Sept. 8, 2004
Junior forward Katie Thorlakson (Langley, British Columbia) has become the first Notre Dame player ever to repeat as the BIG EAST offensive player of the week while another of the team’s talented Canadians, fifth-year defender Melissa Tancredi (Ancaster, Ontario) has picked up her third career BIG EAST defensive player-of-the-week honor – after both players helped lead the Irish to wins last week over #13 Stanford (1-0) and #4 Santa Clara (5-2). (Note: Soccer America and Soccer Buzz still had yet to release their respective national teams of the week, as of Tuesday night.) Thorlakson – an easy choice for offensive MVP honors at last week’s Notre Dame Adidas Classic – turned in a strong all-around game in the defensive battle with Stanford before factoring into all five goals versus Santa Clara. She became just the third Notre Dame player ever to post a hat trick vs. a top-10 opponent while her eight points vs. the Broncos (3G-2A) are the most ever by an Irish player vs. a team ranked in the top 25. Tancredi picked up defensive MVP honors at the Adidas Classic, leading the way for an Irish squad that allowed just 2 goals, 11 shots, 6 shots on goal and 8 corner kicks in action vs. two of the nation’s top teams. She combined with fellow backline veterans Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and Christie Shaner and defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek in neutralizing Stanford All-America forward Marcie Ward before shutting out Santa Clara for the first 60 minutes and not allowing the second SCU goal until the 82nd minute. Thorlakson factored into all five of her team’s goals in a game for the second time in the young season, also totaling 2G-3A in the season opener vs. Baylor. She now has scored or assisted on all seven goals that Notre Dame has scored versus Santa Clara during the past two seasons, also setting up a Mary Boland goal and scoring the late gamewinner in the 2-1 win at SCU last season. Thorlakson registered the first hat trick of her career and added assists on the first and fourth Irish goals. It marks just the ninth time in the program’s storied history that a Notre Dame player has registered a hat trick versus a top-25 opponent – and the first since Jenny Heft scored all the goals in a 1998 win over 25th-ranked Wake Forest (3-0). Just two previous Notre Dame players have risen to the big-game challenge by delivering a hat trick versus a top-10 team: Rosella Guerrero at 5th-ranked North Carolina State in the 1992 opener (the Irish still lost, 4-3) and Anne Makinen vs. No. 4 Connecticut in the 1997 BIG EAST championship game (6-1, at Rutgers). Thorlakson also stands alone as the only Notre Dame player ever to rack up eight-plus points versus a top-25 opponent. Her offensive fireworks are all the more noteworthy due to the fact that the 2004 Irish squad was looking to replace a pair of top goalscorers in the graduated Amy Warner and Amanda Guertin while coping with the absence of two freshman frontrunners who were prep All-Americans (Kerri Hanks is training with the U.S. Under-19 National Team while Susan Pinnick was injured in a team van accident with her club team). Yet another top rookie, Finnish national Jannica Tjeder, has not played since injuring her ankle in the opener vs. Baylor while senior leader Boland was injured midway through the SCU game. With the above limits at forward, Thorlakson has taken it upon herself to factor into nearly every goal the Irish have scored this fall. She has totaled five goals, six official assists and two other plays where she directly set up the goal but did not qualify for the official assists – meaning she had played a lead role in 13 of the team’s 16 goals (she did not even play the second half vs. Baylor, when two of the other three goals were scored, and also was taking a short breather when the late PK was scored vs. Stanford). That all shakes out to 13 goals scored by the Irish this fall with Thorlakson on the field … and she has played a lead role in all 13 of them. Just nine days ago, Thorlakson had become the first Notre Dame player ever to score or assist on the team’s first five goals in a game (with 2G-3A, in 7-2 win over Baylor) and the Canadian Under-19 National Team standout then duplicated the feat on Sunday versus the potent Broncos squad. Her eight points versus Santa Clara are the most by an Irish player in six years and ended up one shy of the Notre Dame record, shared by 1996 teammates Jenny Streiffer (2G-5A, vs. Providence, Aug. 31) and Monica Gerardo (4G-1A vs. Seton Hall, Oct. 27). Notre Dame players have combined for just seven other eight-point games in the program’s 17-year history, with the last coming six seasons ago when Makinen had 3G-2A vs. Syracuse (Nov. 1, 1998). Seven of Thorlakson’s eight points vs. SCU came in the second half (3G-1A), tying another Notre Dame record that she already had shared with two others (Thorlakson had her 2G-3A in the first half vs. Baylor). The other eight-point games in the program’s history include: Stacia Masters vs. Loyola (3G-2A, 12-0, 10/20/93), Michelle McCarthy vs. St. John’s (3G-2A, 9-0, 9/3/95), Gerardo’s four-goal game at Indiana (7-0, 9/7/95), Streiffer in the game where Gerardo also had nine points vs. Seton Hall (3G-2A, 10-0, 10/27/96), Cindy Daws vs. Villanova (3G-2A, 10-1, 11/3/96), Meotis Erikson vs. SHU (3G-2A, 7-1, 10/24/97) and Streiffer’s four-goal game at Georgetown (10/11/97). The only previous ND players with seven points in a half (in addition to Thorlakson’s seven vs. Baylor) were Gerardo at Providence in 1998 (3G-1A, 1st half) and Tasha Strawbridge vs. Valparaiso in 1990 (3G-1A, 2nd half).