Dec. 4, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format (also see College Cup Central link for various offerings from earlier in the week)
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Updated Team Stats in PDF Format (see HTML files for complete updated stat package)Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – NCAA Final vs. UCLA (Dec. 5, 2004) … SAS Soccer Park (Cary, N.C.)
The nation’s No. 4-seeded and No. 2-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team (24-1-1; 69-13 scoring edge) will face 14th-seed and 11th-ranked UCLA in the NCAA championship game, on Sunday, Dec. 5, at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. … kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. EST and the game will be telecast live on ESPN2 … ND advanced after a hard-fought semifinal vs. 16th-seeded/4th-ranked Santa Clara (1-0) while UCLA knocked off 7th-seeded Princeton (2-0).
IRISH TAKE AIM AT SECOND TITLE – A win over the Bruins would make Notre Dame the second program ever to win multiple NCAA women’s soccer titles (UNC owns 17 titles), with the 1995 Irish team becoming just the third program ever to win the NCAA title (that team won the title at UNC’s Fetzer Field, with 1-0 wins over the Tar Heels in the semifinal and Portland in the final) … Santa Clara, Portland, George Mason and Florida each own one NCAA title.
BACK IN THE FINALS – Notre Dame will be making its fifth appearance in the NCAA final (also ’94-’96 and ’00), second all-time behind UNC (20) and followed by Connecticut (4), George Mason (3) and four teams that have made two appearances in the final game (Colorado College, Portland, Santa Clara and UCLA) … ND is making its second NCAA final appearance in the six-year Randy Waldrum era (also ’99), with UNC (4) being the only team with more finals appearances during that six-year stretch (SCU and UCLA also have two each).
THE DRIVE FOR 25 – The win over Santa Clara made Notre Dame the second Division I women’s soccer program (UNC is the other) ever to post 24-plus wins in multiple seasons (the ’96 ND team went 24-2-0) … a win over UCLA would yield a rare 25-win season for the Irish, as only three teams – UNC in ’97 and ’03 (27) and Florida in ’98 (26) – ever have totaled more than 25 wins in a season.
SECOND ALL-TIME MEETING – ND’s only previous game vs. UCLA came back in the 1997 NCAA quarterfinals, an 8-0 win for that high-powered Irish team at Alumni Field (the ’97 team then was upset by UConn in the semifinals) … Jenny Heft – ND’s all-time leading goalscorer (80) – had a hat trick in the ’97 game vs. UCLA while five other ND players found the net, with other top scorers including Holly Manthei (3A), Monica Gerardo (1G-1A), Anne Makinen (1G-1A) and Shannon Boxx (1G-1A) … ND dominated in shots (32-4), shots on goal (19-3) and corner kicks (6-1).
NEW FACES – The UCLA game will be ND’s 12th all-time in the College Cup semifinals and finals but it will mark just the third time that ND has faced a team in the College Cup final weekend that the Irish did not also play earlier that season … three of ND’s four previous appearances in the NCAA final were rematches from the regular season (all except for the 1995 title-game win over Portland, 1-0) … six of ND’s seven NCAA semifinal games also have been rematches from the regular season (all but the 2000 loss to UNC, 1-2).
COMMON OPPONENTS – UCLA has three common opponents with ND from the 2004 season, posting 1-0 wins over Santa Clara (2 OT), Stanford and Arizona State (ND also beat Stanford 1-0 and won 2-1 at ASU, plus a 5-2 regular-season win over SCU and the 1-0 semifinal vs. the Broncos).
BOUNCEBACK GAMES ¬- ND is 19-2-0 the past two seasons (10-1-0 in ’03, 9-1-0 in ’04) when playing two days after a previous game (51-10 scoring edge) … that’s a big improvement from ’02 (5-5-0; 21-17 scoring edge) in such “bounceback” games … ND’s only bounceback-game losses in the past two seasons were the ’03 NCAA 2nd-round game vs. Michigan (0-1) and the ’04 BIG EAST title game vs. UConn (1-2).
FOUR YEARS, FOUR CHAMPS – Sunday’s ND-UCLA game will yield the 4th different NCAA champion in the past four years (also Santa Clara in ’01, Portland in ’02 and UNC in ’03) … no previous 4-year stretch in the tournament’s history has featured more than three different champions.
ND’s NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY – ND now owns a 57-12-1 all-time record in postseason play (.821), including 31-10-1 in the NCAAs (.750, 2nd-best all-time) … since 1994, ND (5) and UNC (8) remain the only teams to make more than two appearances in the NCAA finals during that 11-year stretch.
ND ATHLETICS ALL-TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS – Notre Dame athletic teams have combined to win 23 previous national championships (not including two Helms Foundation national championships awarded to the 1927 and ’36 men’s basketball teams, as part of that retroactive program) … the ND teams that have won national titles include 11 in football (1924, ’29, ’30, ’44, ’46, ’47, ’49, ’66, ’73, ’77, ’88), six in fencing (men in ’77, ’78 and ’86, women in ’87, combined titles in ’94 and ’03), two in men’s tennis (’44, ’59) and one each in men’s golf (’44), men’s cross country (’57), women’s soccer (’95) and women’s basketball (’01) … if the Irish beat UCLA, women’s soccer will become the fourth sport at ND to win multiple NCAA titles (joining football, fencing and men’s tennis).
CHAMPIONSHIP COACHES – Randy Waldrum is one win away from becoming Notre Dame’s 15th all-time national championship coach … ND’s previous NCAA women’s soccer title came during the program’s sixth season under Chris Petrucelli and the Irish now are in the sixth season of the Waldrum era … here are the previous ND national championships, with head coaches noted:
Year – Sport … Coach (# of seasons at ND before first title)
1924 – Football … Knute Rockne (6)
1929 – Football … Knute Rockne
1930 – Football … Knute Rockne
1944 – Men’s Tennis … Walt Langford (5)
1944 – Men’s Golf … Rev. George Holderith, C.S.C. (12)
1944 – Football … Frank Leahy (3)
1946 – Football … Frank Leahy
1947 – Football … Frank Leahy
1948 – Football … Frank Leahy
1957 – Men’s Cross Country … Alex Wilson (8)
1959 – Men’s Tennis … Tom Fallon (3)
1966 – Football … Ara Parseghian (3)
1973 – Football … Ara Parseghian
1977 – Men’s Fencing … Mike DeCicco (16)
1977 – Football … Dan Devine (3)
1978 – Men’s Fencing … Mike DeCicco
1986 – Men’s Fencing … Mike DeCicco
1987 – Women’s Fencing … Yves Auriol (2)
1988 – Football … Lou Holtz (3)
1994 – M/W Combined Fencing … Mike DeCicco/Yves Auriol
1995 – Women’s Soccer … Chris Petrucelli (6)
2001 – Women’s Basketball … Muffet McGraw (14)
2003 – M/W Combined Fencing … Janusz Bednarski (1)
Notes: Randy Waldrum could join Knute Rockne and Chris Petrucelli in winning his first national title in his 6th season at ND … eight others have helped guide ND to the title in their 1st-5th seasons: Janusz Bednarski (1st), Yves Auriol (2nd), Frank Leahy (3rd), Tom Fallon (3rd), Ara Parseghian (3rd), Dan Devine (3rd), Lou Holtz (3rd), Walt Langford (5th) … the ’27 and ’36 ND men’s basketball teams (coached by George Keogan) later were named national champs by the Helms Foundation.
ND-UCLA NOTES – Notre Dame and UCLA are likely opponents for the upcoming Insight Bowl (Dec. 28, in Phoenix) … ND ended the UCLA men’s basketball team’s 88-game win streak in 1974 (still longest in NCAA history) … the 30th anniversary of that game was recognized last spring with a team reunion during the ND season … ND teams also have ended the longest NCAA win streaks in football (Oklahoma, 44 games, ’57) and women’s soccer (UNC, 92 games, ’94).
FRIEND OR FOE? – Several ND players are former teammates of UCLA players with various national teams while ND freshman M Ashley Jones has familiarity with several of the UCLA players … Jones is from Westlake Village, Calif., and completed a rare double this summer by helping lead her state ODP team (Cal-South) and her club team (SoCal United) to national titles … her SoCal United club is a rival of the Southern California Blues club that has produced many current UCLA players … Jones is a former ODP teammate of UCLA freshman F Danesha Adams and freshman G Valerie Henderson … she also played club ball with Katie Oakes (sister of UCLA junior M Jill Oaks) … ND freshman F Amanda Cinalli also played alongside Adams (who moved from Calif. to Ohio during high school), with the Cleveland F.C. … ND junior M Annie Schefter and Oaks are former regional ODP teammates … ND sophomore M Jen Buczkowski is a product of the U.S. Under-19 National Team program, as are UCLA sophomore D Mary Castelanelli, sophomore F Bristyn Davis, sophomore M Stephanie Kron, junior M Stacy Lindstrom and Henderson (Kron and Lindstrom redshirted this season due to the U-19 World Championship) … ND sophomore D Christie Shaner and junior G Erika Bohn competed in U.S. Under-21 National Team training camps last summer (where they played alongside Oakes).
BACK FOR MORA – UCLA’s Iris Mora played at ND’s Alumni Field the previous four springs with the Mexican Women’s National Team (ND won the first three, 2-1, 3-2, 3-1, but Mexico won last spring in a 3-2 battle) … former ND All-American/Academic All-American Monica Gonzalez is a founding member and current captain of the Mexican team (former ND career goals leader Monica Gerardo also was a founding member of the Mexican women’s team).
NOTES FROM THE ND-SCU SEMIFINAL
• Candace Chapman and Katie Thorlakson cashed in a give-and-go in the 73rd minute and the ND defense posted its nation-leading 16th shutout – in a wide-open game that still featured just a handful of prime scoring chances.
• The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 8,325 but Chapman and Thorlakson had plenty or experience playing in front of large crowds (including the 2002 Under-19 World Championship, when their Canadian side battled the U.S. in front of a stadium crowd that numbered more than 50,000 hyped-up Canadians).
• The Irish finished with an 11-3 shot edge but SCU posted a rare corner-kick edge (6-5) versus an ND team that had allowed just 37 corners in 25 previous games this season.
BLAME IT ON RIO? – Notre Dame’s 2004 odyssey started nearly four months ago on Aug. 10, when the team departed for their eight-day training trip in Brazil that included six games vs. top semi-pro teams in the Sao Paulo area.
UPDATED TEAM STATS – ND owns an 11-1 scoring edge in the NCAAs (5 GP) to go along with dominant edges in total shots (65-21; avg. 13-4), shots on goal (41-7; avg. 8-1) and corner kicks (33-9; avg. 7-2) … ND’s overall ’04 postseason (8 GP) includes a 21-3 scoring edge, 141-36 in shots (avg. 18-5), 71-13 in shots on goal (9-2), 49-10 in CKs (6-1) … ND’s overall season stats include a 69-13 scoring edge (2.65 gpg; 0.50 GAA), plus 546-144 in shots (avg. 21-5.5), 271-65 (avg. 10-2.5) in shots on goal, 153-43 in CKs (avg. 6-1.6) … ND remains 4th in the nation with a 0.496 season GAA, just behind Princeton’s 0.491 (plus Stanford’s 0.432 and Penn State 0.466) … the Irish still have four more goals (69) than opp. shots on goal (65; 2.5/gm) and have held 21 of the last 22 opponents to 0-1 goals (since the earlier 5-2 win over SCU).
AWESOME ALUMS – Several former ND women’s soccer players were on hand to cheer the Irish (some are pictured in the photo gallery) .. those on hand included the inseparable LaKeysia Beene and Kelly “Boof” Lindsey (former stars of the WUSA’s Bay Area Cyber Rays), former goalscoring machine Monica Gerardo and 2000 national player of the year Anne Makinen, plus other loyal supporters such as Kelly Tulisiak (cheering on her sister Kate) and recent graduate Kimberly Carpenter … former ND assistant coach Sue-Moy Chin also was on hand to join in the frivolity (she now is the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and Gerardo is the Panthers assistant coach).
QUICK HITS – The Irish are 44-4-2 over the past two seasons (.890) … ND owns a 44-1-0 record in its last 45 games when scoring first … the Irish hold a 28-3 scoring edge over the last 9-plus games … ND players have combined to miss 280 games to injury in the past 4 seasons (105 in ’04) … ND’s 16 shutouts and are tied for 3rd in the program’s history (18 in ’95 and ’97) … the top three GAA in ND history have been posted in the six-year Randy Waldrum era: 0.39 in ’00, 0.49 in ’03 and 0.50 in ’04) … ND has allowed just 4 first-half goals all season (26 in past 4 years/90 games) … ND’s 1st-half dominance in the NCAAs includes 4-0 in goals, 49-6 in shots, 27-3 in shots on goal, 19-3 in corners … ND has not allowed a 1st-half goal in the last 9 games … ND is 117-20-5 (.842) in the 6-year Waldrum era (he is 301-125-24/.696, in 23 total seasons as a college head coach … ND has won nearly 80% of its “big games” during the Waldrum era, posting a 48-13-3 record (.773) when facing an NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponent (29-11-3/.709 vs. top-25 teams) … stretching from ’92-’04, the Irish have scored in 94.8% of their games (293 of 309) … since a 3-2 loss to BYU (10/19/02), ND has trailed in just 10 of its last 54 games for 269:26 (5.5% of 4,919:29), going 47-5-2 in that 54-game stretch.
POSTSEASON POWER – The ’04 ND team has compiled one of the most dominating postseason in the program’s history … ND’s +105 shot margin in the ’04 postseason (141-36) ranks 2nd only to the 1997 Irish squad (+157, 192-35) while the team’s +19 postseason scoring margin (22-3) ranks 3rd behind the ’97 (+31) and ’96 (+22) teams … the Irish have featured 9 different goalscorers in the ’04 postseason (record is 10, in ’94, ’96, ’97) also have posted 6 shutouts to tie the record set in ’95 … when looking at just the NCAAs, the ’04 team owns the 2nd-best shot margin (+64, 85-21; behind +101/124-23 in `97) and has tied that shutout record as well (also 4 in ’95).
TRENDY – Here’s a look at some of the ND players’ scoring and games-played trends:
Katie Thorlakson – 10-game point streak (11G-10A), 69 consecutive GP (entire career)
Candace Chapman – 3G-2A (8 pts) in ’04 postseason (8 GP)
Jen Buczkowski – 0G-1A in last 6 GP (8G-10A in first 20 GP), 50 straight GP
Amanda Cinalli – 3G in NCAAs (5 GP) after 8-game goal drought
Annie Schefter – 0G-4A in last 14 GP (4G-3A in first 12 GP), 50 straight GP
Ashley Jones – 1G-2A in last 7 GP (2A in first 19 GP)
Jannica Tjeder – 0 points in last 9 GP
Melissa Tancredi – 0 points in last 17 GP, next game is her 82nd at ND
Christie Shaner – 47 straight GP (49 of 49 GP in career)
Kim Lorenzen – 40 straight GP (49 of 50 GP in career)
Lizzie Reed – 39 straight GP (49 of 50 GP in career)
Jill Krivacek – 34 straight GP (49 of 50 GP in career)
TALE OF THE TAPE – see PDF for statistical comparison of ND and UCLA
INSIDE THE NUMBERS – As shown in the Tale of the Tape, ND and UCLA have similar 2004 statistics in several categories … ND has scored 20 more goals (69-49) and is averaging 21 shots per game to UCLA’s 15 … the Irish have dominated the scoring column more in the 1st half (32-4; 14-11 for UCLA) while the Bruins have owned a 33-4 scoring edge in the 2nd half (ND is 32-9) … ND has four players with 20-plus points (to UCLA’s two) … both teams have a veteran core of starters (ND 3 seniors, 3 juniors in starting lineup; UCLA 4 seniors and 2 juniors) while the Bruins start a pair of freshman (F Amanda Cinalli is ND’s only rookie starter).
NCAA and ND RECORD BOOK UPDATES (see PDF)
THOR THUNDERS ON …
• Katie Thorlakson (68 points, 22 goals, 24 assists) need 4 points vs. UCLA to tie the ND record for points in a season (72, by Cindy Daws in ’96) … her 68 points rank 19th in NCAA history while her 24 assists are 11th … since ’99, two current members of the U.S. National Team – Abby Wambach (76, at Florida in ’01) and Lindsay Tarpley (73, at UNC in ’03) – are the only Division I players to total more points in a season than Thorlakson’s 68 … with one more goal, she would join Mia Hamm, Tarpley and former SCU great Mandy Clemens as the only players to reach 23G-23A in the same season (she needs 2 goals to rank alongside Hamm as the only players ever to reach 24G-24A).
• Thorlakson has 34 pts (11G-11A; 2 GWG, 5 GWA) in her current 10-game point streak, two shy of ND record (12) set by Anne Makinen in ’99 … others who have fashioned 11-game point streaks include Jenny Streiffer and Holly Manthei in ’96, Meotis Erikson in ’97 … Tholakson has a G/A on ND’s last five goals.
• With her assist vs. SCU, Thorlakson added to her ND record for points in one postseason (25, 8G-9A in 8 GP) and tied Monica Gerardo’s ND record (5G-2A, ’97) for points in one NCAA Tournament (12, 3G-6A) … her 9 assists in one postseason have bested Holly Manthei’s ND record (8, in ’94) while her 6 assists in the ’04 NCAAs also are an ND record (besting Manthei’s 5 in ’96 and ’97 and Kara Brown’s 5 in ’96) … she also added to her own ND record for gamewinning assists in one postseason (4, all in the NCAAs) and already ranks 3rd in the ND record book for career assists in the NCAAs (8), with four setting up gamewinning goals (2nd to Manthei’s 6 career GWAs in the NCAAs).
• Thorlakson’s amazing streak of scoring/assisting on 23 of ND’s last 27 goals (11G-12A) dates back to the Oct. 24 Seton Hall game (she was on the bench for one of those rare goals that she was not involved in) … she has scored or assisted on nearly 70% of ND’s total goals this season (46 of 69) and has totaled 21 points (7G-7A) in eight ’04 games vs. top-25 teams … she has scored or assisted on 15 of ND’s 24 gamewinning goals this season (8 GWG, 7 GWA) for a team-leading 23 gamewinning points (35% of the team’s total GWP).
• Thorlakson has pushed her career point total to 110 (36G-38A), still 14th in ND history but now just two behind Suzie Zilvitis … has appeared in 69 straight games with the Irish (since ’02 U-19 World Champ.).
IT TAKES TWO – ND is 230-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and has won 207 straight games when stretching out to a 2-0 cushion, dating back to Sept. 15, 1991 (when Vanderbilt ultimately forced a 3-3 tie) … there have been only two other games in the program’s history when the Irish gave up a 2-0 lead (but still went on to win): a 4-3 victory over UConn in the ’96 BIG EAST title game (the Irish led 3-0 but the Huskies scored three straight) and a 3-2 win over Duke at a ’93 lateseason tournament in Houston … the last 120 opponents to face a 2-0 deficit vs. the Irish have been unable to even tie the score.
IRON WOMEN – 16 previous ND players (from ’96 and ’99) share the team record for games played in a season (26) and have been joined by 11 current ND players who now logged 26 GP in ’04 … those players include F Katie Thorlakson, Amanda Cinalli and Candace Chapman, M Jen Buczkowski, Annie Schefter and Jill Krivacek, D Christie Shaner, Kim Lorenzen and Melissa Tancredi, and top offensive subs Ashley Jones and Lizzie Reed … Tancredi is the 13th ND player to start 26 games in a season and can stand alone with that record by starting Sunday (she and her 10 teammates could claim the GP record) … backline starters Tancredi, Shaner, Lorenzen and Gudrun Gunnarsdottir have combined for 245 career games played at ND (200 starts) … Thorlakson has started 69 straight games with the Irish while Schefter and Buczkowski have appeared in all 50 games over the past two seasons and four have played in 49 of the 50: Shaner (47 straight), Lorenzen (40), Reed (39) and Krivacek (34).