Oct. 7, 2011
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior midfielder/tri-captain Jessica Schuveiller (Plano, Texas/Plano West) and freshman forward Lauren Bohaboy (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita) each scored goals in the opening 22 minutes and the Notre Dame defense did the rest, as the Fighting Irish earned a 2-0 win at Seton Hall in BIG EAST Conference action on Friday night at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J.
Schuveiller scored for the fourth consecutive match (and fifth time this season), converting a cross from sophomore midfielder Mandy Laddish (Lee’s Summit, Mo./Lee’s Summit) just 3:49 into the contest. The Fighting Irish then doubled their lead at 21:52, when Bohaboy scored her sixth goal of the year (and fourth in the past three matches), driving home a pass from sophomore forward Adriana Leon (Maple, Ontario/The Country Day School).
Junior goalkeeper Maddie Fox (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) made four saves to help Notre Dame (7-5-2, 4-2-1 BIG EAST) pitch its third consecutive shutout, with Fox registering her second solo shutout of the season. Seton Hall outshot the Fighting Irish, 17-14 (including a 12-6 advantage in the second half), but Notre Dame had more of the quality chances, ending up with a 6-4 edge in shots on goal.
“It wasn’t our best performance, by any stretch, but at the same time, we grinded one out and that’s a positive step,” Fighting Irish head coach Randy Waldrum said. “Going on the road against a very talented team like Seton Hall, with a lot of players either playing out of position or at less than 100 percent, along with not having one of your All-Americans (Melissa Henderson) in the starting lineup, there were a lot of obstacles for us to overcome. I was happy to see the way we battled and kept our focus, especially in the second half when Seton Hall really challenged us. Give (SHU) full credit, as they played a very strong game, but we showed character and determination when it mattered most and we got a good shutout win on the road, and it’s hard not to be pleased with that.”
It didn’t take long for Notre Dame to go in front. Schuveiller started her scoring sequence in the fourth minute, collecting a ball at the edge of the attacking third and quickly sending a pass down the left flank for Laddish on the dead sprint. In turn, Laddish angled to the by-line and then cracked a left-footed cross right into the heart of the penalty area, where Schuveiller had continued her run and hammered home a shot from eight yards out past SHU goalkeeper Jennifer Pettigrew.
Seton Hall (7-5-2, 3-4-0) nearly equalized against the run of play in the 10th minute, as Kaitlyn Ritter found a seam down the middle of the Fighting Irish defense and fired a drive from the top of the area, but Fox saw it all the way and snared the shot with a dive to her right.
A minute later, Notre Dame nearly found pay dirt again, as sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Tucker (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) juked free of her defender in the right channel and set sail for the edge of the box before lofting a cross towards the right post. Leon timed her run well and collected the pass eight yards out, but as she turned for her first shot, it was blocked back to her and the rebound try was toe-poked right into Pettigrew’s waiting arms.
While Notre Dame was patiently building up its offense in the first half, Seton Hall seemed willing to settle for tries from distance, none of which amounted to much. The Pirates threw in a couple of long balls on Fox, but the Fighting Irish netminder was more than equal to the task, expertly managing the area and not giving the 1,112 fans in attendance much to cheer about.
The spirits of the home crowd would dip even further in the 22nd minute when Notre Dame added to its advantage. After clearing out a Seton Hall corner kick, the Fighting Irish worked their counterattack to perfection, with Laddish doing much of the heavy lifting by toting the ball through the middle third of the pitch before finding Leon out wide on the left side. The Canadian striker cut back across the grain before her pass from the top of the box pinballed to Bohaboy near the penalty spot, and the reigning BIG EAST Rookie of the Week alertly drilled a low shot past Pettigrew and inside the left post.
The remainder of the first half was played largely in the middle of the pitch, with the occasional foray by each side into the attacking third, but no solid chances materializing.
That quickly changed in the second half, as Seton Hall turned up the intensity. Stephanie Soma had the first of the Pirates’ shots from inside the penalty area in the 50th minute, but her sharp-angled try from the far right edge of the box skipped harmlessly into the outside netting of the goal.
Leon almost put the match on ice in the 53rd minute, taking a flick header from Henderson (who arrived at halftime following a delayed flight from the West Coast after a week at U.S Under-23 National Team Camp). Leon then peeled through the Seton Hall back line and found herself alone on the right side of the area, but her 15-yard laser was smothered by a diving Pettigrew.
The momentum almost flipped back to SHU on the ensuing possession, as Soma latched on to a failed Notre Dame clearance at the top of the box, but she didn’t get full measure on her rushed left-footed shot, and Fox easily scooped up the attempt.
Soma would have similar frustration three minutes later, taking a pass from Taylor Mims near the penalty spot but not finding success with three straight spin moves before her shot was blocked out for a corner kick (that resulted in Meghan Hayes’ header going high over the bar).
Seton Hall’s best chance of the night came with a little more than 27 minutes left. Hayes collected a square pass at the top of the area, moved to her right and then cracked a twisting shot that clipped the outside of the right post before going out for a goal kick.
Leon made another challenging run midway through the second half, picking off a Pirate clearing attempt on the right flank and skirting by her defender before being hauled down a couple of steps to the right of the penalty box. However, the ensuing free kick didn’t bear fruit, as SHU bunkered down and was able to clear away the danger.
Although it didn’t result in a goal, that opportunity seemed to settle down the Fighting Irish, who were able to have a better handle on the possession game in the final 15 minutes. Still, the Pirates did get a pair of decent looks down the stretch, but Hayes and Ashley Clarke both couldn’t get a good angle to shoot from and their hopeful tries ended up rolling wide of the target.
Notre Dame returns to the pitch at noon (ET) Sunday when it travels to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers at Yurcak Field. Live stats and a live interactive chat for that match also will be available on the official Fighting Irish athletics web site, www.UND.com and the new Irish UNDerground blog (www.UND.com/blog).
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s soccer program, join the Fighting Irish women’s soccer news Twitter page (@NDsoccernews) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the sidebar on the women’s soccer page at UND.com.
— ND —
POST MATCH NOTES: Notre Dame extends its winning streak to a season-high three matches, with only an overtime loss at No. 14/15 Marquette preventing the Fighting Irish from being unbeaten in their last five outings … Notre Dame earns its first road shutout of the season, and first clean sheet on an opponent’s pitch since Nov. 26, 2010, when the Fighting Irish won at No. 6 Oklahoma State, 2-0 in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals (also starting a similar three-match shutout streak that culminated with 1-0 victories over Ohio State and Stanford at the NCAA Women’s College Cup, leading to Notre Dame’s third national championship) … the Fighting Irish improve to 17-1 all-time against Seton Hall, including an 8-1 record at Owen T. Carroll Field … Notre Dame has won 14 consecutive matches against SHU, dating back to the Pirates’ 3-2 overtime win on Oct. 18, 1998, in South Orange … during this current 14-match series winning streak (which has coincided directly with Waldrum’s 13-year tenure in at Notre Dame), the Fighting Irish have outscored Seton Hall, 50-6 … the Notre Dame senior class earned its 75th career win on Friday night, improving to 75-12-5 (.842) under the Golden Dome, and becoming the third current senior class in the country to hit the 75-win mark (Stanford has 82, while North Carolina has 76) … Schuveiller has scored in each of her last four matches and has a career-high six goals this season … six of Schuveiller’s nine career goals have been match-winners, including Friday night’s fourth-minute tally at Seton Hall … on the other end of the pitch, Schuveiller has started all 92 matches in her career and has helped Notre Dame post 53 shutouts as part of the aforementioned 75 wins in that time … Bohaboy has a team-high six goals in BIG EAST action, with all six of those coming in the past six matches (four in the past three) … playing in front of more than 20 family, friends and supporters, freshman forward and Long Island native Karin Simonian (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) earned her third start of the season on Friday night; she and Bohaboy are two of five Notre Dame freshmen (among the six-player Fighting Irish rookie class) to start at least once this season — and all of them have made at least three starts to date … Notre Dame is 331-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and has won its last 308 matches when going ahead by that score.