWGs in her previous two seasons).
Hanks has accumulated many impressive stats with the Irish – including the fact that she now has scored (14) or assisted (17) on 31 goals during her career in set-play/deal-ball situations. Sunday produced her eighth career assist on a free-kick service, along with nine other goals that have been set up by her corner kicks.
Mendoza – who had scored only one goal in the first 46 games of her Notre Dame career – now has scored three times in the past three weeks, with Sunday’s score set up by an Irish counterattack. Hanks broke free down the middle and touched a pass into the left side of the box, with Mendoza then chipping a shot over Guthrie to score inside the near post (70:02).
NOTES – The winner of the quarterfinal game at Alumni Field will advance to the semifinals (at West Virginia) to face the winner of the Georgetown-at-UConn quarterfinal … South Florida will play at Villanova in the other first-round game (the winner of that game will go to WVU in the quarterfinals) … the other quarterfinal will be Marquette at Louisville … ND has posted a double-digit win streak for the 13th time in the program’s 20-year history and for the seventh time in the nine-year Randy Waldrum era (1999-2007) … it is ND’s third double-digit win streak in the past two seasons (the 2006 team had 13- and 12-game win streaks) … the Irish now have posted win streaks of 10 games or longer in five straight seasons (2003-06), plus earlier double-digit win streaks in 1989, each year from 1993-97, and 2000 … six previous ND teams have gone unbeaten during the month of October, including two teams that won all of their Oct. games – in 1997 (7-0-0) and 2005 (8-00) – while four others were unbeaten in Oct. but had a tie (the 1994, 2000, 2004 and 2006 teams all were 8-0-1 in Oct.) … ND just completed a four-year unbeaten streak during the month of October (32-0-2) and is 41-1-2 in October spanning the 2003-07 seasons … ND’s 13 seasons in the BIG EAST have produced a 118-8-4 record (.923) in BIG EAST regular-season games … this marks the fifth time that ND has swept all of its BIG EAST regular-season games (also 9-0-0 in 1996, 11-0-0 in 1997, and 9-0-0 in both 1999 and 2003, plus three other years with no losses but a tie in the BIG EAST regular season) … since a forgettable BIG EAST season in 2002 (8-3-3; 3-3-0 in division games), the Irish have been near-perfect in BIG EAST regular-season games over the past five seasons (49-1-2/.962, from 2003-07) … senior goalkeeper Lauren Karas will enter the postseason with a 48-4-1 career record … Karas allowed only three goals during the 2007 BIG EAST regular season (in 885 minutes; 0.31 GAA) … Hanks previously had points in nine straight games during the second half of the 2005 season and then had points in the final 13 games of 2006 (Thorlakson had point streaks of 14,12 and 9) … Hanks (11G-13A in ’07) remains 8th on the ND career points list (172, now five back of Holly Manthei) while her 61 goals are tied with Daws for 5th on that ND list … the only all-time ND players with more goals than Hanks: Jenny Heft (80), Monica Gerardo (73), Streiffer (70) and Makinen (65) … Hanks (53) still is 8th on the ND career assists list, three back of Jen Grubb … senior F/M Amanda Cinalli was back in the starting lineup and logged her 92nd career game played (tied with former teammate Candace Chapman for 22nd in ND history) … senior M Ashley Jones still has yet to miss a game in her ND career (97) and now is tied wih Kate Sobrero for 12th on the ND career games played list (one back of Gerardo, Kate Fisher and Jen Renola).
50-50 NOTES – The 18 previous players to reach 50G-50A are: April Heinrichs (UNC; ’83-’86; 87G-51A … Carin Jenningss (UC Santa Barbard; ’83-’86; 102G-60A … Mia Hamm (UNC; ’89-’90, ’92-’93; 103G-72A) … Tisha Venturini (UNC; ’91-’94; 69G-51A) … Cindy Daws (ND; ’93-’96; 61G-67A) … Debbie Keller (UNC; ’93-’96; 67G-57A) … Christie Pearce (Monmouth; ’93-’96; 79G-54A) … Robin Confer (UNC; ’94-’97; 77G-55A) … Cindy Parlow (UNC; ’95-’98; 68G-53A) … Mandy Clemens (Santa Clara; ’96-’99; 67G-65A) … Jenny Streiffer (ND; ’96-’99; 70G-71A) … Missy Wycinsky (William & Mary; ’96-’99; 75G-52A) … Anne Makinen (ND; ’97-’00; 65G-56A) … Abby Wambach (Florida; ’98-’01; 96G-50A) … Christie Welsh (Penn St.; ’99-’02; 82G-52A) … Alyssa Ramsey (UNC; ’00-’03; 57G-71A) … Katie Thorlakson (ND; ’02-’05; 55G-73A) … Lindsay Tarpley (UNC; ’02-’05; 59G-59A … UNC (8) and ND (5) have combined to produce 70% (13 of 19) of the players in the 50G-50A club … dating back to the 1999 season, ND has totaled five players with 50G-50A while UNC has two (plus one each from Santa Clara, William & Mary, Florida and Penn State in that nine-year span) … Streiffer holds the ND record for quickest to 50G-50A (67 GP), followed by Hanks (70), Makinen (78), Daws (84) and Thorlakson (86) … Hanks conceivably could reach the 60G-60A milestone this season with a productive and extended postseason … only five players in D-I women’s soccer history (and none since 1999) have reached 60-60: ND’s Daws and Streiffer, UCSB’s Jennings, UNC’s Hamm and Santa Clara’s Clemens … the only players who have ended their junior season with more points than Hanks’ current total (172) are Hamm (210; 77G-56A), Danielle Garrett Fotopoulos (SMU/Florida; ’94-’96; 209/86G-37A), Jennings (UCSB; ’83-’86; 198/82G-34A), Tiffeny Milbrett (Portland; ’90-’92; 178/73G-32A) and Christie Welsh (Penn State; ’99-’01; 177/69G-39A) … five players similarly have totaled more assists by the end of their junior seaosn than Hanks (50): Holly Manthei (95; ND; ’94-’96, Streiffer (56; ND; ’96-’98), Margaret Tietjen (56; UConn; ’95-’97), Hamm (56; UNC; ’89-’90, ’92) and Marit Foss (52; Jacksonville; ’97-’99) … there are 14 D-I players who have totaled more per-senior goals than Hanks (61).
Rutgers (9-8-2, 4-5-2 BIG EAST) 1 0 – 1
#13 Notre Dame (13-4-1, 11–0 BIG EAST) 2 1 – 3
RU 1. Kristen Edmonds 2 (Jennifer Anzivino) 19:48.
ND 1. Kerri Hanks 11th of season/61st of career (PK) 31:15.
ND 2. Susan Pinnick 5/14 (Hanks, Carrie Dew) 37:02.
ND 3. Becca Mendoza 3/4 (Hanks) 70:02.
Shots: ND 10, RU 7.
Corner Kicks: ND 1, RU 3.
Saves: ND 1 (Lauren Karas), RU 1 (Erin Guthrie).
Fouls: ND 14, RU 12
Offside: ND 2, RU 3
Yellow Card: Alexandrea Hambleton (RU) 37:01.