Nov. 21, 2006
By Pete LaFleur
The University of Notre Dame steadily has been emerging as the nation’s premier combined men’s and women’s soccer program – with that status gaining further momentum this season, as Notre Dame owns the nation’s most combined soccer wins in 2006 (38-5-3; men 15-5-2, women 23-0-1). Notre Dame also joins UCLA as the only schools with both its men’s and women’s soccer teams advancing to this weekend’s NCAA quarterfinals and both Irish teams are fronted by the nation’s scoring leaders: junior Joseph Lapira (49 points) and sophomore Kerri Hanks (61). Each of those standout forwards also leads the nation with 22 goals a piece – the first time that both Irish teams have featured a 20-goal scorer in the same season – while Hanks and her teammate Michele Weissenhofer share the national assist lead, with 17. Hanks and Lapira are considered frontrunners for their sports’ respective M.A.C. Hermann Trophy (national player of the year), with each among the final-15 candidates (three finalists for each award will be announced on Nov. 27). One final parallel between the Notre Dame soccer programs is the distinction of the Irish men (with Bobby and Jamie Clark) and women (Randy and Ben Waldrum) both being led by highly-regarded father-and-son combinations on their coaching staffs.
The Notre Dame women’s soccer team has drawn nearly 2,000 fans per game at Alumni Field this season.
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Notre Dame will be attempting to do something that just five previous schools have accomplished: sending both its men’s and women’s soccer teams on to the NCAA semifinals in the same season. That feat has been accomplished a total of eight times (including three by Santa Clara and two by North Carolina) but it has been five years since the UNC men and women both headed on to the final-four of their respective 2001 NCAA soccer tournaments. That 2001 season also is the only time that a school has seen its men’s and women’s teams play in the NCAA title game during the same season (the UNC men won but the women lost).
Notre Dame joins SMU and Wake Forest as the only teams in Division I that feature men’s and women’s soccer programs with 15-plus victories this season. UNC actually has the second-most combined wins (35-7-3), followed by SMU (34-6-6), WFU (33-9-4), UCLA (32-8-4), Old Dominion (31-11-3) and Denver (30-8-3):
Most Combined Soccer Wins in 2006 (men and women; as of Nov. 19)
1. Notre Dame – 38-5-3 (men and women still alive) … men are 15-5-2, women 23-0-1
2. North Carolina – 35-7-3 (women still alive) … men 11-6-3, women 24-1-0
3. SMU – 34-6-6 … men 17-1-5, women 17-5-1
4. Wake Forest – 33-9-4 (men still alive) … men 17-3-3, women 16-6-1
5. UCLA 32-8-4 (men and women still alive) … men 12-5-4, women 20-3-0
6. Old Dominion – 31-11-3 … men 14-6-2, women 17-5-1
7. Denver 30-8-3 … men 11-5-2, women 19-3-1
The Notre Dame men – ranked 12th in the NSCAA coaches poll – received a first-round bye in the 48-team NCAA field before opening the NCAAs last week with Lapira scored the goals in 1-0 wins over Illinois-Chicago (at home) and at defending champion Maryland, sending the Irish to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in the program’s 30-year history.
The Irish men own a 43-16 season scoring margin while ranking 17th nationally in goals per game (1.95) and 14th in goals-against average (0.69). They joins SMU, Wake Forest, Winthrop and Duke as the only teams ranked in the top-20 for both scoring and defense. Only five teams in the nation – Duke (18), SMU (17), Virginia (16), WFU (17) and Maryland (16) – have posted more wins this season than the Irish (15), who also rank 14th nationally in save pct. (.833) and have a shutout total (13) that is just one off the national lead (Lehigh, Monmouth and UIC each have 14).
This marked the second straight season that the Notre Dame men have defeated the defending national champions in the NCAA tournament, also winning at Indiana in the 2005 second round. Virginia leads the all-time series versus Notre Dame 2-0-0 but the teams have not met since 1989.
Joe Lapira has scored more than half of Notre Dame’s goals this season (22 of 43) and is considered a frontrunner for the prestigious Hermann Trophy.
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The Notre Dame women have held the nation’s No. 1 ranking since early in the season and are competing in the NCAA quarterfinal round for the 10th time in the past 13 seasons (all but ’01-’03), with a previous record of 6-2-1 in those quarterfinal games and seven trips to the semifinals (’94-’97, ’99, 2000 and ’04). This marks just the third time in the eight-year Waldrum era (also 2000 and ’04) that the Irish women will be playing an NCAA quarterfinal game at home, following NCAA wins over Oakland (7-1), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1-0) and 16th-ranked Colorado (3-0).
The Irish women lead the nation with a +70 scoring margin (78-8) that includes 45 goals and just three allowed in 13 games at home this season. Notre Dame has been the nation’s only unbeaten team for several weeks and is the only team ranked among the top-five in both scoring (5th; 3.25 goals per game) and goals-against average (1st; 0.33/ND record pace). UNC, Denver and Navy are the only other teams in the top-10 of both categories. Notre Dame has attempted 405 more total shots than its opponents this season and is allowed just 1.9 shots on goal per game (46), the best mark in the program’s 19-year history. The 18 shutouts in 2006 have tied that team record and are one shy of the national lead, behind Navy’s 19.
The Notre Dame women are riding several noteworthy streaks, including 31 consecutive wins at Alumni Field (spanning all of the 2004-06 seasons) – the fourth-longest home winning streak in Division-I women’s soccer history. The Irish are the nation’s only team with four double-digit goalscorers – Hanks (22G-17A), Weissenhofer (15G-17A), sophomore forward Brittany Bock (11G-5A) and junior midfielder Amanda Cinalli (10G-4A) – and have faced just three deficits all season, spanning a total of 125 minutes of game time. The team is led by an eight-member senior class that owns a 90-7-3 career record (.915), giving them the second-best win pct. of any Notre Dame women’s soccer senior class. North Carolina’s seniors (93-3-3) are the only class in the nation this season with more career wins.
The Irish women have faced Penn State one time previously, posting a 2-1 win in the 2001 season opener. The Notre Dame women carry a 31-3-0 all-time record in NCAA Tournament games played at home and rank fourth nationally this season in average home attendance (nearly 2,000 per game; 1,921).
Kerri Hanks already has 50 career goals in two seasons with the Irish and is considered a top candidate for the 2006 Hermann Trophy.
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The impressive combination of Lapira and Hanks has produced the national scoring leaders this season in both the men’s and women’s games. Lapira has scored more than half of his team’s goals (22 of 43) and has sent home 11 of his team’s 15 gamewinning goals this season. His 22 goals are four more than any other player in the nation, with Lapira likely to finish 2006 as the nation’s goalscoring leader (as most of the leaders play for teams that have been eliminated). His 22 goals rank fourth in Notre Dame history and are the most in nearly 30 years, with Kevin Lovejoy’s 29 goals in 1978 standing as the Irish record.
Hanks is riding a career-best, 10-game point streak and is the only player in the nation to post more than 15 goals and more than 15 assists this season. She is the first player in Notre Dame history to total 50 career goals prior to her junior season and recently became the program’s 11th all-time player to reach 30 career goals and 30 assists (50G-32A, for 132 career points). She already has tied the Notre Dame record for career postseason goals (15), has registered points in 12 of her 13 career games during the postseason and is averaging better than a goal-per-game for her career (50G, in 49 GP).
Ben Waldrum has served a key role on his father’s staff during each of the past four seasons while Jamie Clark has joined his own father on the Notre Dame men’s staff, after spending the previous three seasons on the staff of the New Mexico men’s soccer team. UNM had an impressive run during that time, including a 2005 NCAA runner-up season (with a loss to Maryland in the title game).
In the 24 previous seasons since the start of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament (1982), there have been only eight times when a school had both its men’s and women’s teams advance to the semifinals (by five different schools): three times by Santa Clara (1989, ’98 and 99), twice by UNC (1987 and 2001), plus Connecticut in 1982, Virginia in 1991 and Portland in 1995. It has happened just once since 1999 (by UNC, in ’01 and the current four-year “drought” (2002-05) of not having a school with its men’s and women’s teams in the semifinals matches the longest (1983-86).
UNC in 2001 is the only time that one school has sent both its soccer teams to the NCAA title games (the women lost, the men won). Of the other years listed above, two women’s teams went on to the title game (UNC won in ’87, Portland was the ’95 runner-up) while three other men’s teams mentioned above went on to the title game (SCU was 1989 co-champ, UVa won in ’91, SCU was ’99 runner-up).
Here’s a look at the eight times a school has sent its men’s and women’s soccer teams to the NCAA semifinals (note that the Notre Dame women beat Portland in 1995 and Santa Clara in ’99):
1982 (Connecticut)
The UConn women beat Cortland State in the quarterfinals, 2-0 in overtime (UConn was the #1 seed, Cortland was not seeded in the top-4), but lost to #4 seed UCF in the semifinals (3-1) … the UConn men beat Long Island in the quarterfinals (0-0, PKs) but lost to Duke in the semifinals (1-2).
1987 (North Carolina)
The UNC women beat William & Mary in the quarterfinals, 4-0 (UNC was the #1 seed, W&M was not in the top-4 seeds), followed by a semifinal win over #4 seed Cal (4-0) and the title-game win over #2 seed UMass (1-0) … the UNC men beat Loyola in the quarterfinals (1-0) but lost to Clemson in the semifinals (1-4).
1989 (Santa Clara)
The Santa Clara women beat USCB in the quarterfinals, 2-0 (SCU was the #3 seed, UCSB was not seeded top-4) but lost to #2 seed Colorado College in the semifinals (0-2) … the SCU men beat UCLA in the quarterfinals (2-0), then beat Indiana in the semifinals (4-2) and shared the title with Virginia after a 1-1 score (4 OT, no shootout that season)
1991 (Virginia)
The UVa women beat UConn in the quarterfinals, 2-0 (UVa was the #4 seed, UConn was not seeded top-4) but lost to #1 seed UNC in the semifinals (1-5) … the UVa men beat Yale in the quarterfinals (2-0) and St. Louis in the semifinals (3-2, OT) before winning the title over SCU on PKs (0-0 at end of OT).
1995 (Portland)
The Portland women beat Maryland in the quarterfinals, 1-0 (UP was the #2 seed, Maryland was #7) and topped #3 seed SMU in the semifinals (4-2) before losing to #4 seed ND in the title game (0-1, OT) … the Portland men beat SCU in the quarterfinals (2-1) but lost to Wisconsin in the semifinals (0-1).
1998 (Santa Clara)
The SCU women beat UConn in the quarterfinals, 1-0 (SCU was the #3 seed, UConn #6) but lost to #2 seed Florida in the semifinals (0-1) … the SCU men beat St. John’s in the quarterfinals (2-1) but lost to Indiana in the semifinals (0-4).
1999 (Santa Clara)
The SCU women beat UConn in the quarterfinals, 3-0 (SCU was the #1 seed, UConn was not seeded in the top-8) but lost to #5 seed ND in the semifinals (0-1) … the SCU men beat UAB in the quarterfinals (3-2, O) and UConn in the semifinals (2-1, OT) but lost the title game to Indiana (0-1).
2001 (North Carolina)
The UNC women beat Penn State in the quarterfinals, 2-1 (UNC was the #1 seed, PSU was not a top-8 seed) before topping #4 seed Portland in the semifinals (2-1) and #2 seed SCU in the title game (1-0) … the UNC men beat Fairleigh Dickinson in the quarterfinals (3-2, OT), Stanford in the semifinals (3-2, OT) and Indiana in the title game (2-0).