Sept. 12, 2004
LUBBOCK, Texas – The 100th win of the Randy Waldrum era could end up sealing Notre Dame’s return atop the women’s soccer national polls, as Maggie Manning’s first two goals of the season and another dominating defensive effort led the Irish to Sunday’s 3-0 win at Texas Tech. The win also is the 300th victory in the program’s 17-year history (300-57-15), with the Irish teams combining to win nearly 83 percent of their all-time games.
Notre Dame (6-0-0) – now 26-1-1 in its last 28 regular-season games – entered the week ranked No. 2 in the national polls but top-ranked North Carolina played to a scoreless tie on Friday at Tennessee. UNC was one of several top teams to suffer losses or ties this week, leaving Notre Dame as one of just a handful of teams with perfect records (out of 300-plus Division I squads) just three weeks into the season.
Waldrum’s first six Notre Dame teams now have combined for a 100-19-4 record (.829), with his overall career record now standing at 283-124-23 (.685) in 22-plus seasons, with previous stints with the Baylor and Tulsa women’s programs and the men’s teams at Tulsa, Texas Wesleyan and Austin College.
The Irish dominated in total shots (21-4) and shots on goal (11-2) while both teams attempted two corner kicks.
Manning – whose production helped overcome the continued absence of injured frontrunners Mary Boland and Jannica Tjeder – and freshman midfielder Ashley Jones checked into the game midway through the first half and promptly combined to set up the first goal. Jones played a pass to Manning and the junior forward launched the ball from the right wing, with the shot sailing into the upper left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead (26:26).
Just moments before halftime, Manning found the net again for the second multiple-goal game of her career (She also scored twice in the 2003 opener vs. Hartford). Senior forward Candace Chapman continued to provide her offensive spark off the bench, flicking a pass into Manning near the top of the box. Manning collected the ball in traffic and surprised ‘keeper Beth Lippert by lobbing a shot that skimmed off the post and went into the upper right corner (44:22).
The Irish padded their lead midway through the second half, when freshman forward Amanda Cinalli sent home her third goal of the season. Junior forward Katie Thorlakson showed why she ranks near the top of the national points and assist lists, making a run down the right flank before turning the corner for a pass into the box. Sophomore midfielder Jen Buczkowski found herself in the familiar position of a well-played pass from Thorlakson and smacked a shot off the right post.
Buczkowski’s shot deflected behind the `keeper Lippert and rolled down the goal-line before Cinalli slid in and knocked the ball in for the 3-0 cushion (68:25).
Notre Dame – which already has been ranked 1st or 2nd in 10 of the past 12 seasons – could be poised to claim the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the fourth season in the program’s history (also 1994, 1996 and 2000, spanning a total of 17 weekly polls). The 2000 Irish team held the top ranking for most of that season before losing to UNC in the NCAA semifinals.
NOTES – Freshman Lauren Karas and junior Erika Bohn each made one save while splitting the goalkeeper duties for the Irish … ND owns a 93-13 scoring edge during its current 26-1-1 streak during the past 28 regular-season games … the game served as a homecoming for several Texas natives on the ND team, including Karas, sophomore midfielder Claire Gallerano and all four members of the coaching staff (many family friends were on hand to cheer Karas and Gallerano).
ND HEAD COACH RANDY WALDRUM QUOTES – Playing at Arizona State on Friday and then at Texas Tech today game the team a good test under some different conditions, namely the travel and some intense heat. The team also had to cope today with a field that is just 65 yards wide, as opposed the typical 75, and is only 100 yards long instead of 115. There also is a track around the field, which is something we are not used to, so all in all it was good to subject the team to that different type of setting. The hope is that this weekend has prepared us for next week’s game at UConn because they always give us a battle. … We were able to rest a lot of our top players – Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, Melissa Tancredi, Jen Buczkowski, Jill Krivacek – for good parts of today’s game and that continues to show the great depth and confidence that we have in so many of the players. We started Jenny Walz and then Kate Tulisiak saw some quality minutes and both of those players did very well – they looked like they wanted to play and we were very pleased with their effort.
#2 Notre Dame (6-0-0) 2 1 – 3
Texas Tech (3-3-0) 0 0 – 0
ND 1. Maggie Manning 1 (Ashley Jones) 26:26; ND 2. Manning 2 (Candace Chapman) 44:22; ND 3. Amanda Cinalli 3 (Jen Buczkowski, Katie Thorlakson) 68:25.
Shots: ND 8-13 – 21; TT 1-3 – 4.
Corner Kicks: ND 1-1 – 2; TT 0-2 – 2.
Saves: ND 2 (Lauren Karas 1, Erika Bohn 1); TT 8 (Beth Lippert 7, team 1).
Fouls: ND 16, TT 11.
Offsides: ND 1, TT 1.