Sept. 26, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The top-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team enjoyed its most efficient first half of the season, scoring in the game’s third minute and converting four of its first five shots on goal en route to a 4-0 win over visiting Wisconsin-Green Bay in Sunday’s non-conference action at Alumni Field.
Notre Dame – now 30-1-1 in its last 32 regular-season games – has gone unbeaten at the 10-game mark for the third time in the program’s history and for the first time since the 2000 squad started 16-0-0 (the ’96 team opened 13-0-0).
The Irish recently had struggled with their shot efficiency, scoring just three times on 45 shots spanning last weekend’s games at Connecticut and Syracuse and most of Friday night’s 3-1 win over Pittsburgh. But Melissa Tancredi’s game-tying goal versus Pittsburgh sparked a flurry of shot accuracy for Notre Dame, as seven of 12 shots found the back of the net over the course of the next 60 minutes of game time (the final 29 vs. Pittsburgh and first 31 vs. UWGB).
Junior forward Katie Thorlakson continued to strengthen her All-America credentials, scoring the first two Irish goals and assisting on the third. Thorlakson entered the week as one of the nation’s leading scorers (no other player from a top-25 team had totaled more points) and she now is averaging nearly one goal and one assist per game (9G-10A), with 28 points.
The Irish continued their recent trend of resting several top players, with the opening lineup featuring five players who did not start on Friday. A total of 22 Notre Dame players saw significant minutes in the game, with many of the reserves logging solid outings.
Junior midfielder Annie Schefter set up the first goal with a deep free-kick service from the left side. The ball bounced near the center of the box and Thorlakson was in position on the right side for the ensuing volley, ripping her eighth goal of the season into the net (2:54). It marked the quickest goal of the season for the Irish, besting Schefter’s goal vs. Eastern Illinois at the 4:35 mark.
Freshman midfielder Jannica Tjeder – who missed five games earlier in the season due to an ankle injury – registered the first point of her Notre Dame career in the 18th minute, after taking a pass from junior Jenny Walz and sending a cross from the right endline. Thorlakson was filling the middle and poked a shot into the near-side of the goal, with `keeper Brooke Wikgren caught leaning the other way (17:50).
Five minutes later, senior forward Candace Chapman worked the ball to Thorlakson, who then played the ball back to freshman forward Amanda Cinalli. The ensuing shot from six yards out gave Cinalli the fifth goal of her rookie season and the early 3-0 cushion (22:51).
Schefter capped the scoring in the 31st minute on a goal that was similar to her score vs. EIU, launching a shot from the left flank that ripped into the right sidenetting for her third goal of the season (33:07).
NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – “It is our job to keep the focus there every game. I’m really hopeful that the experience last year of going undefeated and then not being focused there at the end, I hope that young group of players matured and learned from that experience. We don’t hear that type of talk this year of looking ahead. We really as a staff have tried to just concentrate on the next game. The other things that is helping is we are deeper and they can’t become too complacent with people waiting in the wings. We’ve also tried to rest some people and hope we can stay healthier at the end of the season. … You can see by the way Katie (Thorlakson) is playing, we all are very happy about her decision to stay (for the whole season). But she really had a good year for us last year and was overshadowed by some players who already had made a name for themselves but she was at least an all-BIG EAST player. But she really has evolved to be that key leader for us. She is one of the best players in the country right now. … This team’s evolution is a process, back to the way we finished the 2002 season after having so many injuries. I like the team and chemistry. We are built both athletically and talent-wise to compete with the top teams in the country. You always need to stay healthy, need a little bit of luck and stay sharp mentally. … Maybe I am evolving a little bit as a coach, things like not starting certain top players. But our younger players are showing they have the ability to step in and fill some roles. At the end of it, you hope it gives those other players some experience in pressure situations plus it is just going to keep us a little healthier and fresher. It’s a long season for those who play most of every game. … We wanted to be more efficient up front because we have been creating plenty of quality scoring chances. Getting the four in the first half allowed us to change so many players in the second half. … Most of these kids were not here last time we were No. 1. They all were anxious to see the No. 1 sign up but, once they saw it, it’s not anything that is going to their head. They realize that we always have that target no matter what the ranking and the hype has not gotten to them yet.”
SENIOR DEFENDER Melissa Tancredi – “We expect to come out strong and score some goals early. … Katie (Tholakson) has enough motion that we work off of it and she makes opportunities for us and for herself. And it’s just easier to read a player like that when you know when she is going to hold the ball for you and you can play stuff off of that.”
NOTES – Thorlakson has pushed her career point total to 70 (23G-24A), passed Kara Brown (68; ’96-’99) into 21st on the ND all-time scoring list (up next is Stacia Masters, with 74 points from ’93-’96) … Thorlakson’s 11 career gamewinning goals remain 9th in the ND record book (two behind ’01 grad. Meotis Erikson) while her 5 GWGs this season already rank 9th on that ND list (five previous ND players have totaled 7-plus GWGs in a season) … all seven goals of Schefter’s ND career have come at Alumni Field … this marks the eighth season that the Irish have been unbeaten after 10 games (including five seasons with a tie but no losses at the 10-game mark) … ND now is 104-19-4 (.835) in the six-year Randy Waldrum era … the Irish are 109-1-0 in their last 110 games when scoring 3-plus goals (since 10/6/95; 205-3-1/.968 all-time) and are 284-9-11 all-time when holding the opponent to 0-1 goals (88-3-4 since 9/9/99) … ND has totaled seven more goals this season (31) than opponent shots on goal (24) … the Irish are 15-0-0 the past two season when playing a regular-season game two days after a previous game (after going just 4-5-0 in such “bounceback” games in 2002) … updated season stat edges: 27-7 in scoring, 213-55 edge in total shots (avg. 21-6), 119-24 in shots on goal (12-2) and 55-15 in corner kicks (6-2) … ND had trailed a total of just 168 minutes in the past 39 games … the Irish now own a 16-2 first-half scoring edge … ND has limited 28 of its last 31 opponents to 0-3 shots on goal … the Irish are 32-0-0 since 10/19/02 when scoring first … there now are just four unbeaten/untied teams out of 308 in Division I women’s soccer (also Washington, Virginia and UC Riverside) … the Irish own a 156-14-2 all-time record (.913) at Alumni Field (111-4-1 vs. unranked teams) … Thorlakson has totaled 42 points at Alumni Field the past two seasons (’03-’04; 15G-12A, 6 GWG).
Wisconsin-Green Bay (2-6-1) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (10-0-0) 4 0 – 4
ND 1. Katie Thorlakson 8 (Annie Schefter) 2:54.
ND 2. Thorlakson 9 (Jannica Tjeder, Jenny Walz) 17:50.
ND 3. Amanda Cinalli 5 (Thorlakson, Candace Chapman) 22:51.
ND 4. Annie Schefter 3 (-) 30:37.
Shots: UWGB 3-1 – 4, ND 8-9 – 17.
Corner Kicks: UWGB 0-0 – 0, ND 1-2 – 3
Saves: UWGB 2 (Brooke Wikgren 1, Ryann Werner 1), ND 3 (Lauren Karas 2, Nikki Westfall 1).
Fouls: UWGB 7, ND 11.
Offsides: UWGB 0, ND 3.