Nov. 3, 2006
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Michelle Weissenhofer and Brittany Bock scored second-half goals and the Notre Dame defense continued its season-long domination by holding Marquette to four total shots, as the top-ranked Irish women’s soccer team defeated the Golden Eagles in Friday night’s BIG EAST semifinal action at Morrone Stadium. Notre Dame (19-0-1) – which produced a “world-class” goal to open the scoring (in the words of head coach Randy Waldrum) – improved to 10-1-0 in all-time BIG EAST semifinal action and next will look to win the program’s ninth BIG EAST Tournament title, in Sunday’s game versus Rutgers (2:00 EST). The Scarlet Knights advanced to the final after rallying to defeat West Virginia, 3-2, in Friday’s second semifinal.
(Note: this recap now includes expanded game details and notes, plus extensive comments from ND head coach Randy Waldrum … Sunday’s game will be televised by various networks, live and delayed, throughout the nation – see und.com for an upcoming release with a full listing of the affiliates that will be carrying the ND-Rutgers game.)
Sophomore forward Kerri Hanks assisted on both goals, pushing her season totals to 16 goals and 14 assists as she remains near the top of the national scoring charts. Hanks now has scored (10) or assisted (13) on 70 percent of Notre Dame’s goals (23 of 33) since the midpoint of the season (spanning 11 games) and could make a run at reaching 20 goals and 20 assists for the season, a dual milestone that has been reached just 10 times in 18 previous seasons of Division I women’s soccer.
The Irish posted their 16th shutout of the season (just two shy of tying that team record) and now own a 63-5 season scoring margin, highlighted by a 44-2 scoring edge during the second half. Marquette (11-6-4) managed just two shots on goal in the game – one coming on a harmless kick from well outside the 18-yard box – as Notre Dame’s team defense maintained its season-long average of allowing fewer than two shots on goal per game (39 total, in 20 games; 1.95/gm). The Irish have held 16 straight opponents to four shots on goal or fewer and have allowed more than three opponent SOGs just twice all season (15 of 20 games with 0-2 opponent SOGs).
Notre Dame stretched its all-time BIG EAST Tournament record to 25-2-0 while reaching the 20-game mark with an unbeaten record for the fifth time in the past 13 seasons and for the second time in the career of the senior class, who similarly helped the 2004 national-title team start 19-0-1. The 1994, ’97 and 2000 teams share the Irish record for best undefeated start, at 23-0-1.
The game was a rematch from the 2005 BIG EAST semifinals, which saw Notre Dame top Marquette 3-0. The Golden Eagles defeated the Irish earlier in that 2005 season but Notre Dame has gone 32-1-1 since that defeat, with the only Irish loss in that 34-game span coming to eventual NCAA champion Portland in the 2005 NCAA quarterfinals. The Irish have outscored the opposition 124-11 since that 2005 loss to Marquette, with 10 of the goals allowed coming from ranked teams (two by Yale, three by Portland, one each by Mississippi, Santa Clara and West Virginia, and two by Villanova). Notre Dame now has logged 23 straight games versus BIG EAST opponents without a loss (22-0-1), dating back to the Marquette loss.
Weissenhofer and Hanks worked a classic sequence to produce the first goal, after the Irish answered a Marquette counter-attack with their own quick run down the field. Weissenhofer received the ball near the center circle and quickly made her turn as Hanks instinctively took off on a run for the left corner. The resulting lead pass sent Hanks into the left side of the box and the All-American was able to pull away from her defender before lifting a cross back into the penalty area. Weissenhofer had been trailing the play and flicked a header into the far-right sidenetting for the 12th goal of her freshman season (63:32).
“That was a world-class goal and we actually had made a mistake in their counter-attack. They kind of got in behind us but we won it back and countered out,” said Waldrum, whose 160-23-2 record (.862) in eight seasons at Notre Dame includes 60-16-3 (.779) when facing an NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponent.
“Hanks made a great run, showing that great ability to make such sophisticated runs. When she got it in the left corner, all you need is one chance from her and it was a great delivery and then great finish on the score. You can’t watch a game between Chelsea and Man-United and see goals better than that. It was a great turning point in the game.”
Waldrum saw fellow Texas native Hanks play in plenty of games during her youth-soccer career and now has the pleasure of serving as her coach while she starts to emerge as one of the nation’s top all-around offensive threats.
“Hanks is developing greater vision to find her teammates – it’s something she is starting to hone in on and it puts her right on that short list of the top players in the country,” said Waldrum, who looked on two seasons ago as Katie Thorlakson fashioned one of the top all-around offensive seasons (23G-24A) in D-I women’s soccer history.
“It’s great to have a player who can score so many goals but who also can set up her teammates. We always talk about finding those players who have a great `soccer brain’ and who think about the game so tactically. Kerri is one of those players who get it and tonight her runs were great, al of her free kicks from even 40 yards out were dangerous. She was right on the money with her services and we put them under a lot of pressure with our set pieces.”
Hanks now has scored (5) or assisted (6) on 11 of Notre Dame’s 19 game-winning goals this season. She has totaled 117 points in 45 career games played, with her 44 goals and 29 assists leaving her one assist shy of becoming the 11th all-time Notre Dame player to reach 30 career goals and 30 assists.
Freshman Haley Ford again started alongside senior Kim Lorenzen at one of the central defender spots, in place of injured sophomore Carrie Dew (the 2006 BIG EAST defensive player of the year and one of 33 current candidates for the Hermann Trophy). Lorenzen’s steady play and calm leadership again played a key role in the shutout, as Notre Dame totaled a 19-4 edge in total shots and owned a clear margin in quality scoring chances.
“Tonight you saw what I’ve been saying all along – that Kim Lorenzen is the player we can’t do without,” said Waldrum. “It’s something that we see all the time. She had great covering position all night and she really has embraced the leadership of the team, especially with that back four.
“It’s really frustrating to see a player like Kim go through her whole career playing at a high level and never get any sort of postseason recognition from the BIG EAST. It’s as if our team gets punished for being good, because some of the players are going to be in the primary spotlight and they usually end up being the award winners. But we still have plenty of others who are among the best in the conference. We always are going to have some great players be overlooked – but they all realize there is a bigger prize out there for the team as a whole and they just care about winning.”
Bock posted her ninth goal of the season – and sixth in her past seven games played – to seal the victory with just 2:20 left to play. Passes from Hanks and Weissenhofer left Bock unmarked in the center of the penalty area and her shot glanced off the charging goalkeeper Laura Boyer before rolling over the endline for the 2-0 cushion (87:40). Weissenhofer extended her nation-leading assist total to 17 (still fourth-best ever by an ND freshman) while Bock registered the 21st goal of her two-year career with the Irish.
NOTES – The Irish have posted 42 straight wins when taking a 2-0 lead and have won 29 straight when scoring first … ND is 66-5-3 all-time when playing as the #1-ranked team in the NSCAA coaches poll … Weissenhofer has scored (2) or assisted (6) on eight game-winning goals this season … Hanks has 1G-4A in three career games vs. Marquette and 5G-5A in five career BIG EAST Tournament games (Bock has 3G-5A in her BET career) … junior goalkeeper Lauren Karas now owns a 30-1-1 career record with the Irish … the ND senior class pushed its career win pct. to .912 (86-7-3) while keeping pace with North Carolina (90-3-3) as the nation’s two winningest senior classes … the ND seniors still have yet to be outshot in a game during their career … senior M Jen Buczkowski has appeared in all 96 games from 2003-06, the fifth-longest streaks of consecutive games played in the ND record book (Meotis Erikson and Shannon Boxx had 101 straight GP, Jen Renola and Kate Fisher 100 straight) … Buczkowski’s 90 career starts rank 11th in ND history … three seniors on Waldrum’s first ND team totaled more than 90 career starts (Jen Grubb with 100 and Jenny Streiffer and Kara Brown with 99 each) … the only other Waldrum-era player with more career starts than Buczkowski is Vanessa Pruzinsky, who totaled 94 starts in her five-year career … Buczkowski is tied with Pruzinsky, current ND volunteer assistant coach Lindsey Hones and Jenny Heft for 11th on the ND career games played list … senior left back Christie Shaner has logged 93 straight games played (7th in ND record book) and is tied with Thorlakson and Monica Gerardo for 14th on the career GP list with 95 … the eight seniors have combined for 551 career games played (340 starts) while helping post 64 shutouts from 2003-06 … ND is 35-1-1 during the past two seasons with Lorenzen in the starting lineup … the ND junior class now owns a .931 career win pct. from 2004-06 (66-4-2).
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM Randy Waldrum – “We started off a little slow and I was concerned at the beginning that Marquette’s energy level was higher than ours. But once we got past the first 15 minutes, we played very well. We created a ton of chances and one of the things we didn’t want to do was let them get in behind us. I was pretty pleased with that, although we made some bad decisions with the ball that created some counter chances for them. At the end of the day, we at least kept them in front of us.
“We’ve got to give Haley Ford some time to settle in at center back, because she has played mostly outside in the back this year and it’s going to take a little bit of time to get that communication down with Kimmy Lorenzen. We still may end up with Christie Shaner playing some at the central spot but Haley gives you great pace at the position. Ultimately, that’s what we recruited her for was to play centrally in the back.
“It’s a hard balance to want to rest players for a possible game on Sunday versus just worrying on the game at hand. We wanted a little more of a presence holding the ball up front and Courtney Rosen has done that for us, similarly to what Brittany Bock does. Courtney gives you another player up front who is comfortable on the ball and can strike a hard shot. Susan Pinnick has played well the past few weeks and really has done a good job simplifying things. If we’ve got the depth to do it, we need to be giving the starting forwards a little bit of a break.
“Amanda Clark was really good tonight, coming on to play in that defensive midfield spot in what was a very physical game. It’s hard to find time in the midfield right now. She did a great job in giving Jill Krivacek some rest. Defensively, Clark is so good for us and as a great ballwinner.
“I thought Marcus [Roeders] really had his team ready to play. They are a hard team to play, very athletic, and they were prepared to play tonight. They are very tough off the counter-attack and did a really good job overall.
“Amanda Cinalli gives us a different presence to our midfield, because she is so mobile and athletic. She is so good running at people off the dribble. I’ve always liked to have something a little different with the players at each position. But there still will be times when we move her back up front. She clearly is developing into more of a playmaker out of the midfield.
“Cinalli’s personality is all about the team and you will never hear from her about not getting an honor or not getting the attention. It’s players like her that make good teams so good. You’ve always got to have players that do some special things for your team – like with Kerri Hanks as a pure goalscorer – but you also needs ones like Cinalli and Clark who just want to do whatever the team needs. Cinalli never gets caught up in that other stuff. She just gives 100% all the time and you are not going to win championships without a handful of players on your team like that.
“It was a difficult week going into the quarterfinal game because of the makeup game with Cincinnati. It threw off our rhythm, with three games in five days to go along with a tough stretch of exams for many of the players. So we gave them two days off, because we thought it would be most beneficial at this time of the season.
“Looking back to last Sunday’s game, St. John’s is a much improved team from two years ago when we played them. It was a game where we could have scored two or three more goals. Our finishing could have been better. Our kids adjusted to the physical game and the opponent trying to take us out of what we like to do. You can see through the RPIs that everybody in the conference is better now and that’s great for the conference. Ian [Stone] did a good job with his team this year.
“The set-play success that we are starting to rediscover is huge. In the 2004 championship season. we scored 12 goals in the NCAAs and four of them came on set pieces. This is a good time of year to be creating better opportunities off the set pieces. That really be a difference-maker.
“I was impressed with Rutgers’ resiliency to come back versus West Virginia. That has to be a concern for us, because they have shown the temperament to come back in a big game. Rutgers made some good adjustments as the game went on. In the regular season, they played us tough and are a difficult team to break down. They have some players offensively that can hurt you – it should be a great final.”
Marquette (11-6-4) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (19-0-1) 0 2 – 2
ND 1. Michele Weissenhofer 12 (Kerri Hanks) 63:32.
ND 2. Brittany Bock 9 (Weissenhofer, Hanks) 87:40.
Shots: MARQ 2-2 – 4, ND 9-10 – 19
Corner Kicks: MARQ 1-2 – 3, ND 5-4 – 9
Saves: MARQ 4 (Laura Boyer), ND 2 (Lauren Karas)
Fouls: MARQ 17, ND 8
Offside: MARQ 2, ND 0