Nov. 15, 2012
Full Notes Package in PDF Format
| 2012 NCAA Championship Interactive Bracket
2012 Notre Dame Women’s Soccer — Match 22
NCAA Championship — Second Round
#RV/23 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-5-2 / 8-1-1 BIG EAST) vs. #10/12 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (14-5-3 / 6-3-1 ACC)
DATE: November 16, 2012
TIME: 4:30 p.m. ET
AT: Gainesville, Fla. – Pressly Stadium (4,500)
SERIES: ND leads 2-0-0
1ST MTG: ND 3-0 (9/27/98 @ND)
LAST MTG: ND 3-0 (8/31/03 @UCONN)
VIDEO: NCAA.com (live)
LIVE STATS:
TEXT ALERT:
TWITTER: @NDsoccernews
TICKETS: (352) 375-4683 / gatorzone.com/tickets
Storylines
- Notre Dame is 14-2 all-time in NCAA Championship second-round matches (or their earlier round-of-32 equivalent), with a 53-9 aggregate, and has won its last seven NCAA second-round matches since a 1-0 loss to Michigan in 2003.
- The Fighting Irish are 5-1-2 all-time when playing in the state of Florida and unbeaten in their last six Sunshine State matches since a 3-0 loss at UCF in 1991.
No. RV/23 Irish Meet No. 10/12 Wake Forest Friday In NCAA Second Round
Following its first come-from-behind NCAA tournament win in eight years, No. RV/23 Notre Dame heads on the road for the second weekend of the NCAA Championship as it prepares to face No. 10/12 (and third-seeded) Wake Forest in a second-round match at 4:30 p.m. (ET) Friday at Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. — the match will be streamed live via NCAA.com.
The Fighting Irish (14-5-2) moved on to round two with a 3-1 victory over Horizon League champion Milwaukee on Nov. 9 at Alumni Stadium. Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy scored the eventual match-winning goal seven minutes into the second half as Notre Dame rallied from an early one-goal deficit to advance.
Rankings
- Notre Dame is receiving votes in the final regular-season NSCAA poll and is ranked No. 23 in the final Soccer America poll.
- Wake Forest is ranked No. 10 in the final regular-season NSCAA poll and is ranked No. 12 in the final Soccer America poll.
A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
- They waited until the final day of the regular season to do it, but the Fighting Irish earned a share of their 14th BIG EAST regular-season title (division or overall) since joining the conference 18 years ago, including regular-season crowns in nine of the past 10 years. Notre Dame finished with an 8-1-1 record during the 2012 BIG EAST slate, splitting top honors in the National Division with Georgetown after the Fighting Irish won 1-0 in double overtime at DePaul and the Hoyas lost by the same score (in regulation time) at Villanova on Oct. 19 in the regular-season finale for both contenders.
- Notre Dame’s season could easily be seen in two parts — before and after the arrival of two key players (junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish and freshman forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro), who missed the first seven matches of the year while playing for the victorious United States side at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan. Prior to the pair’s arrival, the Fighting Irish went 3-3-1 with a 10-7 aggregate score (two shutouts); since the duo’s debut on Sept. 14 vs. Louisville, Notre Dame has gone 11-2-1 with a 32-9 aggregate (seven shutouts).
- Notre Dame has featured a remarkably balanced offensive attack in 2012, with 12 different players scoring at least one goal (eight with multiple goals; five with at least five goals) and 16 players notching at least one point. Taking out the four goalkeepers on this year’s Fighting Irish roster, that means just four players have yet to register either an assist or goal during the 2012 season.
- In keeping with its balanced production, Notre Dame has seen 11 different players, including six freshmen, earn weekly honors (national, regional, BIG EAST or all-tournament) at some point this season, with four players going on to combine for eight honors at the BIG EAST year-end awards banquet on Nov. 1 in East Hartford, Conn.
- Notre Dame features a very young roster in 2012, with half (12) of the 24-member Fighting Irish squad made up of freshmen (plus another six sophomores). The Notre Dame incoming class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer, with seven Fighting Irish freshmen appearing in the top 60 of the TDS Class of 2012 rankings. Leading the rookie class is Roccaro, a two-time consensus high school All-American and New York High School Player of the Year after piling up 39 goals and 19 assists during her prep career.
Scouting Wake Forest
Playing in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference, Wake Forest (14-5-3, 6-3-1) has more than held its own this season, appearing in the national rankings throughout the campaign (currently No. 10 in the NSCAA poll and No. 12 according to Soccer America). Like Notre Dame, the Demon Deacons held steady through the early-season loss of junior forward Katie Stengel (U.S. Under-20 World Cup Team), eventually tying for second place in the ACC and reaching the semifinals of the ACC Championship before falling to ninth-ranked Maryland, 2-0 in Cary, N.C.
Seeded third in this quadrant of the NCAA Championship bracket, Wake Forest opened tournament play with a 4-0 pasting of Georgia Southern on Nov. 10 in Winston-Salem, N.C. After playing nearly an hour of scoreless soccer, the Demon Deacons broke through against the Eagles, with Stengel scoring twice, senior midfielder Marisa Park adding a goal and an assist and senior midfielder Kristen Meier dishing out two assists. Junior goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe didn’t have a whole lot of work to do, but did stop the only shot on goal she saw to record the shutout.
Stengel leads Wake Forest in scoring this year (9G-3A), while Meier (4G-7A) is second in points and tops in assists. Junior forward Rachel Nuzzolese (5G-3A) also is an attacking presence, along with Park (3G-4A) and redshirt junior midfielder Ally Berry (3G-5A).
Bledsoe has seen the lion’s share of action in the Demon Deacons’ goal this year (all but 4:48), posting a 0.80 goals-against average and .763 save percentage with nine shutouts (eight solo, one shared).
Head coach Tony da Luz is in his 16th season at Wake Forest, with a 205-113-31 (.632) record in Winston-Salem. Prior to arriving at WFU, da Luz spent five seasons at San Diego and has a career coaching record of 250-154-34 (.610), including an 0-2 mark against Notre Dame (both matches coming while with at Wake Forest).
The Notre Dame-Wake Forest Series
Friday will mark just the third time Notre Dame and Wake Forest have tangled on the soccer pitch, with the Fighting Irish holding a 2-0-0 record in the abbreviated series. The teams have not met since the opening weeks of the 2003 season, when Notre Dame posted a 3-0 win over the Demon Deacons on Aug. 31, 2003, at the Connecticut adidas Classic in Storrs, Conn.
The Last Time Notre Dame And Wake Forest Met
No. 6 Notre Dame wrapped up action at the season-opening Connecticut adidas Classic with a 3-0 victory over Wake Forest on Aug. 31, 2003 at Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Conn.
Notre Dame generated just as many scoring chances as it did two days earlier in a 9-1 rout of Hartford, but the Fighting Irish converted only three times, with several near-miss breakaways in the first half. Jill Krivacek opened the scoring in the final minute of the first half and Amy Warner did the same in the 90th minute, with Mary Boland also scoring in the 65th minute for the 2-0 lead.
Notre Dame held a 10-4 shot edge in both the first and second half, plus a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks. Erika Bohn stopped all five shots she faced to register the shutout.
Krivacek became the first member of the highly-touted 2003 freshman class to find the met, with Warner setting the sequence in motion on a pass to freshman midfielder Jen Buczkowski. The rookie playmaker then quickly moved the ball down the left endline and the 5-10 Krivacek roofed a close-range shot that ripped into the upper left netting for the halftime lead (44:34).
The opportunistic Boland scored her fourth goal of the weekend after knocking home a deflected shot from Amanda Guertin (64:13). The Fighting Irish then continued to pressure WFU until the closing horn and added a third goal in the final minute, with Boland’s pass sending Warner into open space on the left side as the speedy veteran buried a crossing shot (89:50).
Other Notre Dame-Wake Forest Series Tidbits
- The teams have played one common opponent this year — North Carolina. The Fighting Irish lost 1-0 to the Tar Heels on Sept. 2 at Alumni Stadium, while Wake Forest posted a 2-1 victory over UNC on Oct. 21 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
- Notre Dame junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish and freshman forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro were teammates with Wake Forest junior forward Katie Stengel on the 2012 United States Under-20 National Team that came away victorious at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan in early September.
- Wake Forest junior goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe has been called into the U.S. Under-23 National Team camp on a handful of occasions in recent months, having played for Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum, who is currently serving as the U.S. U-23 skipper (a role he took over in January 2012). Demon Deacons senior defenders Jackie Logue and Alisha Woodson also are part of the current U.S. U-23 player pool under Waldrum’s watch.
- Laddish, junior midfielder/forward Rebecca Twining and sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Voigt all were members of the 2009 U.S. U-18 player pool along with Wake Forest junior forward Rachel Nuzzolese.
- Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch spent nine years (1996-2005) at Notre Dame as University Provost and Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History. Coincidentally, Hatch returns to the Notre Dame campus on Saturday afternoon to help present the flag during pregame ceremonies (as part of a recognition celebrating Notre Dame’s upcoming membership with the ACC) before the Fighting Irish football team takes on Wake Forest at Notre Dame Stadium.
NCAA Championship Quick Kicks
- Notre Dame is competing in the NCAA Championship for the 20th consecutive year, the second-longest active streak of consecutive berths, trailing only North Carolina (30) in that category. The 20-year run also is the third-longest in the tournament 30-year history, with Connecticut having a 26-year stretch (1982-2007) and Santa Clara also going to the tournament for 19 consecutive seasons (1989-2007).
- Notre Dame has a 60-16-1 (.786) all-time record in NCAA tournament play, with a 9-10-0 (.474) record at neutral sites. Friday’s match with Wake Forest will be just the second neutral-site match the Fighting Irish have played in the NCAA Championship prior to the College Cup, and the first since their inaugural tournament appearance on Nov. 13, 1993 (a 2-1 first-round loss to George Mason at Madison, Wis.).
- Since the NCAA Championship expanded to 64 teams in 2001, Notre Dame has played an NSCAA ranked opponent in the second round three times — 2002 (3-1 home win over No. 14 Purdue), 2003 (1-0 home loss to No. 24 Michigan) and 2010 (4-0 home win over No. 22 Southern California).
- Notre Dame and North Carolina remain 1-2 in virtually all NCAA Championship appearance records since 1994 — round-of-16 trips (UNC-18, ND-15, Portland-14), quarterfinal berths (ND-14, UNC-14, Portland-13), College Cup spots (UNC-13, ND-12) and title game visits (UNC-11, ND-8; no one else with more than three).
- Notre Dame has advanced to six of the past eight NCAA College Cups, beginning with its 2004 national championship.
- The Fighting Irish claimed NCAA titles in 1995, 2004 and 2010, joining North Carolina as the only three-time winners in the history of the tournament. Notre Dame also has finished as the NCAA runner-up five times (1994, 1996, 1999, 2006 and 2008) as part of its 12 NCAA College Cup berths (also semifinalist in 1997, 2000, 2007 and 2009), all since 1994.
Notre Dame vs. The ACC
Notre Dame holds a 39-22-3 (.633) all-time record against the current Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) alignment, including a 20-18-2 (.525) away from home (road/neutral sites combined). However, the Fighting Irish have a winning or even record against every ACC team they have played with the exception of North Carolina, and discounting their record against the Tar Heels, Notre Dame is 34-8-1 (.802) against the rest of the ACC membership.
The Fighting Irish also are 7-8 all-time against the ACC in the NCAA Championship, with a 4-1 record against squads other than North Carolina. The last time Notre Dame faced an ACC opponent other than UNC in the NCAA Championship was Nov. 27, 2009, when the Fighting Irish posted a 2-0 win at sixth-ranked Florida State in the quarterfinals.
Four Irish Players Honored At BIG EAST Awards Banquet
Four Notre Dame players received honors during the 2012 BIG EAST Awards Banquet that was held Nov. 1 at the Marriott Hartford Downtown in Hartford, Conn.
Freshman forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro took home three awards, most notably the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year trophy, becoming the first Fighting Irish recipient of the award since Melissa Henderson in 2008. Roccaro also was a first-team all-BIG EAST and BIG EAST All-Rookie Team selection, according to a vote of the conference’s 15 head coaches.
Freshman defender Katie Naughton and freshman forward Crystal Thomas were double honorees, with both making the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team in addition to earning all-conference accolades (Thomas was a second-team choice, while Naughton was a third-team selection). Together with Roccaro, they gave Notre Dame three BIG EAST All-Rookie Team picks in the same year for the first time since 2000, when Amanda Guertin, Randi Scheller and Amy Warner represented the Fighting Irish on the BIG EAST’s rookie squad.
Rounding out this year’s Notre Dame honorees was junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish, who garnered second-team all-conference status for the second consecutive season. As a group, the Fighting Irish had four all-conference selections, their best showing since 2010, when five Notre Dame players took home all-BIG EAST plaques.
They’re Keepers
Part of Notre Dame’s success this season can be traced to its top two goalkeepers — freshman Elyse Hight and sophomore Sarah Voigt.
Hight (8-4-1, 0.62 GAA, 4.1 ShO, .855 save percentage) earned the starting nod for the first eight matches of the year, posting a 4-3-1 record while recording one shutout (sharing a second with Voigt), and tallying a win and a tie in four contests against ranked opponents (2-1 vs. No. 24/16 Santa Clara on Aug. 31; 1-1 at No. 19/18 Portland on Sept. 7).
Voigt (6-1-1, 0.85 GAA, 3.2 ShO, .708 save percentage) took over at halftime of the team’s 2-1 win over Louisville on Sept. 14 in its BIG EAST opener and would hold on to the starting spot for the next eight matches, logging a 6-1-1 record with three solo shutouts (and a shared clean sheet with freshman Naomi Willett) and a scoreless streak of 355:40 that ended early in a 2-2 draw with Rutgers on Oct. 7.
Hight regained the starting goalkeeper role at Villanova on Oct. 14 and posted three consecutive solo shutouts since returning between the pipes, defeating Villanova, DePaul and Syracuse by identical 1-0 scores (the DePaul victory coming in double overtime on Oct. 19), before dropping a 1-0 decision to No. 15/10 Marquette in the BIG EAST Championship semifinals on Nov. 2 in East Hartford, Conn. She then rebounded with a 3-1 victory over Milwaukee in her NCAA Championship debut on Nov. 9 at Alumni Stadium, allowing just a first-half penalty kick goal by the Panthers.
What’s more, the goal Hight allowed to Marquette’s Ally Miller was the first yielded by the rookie netminder in 473:38, dating back to a goal to Washington’s Jaclyn Softli on Sept. 9. Hight was unblemished in all four regular-season matches against BIG EAST opponents (0.00 GAA, 2.0 ShO, 10 saves), but she did not qualify for the BIG EAST goals-against average or save percentage titles as she did not play in at least half (five) of her team’s conference matches ths year, thus denying Hight the chance to challenge former Notre Dame netminder Nikki Weiss for the BIG EAST’s single-season GAA record in league play (0.15 in 2009).
Nevertheless, Hight currently ranks second in the BIG EAST and 24th nationally in save percentage (.855), while also ranking second in the conference and 20th in the nation in GAA (0.62).
Match #21 Recap: Milwaukee (NCAA Championship First Round)
No. RV/23 Notre Dame broke open the contest early in the second half on Nov. 9, as a pair of goals in the final frame powered the Fighting Irish to a 3-1 win over Milwaukee in the first round of the NCAA Championship at Alumni Stadium.
Notre Dame held an 18-3 shot advantage over the Panthers, including a 13-2 edge during the second half. The Fighting Irish put nine of those attempts on net, compared to only two for Milwaukee.
The match was tight in the opening minutes, as Notre Dame (14-5-2) registered three shots, two that were stopped by Panther goalkeeper Jaime Forbes (8-9-1). Milwaukee broke through for the first time in the 28th minute after Helen Steinhauser was fouled in the box by Fighting Irish freshman defender Katie Naughton to draw a penalty kick. Steinhauser then buried her attempt from the spot to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame countered with the equalizer in the 44th minute. Naughton headed in a beautiful corner kick off the foot of fellow freshman defender Brittany Von Rueden from six yards out to square the match at 1-1.
The Fighting Irish took their first lead of the match seven minutes into the second half. Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy drove home a deflected ball in the box past Forbes for the 2-1 advantage. Notre Dame added an insurance tally in the 90th minute, as freshman forward Crystal Thomas finished a through-ball from junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish for the final margin.
In her NCAA Championship debut, freshman goalkeeper Elyse Hight was called upon to make just one save, while Forbes kept her team in contention with six stops.
Beyond The Box Score: Milwaukee
- Notre Dame improved to 60-16-1 all-time in the NCAA Championship, including 45-11 in NCAA matches under 14th-year head coach Randy Waldrum.
- The Fighting Irish are now 45-3 all-time in home NCAA postseason matches.
- Notre Dame improves to 7-1 all-time against Milwaukee, having not lost a match since dropping a 2-1 decision to the Panthers in the inaugural game between the teams in 1989.
- Steinhauser’s successful penalty kick in the first half was the first goal scored by Milwaukee against Notre Dame since Sept. 8, 1989.
- The Fighting Irish allowed their first penalty kick goal in the NCAA Championship since Nov. 24, 2007, when North Carolina’s Allie Long scored from the spot at 46:05 in a 3-2 Fighting Irish third-round victory at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.
- Notre Dame earned its first come-from-behind win in the NCAA Championship since the 2004 NCAA title match against UCLA, when the Fighting Irish spotted the Bruins a 1-0 lead, drew level on Katie Thorlakson’s penalty kick with 16:50 left then won their second national championship in the shootout, 4-3 (the title-match result goes down as a victory in the record books, unlike other penalty kick wins in the postseason).
- The Fighting Irish have outscored the Panthers, 23-3 in eight all-time meetings between the squads.
- Waldrum moved to 4-0 against Milwaukee in his career, with all four wins coming at the helm of the Fighting Irish.
Giving Cancer A Swift Kick
Notre Dame’s regular-season home finale against Rutgers on Oct. 7 at Alumni Stadium was designated as the program’s “Kicks Against Cancer” match. At the end of the season, the proceeds from various events during the day will go to Michiana Hematology/Oncology and Kicks Against Cancer, the national soccer initiative to support funding for breast cancer research.
The Notre Dame players wore special gold jerseys with a pink ribbon insignia for the match. These limited edition jerseys, which were designed for the Fighting Irish by Notre Dame’s official athletics apparel provider, adidas, recently were up for public bidding through the official Fighting Irish athletics auctions web site (UND.com/auctions), with the on-line bidding ending Oct. 31.
While the final donation totals are still to be calculated, it is estimated that the Fighting Irish will have raised more than $5,000 for local and national breast cancer charities.
Meet The (Not So) #BabyIrish
Combine Notre Dame’s youthful roster (which includes 12 freshmen and six sophomores) and head coach Randy Waldrum’s growing fascination with Twitter and it’s no surprise that this year’s squad spent the first six weeks of the campaign with its own unique hashtag, courtesy of their coach … #BabyIrish.
Not only did the hashtag pay tribute to the median age of his team, but Waldrum also used the term to refer to the (sometimes painful) growing process that the Notre Dame squad is going through this season.
Although he knew his team had to crawl before it can walk, Waldrum insisted that he didn’t plan to keep the hashtag for long. Thus, with Notre Dame’s late-season surge (unbeaten in 10 of its last 11 matches) and return to the Top 25 in the national polls (currently 24th in the Soccer America poll), the Fighting Irish coach has been more than willing to lift the social media moniker, or at least trade it in for a more adolescent version (he continues to remain open to suggestions through his Twitter account, @NDCoachWaldrum).
The ongoing goal of the #BabyIrish hashtag is see his charges continue developing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to the point where they’re just the #Irish by the end of the 2012 campaign.
World (Cup) Champions
Junior midfielder/tri-captain Mandy Laddish and freshman forward/midfielder/defender Cari Roccaro now can add the label of “World Cup champion” to their respective resumes, after the Fighting Irish duo helped the United States win the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over previously unbeaten (and reigning U-20 champion) Germany in the championship match on Sept. 8 in Tokyo, Japan.
Both Notre Dame players were on the pitch when the final whistle sounded, signifying the Americans’ third title since this tournament began as the FIFA Under-19 World Championship in 2002. Four-time Fighting Irish All-America forward and two-time Hermann Trophy recipient Kerri Hanks (’08) was one of the youngest members (at age 17) of that victorious 2002 U.S. side (that defeated host Canada in the final), while Lauren Fowlkes (’11) helped the United States win the 2008 U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile, downing North Korea in the title match.
Similar to Hanks in 2002, Roccaro was the second-youngest player on this year’s American roster, but hardly showed her age, emerging as a mainstay for the United States at center back. She appeared in five of the Americans’ six matches at this year’s U-20 World Cup, starting four times and helping the U.S. to a 4-1-1 record that included three shutouts, most notably over Nigeria (2-0) and Germany (1-0) in the semifinals and championship match. The Stars & Stripes also had to battle through a 2-1 extra-time victory over North Korea in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Laddish proved to be a vital second-half substitute for the United States, coming off the bench to lend support in three matches, including the semifinal win over Nigeria and the title match victory against Germany. She becomes the second Fighting Irish player ever to earn both a U-20 Women’s World Cup title and an NCAA national championship, having joined Fowlkes as a member of the title-winning 2010 Notre Dame squad.
In addition to Laddish, Roccaro, Hanks and Fowlkes, the Fighting Irish have been represented at two other U-20 Women’s World Cups. In 2004, Hanks deferred her enrollment at Notre Dame to help the United States to a third-place finish in Thailand, scoring the opening goal in the third-place match. Two years later, a pair of future Notre Dame All-Americans, midfielder/forward Brittany Bock (’09) and defender Carrie Dew (’09), donned the Stars & Stripes for the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship (as it was then called) in Russia, where the United States finished fourth after scoreless ties in both the semifinal against China and the third-place game against Brazil (both went against the U.S. on penalty kicks by identical 6-5 scores).
The 2-0 Guarantee
Notre Dame is 340-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and has won its last 317 contests when going ahead 2-0 (since a 3-3 draw with Vanderbilt on Sept. 15, 1991, in Cincinnati).
In fact, just two of the past 229 Fighting Irish opponents to face a 2-0 deficit have forced a draw, something achieved by four opponents in Notre Dame history: Duke on Oct. 17, 1993, in Houston (ND won 3-2), Connecticut on Nov. 10, 1996, in the BIG EAST final at old Alumni Field (ND led 2-0, later tied 2-2 and 3-3, ND won 4-3), Duke on Nov. 30, 2007, in the NCAA quarterfinals at old Alumni Field (ND won 3-2), and most recently, Villanova on Oct. 12, 2008 in Villanova, Pa. (ND won 3-2 in OT).
Three … Is The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women’s soccer history, with a 309-3-1 (.989) record in those games, including a 211-1-0 (.995) mark since Oct. 6, 1995.
Golden Domers Golden In OT
Overtime has usually been the right time for Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish are 21-6-16 (.674) all-time in the Randy Waldrum era (since 1999) when going to an extra period or two. Notre Dame also is unbeaten in 15 of its last 18 overtime contests, going to double OT in its four extra-time matches, including all three this season — a 1-0 win at DePaul on Oct. 19, and a pair of draws (1-1 at No. 19/18 Portland on Sept. 7; 2-2 at home vs. Rutgers on Oct. 7).
Last year, the Fighting Irish tied two school records by going to extra time on five occasions (also in 2001 and 2007) and registering three draws (also in 1991 and 2001).
Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy became the first current Notre Dame player to score an overtime goal, netting the match-winner with 4:52 left in the second extra session at DePaul. It was the first overtime victory for the Fighting Irish since Nov. 6, 2009, when Jessica Schuveiller headed home the “golden goal” off a cross from Rose Augustin at 98:42 to beat St. John’s in the BIG EAST semifinals at Storrs, Conn.
Bohaboy’s goal at DePaul also was the latest Notre Dame match-winning score (105:08) since Sept. 21, 2001, when Amy Warner’s goal at 114:11 defeated Villanova, 2-1 at old Alumni Field (matches featured 15-minute overtime periods during that era).
Any Given Sunday
Notre Dame is unbeaten in 32 of its last 37 matches on Sunday (27-5-5), including a 17-match unbeaten streak that was snapped with a 2-0 loss to Connecticut in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals on Oct. 31, 2010.
Still, the Fighting Irish own a 46-7-6 (.831) record in their last 59 contests when closing out the weekend (usually on the back end of a two-match set), dating back to September 2007 (when Notre Dame lost three consecutive Sunday matches to nationally-ranked Stanford, Oklahoma State and Penn State, all by 2-1 scores and the first two in overtime).
Our Fearless Leader
Now in his 14th season at Notre Dame, head coach Randy Waldrum ranks fourth on the NCAA Division I career winning percentage list (second among active coaches) with a .779 (384-99-28) mark in his 23 years in the women’s game. Waldrum ranks fifth on the all-time NCAA Division I wins list, having earned his 375th career victory on Sept. 16 vs. Cincinnati at Alumni Stadium, and he recently coached the 500th match of his women’s soccer career (a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 21 at Alumni Stadium).
A two-time National Coach of the Year (2009 by Soccer America, 2010 by NSCAA), Waldrum has led Notre Dame to eight NCAA College Cups, five NCAA finals and two national championships (2004 and 2010). He also is second in NCAA Division I history with eight College Cup appearances and five title-match berths in his storied career.
Oh Captain, My Captain
The 2012 Notre Dame squad is being led by a trio of first-time captains, as senior defender Jazmin Hall, and junior midfielders Mandy Laddish and Elizabeth Tucker were selected via a preseason vote of their teammates.
In an interesting twist illustrating the youth on the current Fighting Irish roster, this year’s captains also represent three of just four active Notre Dame players who earned a 2010 NCAA national championship ring (the other is junior forward/midfielder Rebecca Twining).
Coming Soon: Irish in the ACC
The University of Notre Dame announced Sept. 12 that it has accepted an offer of admission into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports except football (the league does not offer championships in ice hockey or fencing).
The change in conference affiliation (for which a timetable has not yet been established) will be the first for Notre Dame since 1995, when the Fighting Irish moved from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) to the BIG EAST Conference.
In its 18 seasons in the BIG EAST, the Notre Dame women’s soccer program has been the conference’s flagship, winning 13 regular-season titles and 11 postseason crowns, along with three NCAA national championships. The Fighting Irish also currently hold a 146-11-9 (.907) regular-season conference record since joining the BIG EAST in 1995.
Next Up: NCAA Third Round
With a victory over Wake Forest, Notre Dame would move on to the third round of the NCAA Championship and a match against either No. 8/10 (and second-seeded) Florida or No. 18/NR Central Florida at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday at Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. That match would be streamed live at NCAA.com.
— ND —