Nov. 24, 2006
Michele Weissenhofer became the third Notre Dame women’s soccer freshman ever to post a hat trick during NCAA Tournament play and Kerri Hanks helped set up all four goals – in the process becoming just the 11th Division I player ever to reach 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season – as the top-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the eighth time with Friday night’s 4-0 victory over 8th-ranked Penn State. Another spirited, overflow crowd was on hand at Alumni Field for the quarterfinal action that sent the Irish senior class off with a 53-2-1 record at home during their four seasons.
Notre Dame (24-0-1) set team records for overall unbeaten streak (25, ninth-best in NCAA history) and shutouts in a season (19) while moving on to the semifinals for the eighth time since 1994, second-most in that span behind only North Carolina (11, after its quarterfinal win over Texas A&M). The Irish will face Florida State (a 2-1 comeback winner over Clemson) in the second semifinal on Friday, Dec. 1, with that game to be played at SAS Soccer Stadium in Cary, N.C. Notre Dame will be returning to the site of its 2004 national championship and will kick off versus FSU at 6:00 p.m. EST. The game will be telecast live on ESPN-U and also will air the next day on ESPN-2 (Dec. 2, at noon).
It was Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory versus a top-25 NCAA Tournament opponent since the 1997 Irish team beat #16 UCLA 8-0, in the quarterfinal round.
UCLA won Friday’s other quarterfinal, 2-1 over Portland, and will face the UNC-A&M winner in the semifinal round. Penn State – which reached the NCAA semifinals in 2005 before being edged in penalty kicks by eventual champion Portland – ended its season at 18-5-3. Notre Dame’s average home attendance of 1,901 during the 2006 season is a school record, ranked fourth in the nation for 2006 and was highlighted by nearly 12,000 fans jamming Alumni Field over the course of the final four regular-season games.
Notre Dame finished with a 27-3 edge in total shots (11-2 in shots on goal) and a 9-1 margin in corner kicks. The Irish allowed only one shot in the final 83 minutes (a harmless attempt from 35 yards out) and held the visitors without any shot attempts for the final seven minutes of the first half and then for the entire second half, when Notre Dame compiled a 14-0 edge in shots and 5-0 in corners. The teams split the first four shots of the game but the Irish then closed with a 25-1 shot edge, keeping alive another streak as the senior class still has yet to be outshot in a game (101).
The Irish head to Cary with an 82-8 season scoring margin that includes a commanding 56-5 edge in the second half. Notre Dame’s season goal total is 34 more than its opponents combined shots on goal versus the Irish this season (48, or 1.92 per game – best in ND history). The Irish now have held 19 opponents this season to 0-2 shots on goal and have not allowed more than four shots on goal in a game since early September (a span of 21 games).
Notre Dame’s 32-game home winning streak is tied for third-longest in NCAA Division I women’s soccer history and is part of a 41-game home unbeaten streak (40-0-1) that also ranks third and spans all of the 2004-06 seasons. The Irish senior class now owns a 91-7-3 career record, tying the group that played from 1994-97 for the most wins by a class in the program’s 19-year history. Senior midfielder Jen Buczkowski has played in all 101 of the 2003-06 games, tying the Irish records for career games played and consecutive games played.
The Irish – who totaled a 49-3 scoring edge in the 13 home games this season – had several near-miss scoring chances during the first half before turning in yet another dominant second half, sparked by two goals from Weissenhofer in a span of 2:31 as part of her hat trick that took all of 12 minutes to complete. Junior midfielder Amanda Cinalli later headed in a corner kick from Hanks to cap the scoring.
Entering the intermission with a 0-0 score was not all that alarming for a Notre Dame squad that has enjoyed only 13 halftime leads all season. On the flip side, the Irish now have scored in the second half during 23 of their 25 games – which have seen three opponents score in the first half (Mississippi, Santa Clara and West Virginia) and three others score in the final 45 minutes (Villanova, Rutgers and Oakland).
Hanks (64 points; 22G-20A) and Weissenhofer (53; 18-17) now rank 1-2 atop the national scoring charts and are just the 23rd set of teammates in NCAA history to top 50 points in the same season. That list includes three previous Notre Dame sets of teammates: Cindy Daws (72), Jenny Streiffer (66), Monica Gerardo (59) and Holly Manthei (54) in 1996; Anne Makinen (58), Streiffer (58) and Meotis Erikson (56) in ’97; and Katie Thorlakson (71) and Hanks (71) in ’05. Hanks joins Streiffer as the only Irish players ever to be part of two 50-point teammate groupings.
Weissenhofer, Hanks and fellow sophomore Brittany Bock – whose postseason already includes a pair of two-goal games – could end up being the top forward trio in Notre Dame history, this season and beyond (they are set to return together in 2007 and ’08). Hanks and Weissenhofer both have totaled seven goals during the 2006 postseason while Bock has five – and each of the three now has five or more gamewinning goals this season (Bock and Hanks with six, Weissenhofer with five).
Six points in Cary would give Hanks a second straight 70-point season, placing her in the elite company of Thorlakson (70 in ’04, 71 in ’05) and former SMU/Florida player Danielle Garrett Fotopoulos (three seasons with 70-plus) as the only D-I players ever to top 70 points in more than one season. Hanks has been on a tear during the past two months, factoring into nearly 70 percent of her team’s goals (35 of 52/67%; 16G-19A) over that 16-game span that now includes an 11-game point streak for the Hermann Trophy favorite.
Hanks has pushed her career point total to 135, the third-most points ever totaled (and most in nearly 20 years) for a D-I women’s soccer player over the course of her freshman and sophomore seasons. SMU’s Lisa Cole compiled 147 points in her first two seasons (1987-88) while UC Santa Barbara standout Carin Jennings (Gabarra) had 140 points in her freshman and sophomore seasons (1983-84). In 50 career games, Hanks is averaging 2.70 points per game – which would rank 8th-best in the NCAA record book.
Buczkowski’s entry pass into the box – after a quick reset – led to Friday’s first goal, with Hanks then flicking the ball on to Weissenhofer at the right side of the goal area. Weissenhofer found herself with some space near the six-yard box and quickly lifted a shot into the upper right corner of the net for her 16th goal of the season (53:05).
The goal ultimately held up as Weissenhofer’s fourth gamewinner of the 2006 postseason, setting a Notre Dame record (most GWGs in one postseason) for the talented first-year player.
Despite their inconsistent goal production during the first half of games this season (26 first-half goals in 25 games), the Irish consistently have come out strong after halftime and now have scored 12 times in the first 10 minutes of the second half (an average of 4.3 goals per 90 minutes). Hanks now has scored (5) or assisted (4) on nine of those 12 quick-strike goals in the second half while Weissenhofer has been involved in five of them (2G-3A).
Weissenhofer struck again just 151 seconds after her first goal, on a classic counterattack sequence that showcased the diverse skills of the three Irish frontrunners. Notre Dame quickly cleared its zone and Weissenhofer kept things moving with an outlet pass from the center of the field that led Hanks down the right side. With a PSU player in hot pursuit, Hanks dribbled towards the edge of the attacking third before lifting a cross into the middle of the field. Bock – despite being tightly marked by Jessie Davis as she rushed onto the play – did a keen job of staying onside as Davis tried to control the ball with a header. But Bock was able to chest the ball down as she muscled past Davis before quickly striking a leftfooted shot. `Keeper Kate Milstead was well off her line and the point-blank shot deflected off Milstead before kicking off to the left side of the box. Weissenhofer was trailing the action all the way and sent the rebound inside the near-left post for the sudden two-goal cushion (55:36).
Penn State then faced a tough task, as the Irish now have posted 246 consecutive wins when claiming a 2-0 lead (dating back to the early 1990s; 269-0-1 all-time when leading 2-0).
Weissenhofer – who joins Streiffer (22G-22A) as the only Notre Dame players ever to reach at least 17 goals and 17 assists in their freshman season – completed her 12-minute hat trick in the 66th minute, with Hanks picking up her second assist of the night (by rule, her cross on the second goal is not officially counted as an assist due to the deflection). Hanks was fouled on the left side of the attacking third, about 35 yards out and even with the left side of the penalty box, before striking the ball into the heart of the goal area. Milstead sprinted out to swat the ball away – just as Bock was barreling into the area – but Weissenhofer again was in perfect position near the top of the 18 and converted into the open net (65:42).
Current U.S. National Team standout Shannon Boxx (1995, second round vs. Wisconsin) and the program’s all-time leading goalscorer (80) Jenny Heft (1996, first round vs. Indiana) are the only other Notre Dame players ever to post an NCAA Tournament hat trick during their freshman season. Notre Dame’s six previous hat tricks in NCAA Tournament play have featured just one that has come this late in the postseason – a three-goal game by Heft versus UCLA in the 1997 NCAA quarterfinals, meaning that Weissenhofer is the first Notre Dame freshman to post an NCAA hat trick in the quarterfinals or later.
A set play also produced the final goal, with Hanks serving a corner kick from the right flag. Cinalli was crashing the far post and sent home the header from close range for her 11th goal of the season. Despite playing half of the season in the midfield, Cinalli has posted the highest goal total of her career (11) – after scoring 10 goals in both 2004 and ’05 (when she played primarily as a forward).
The goal moved Cinalli (88; 31G-26A) past Jodi Hartwig into 19th on the Notre Dame career points list but she ranks sixth all-time among Notre Dame players with 18 career points in the NCAAs, trailing only Thorlakson(29), Gerardo (24), Hanks (23), Makinen (20) and Manthei (19).
More than half of Hanks’ assists this season (11 of 20) have come via corner-kick (7) or free-kick (4) services, to go along with her six career goals scored directly off dead-ball plays (four free kicks, two penalty kicks). Friday’s effort was the first three-assist game of her career, to go along with a hat trick earlier in the 2006 NCAAs versus Oakland. This marks the first time since 1997 that two Notre Dame players have posted hat tricks during the same NCAA Tournament and it’s the first time since 2000 (Amy Warner and Meotis Erikson) that two Irish players have scored hat tricks at any point in the same season.
NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH Randy Waldrum – “The crowd was a big factor in the game. The actual number of people here was standing-room only and one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen. To have that from the local community with most of the students being gone was huge, but there also were some great students here tonight and we could hear them cheering us on. It’s such an important thing for our kids. When we got the first goal, you heard that big response from the crowd. It helps them do more. … There were some great groups here before I came but I can’t imagine that there could be a better group of seniors that have come through here, not only in their wins and losses but just the quality of the kids we have. They are just amazing and I can’t think of a better way for them to go out than to have another shot at the final four. … We knew their midfield was very good and they came out early and tried to pressure us. But after 15 to 20 minutes, after we began to settle down, we got into our rhythm. After the first goal, I was expecting us to get the second one and Michele just had a great night, as did Bock and Hanks. They are just such a handful for the opposition. But once again the real key was our midfield. They were brilliant today, Buczkowski, Krivacek and Cinalli completely dominated the midfield and that was the key to the win. … There is so much parity now and so many good women’s programs. I thought out of the eight teams that were left this weekend, any of the four that got to the final four you could understand that. Going back a few years, there were not as many teams in that mix.”
NOTRE DAME FRESHMAN FORWARD Michele Weissenhofer – “In the second half, we put away our chances but the whole team played amazing. Our defense did not let any of their forwards shoot and our midfielders dominated all over, including in the air. Our forwards caused chaos and we had a lot of chances in the first half and could not put them away. It was our time and we did awesome. … On the first goal, I was setting myself up to shoot it and was just anticipating where the ball was going to go. It was a great ball from ‘Buzz’ and then Hanks flicked it on. It was very exciting. I was very tired after I ran half the field. The second goal was hard work on everyone’s part. The third goal was crazy, I was happy and surprised. … I’m so excited to go to the final four. Our crowd was amazing tonight. It was a great night. This is why I came here, to go the final four and win a national championship.”
NOTRE DAME SENIOR MIDFIELDER Jen Buczkowski – “It was special to get this final win at Alumni Field. The crowd was amazing, without most of the students here it was unbelievable. When we came back out after halftime, we had some energy and the crowd was loud. Overall, they were really helpful. … In the first half, we didn’t finish our opportunities and the ‘keeper was really great. In the second half, the goals went in and we put them away.”
NOTRE DAME SENIOR MIDFIELDER Jill Krivacek – “After my freshman season, coach asked me to dominate in the air and I really worked hard to get to that point. … We have seniors and juniors who have been to the final four before and our freshmen have been very successful with their club teams, so everyone knows the effort and mentality to win big games like these.”
PENN STATE HEAD COACH PAULA WILKINS – “Notre Dame has a very good team and a very good program. Their front six attackers are very dynamic and very dangerous. They have great set pieces and dominate in the air. They put good pressure on the ball. … They won a lot of first and second balls and scored three goals on set pieces, so that was one of the key parts of the game. … I wish them all the best next week in the final four.”
POSTSEASON POISE – The Irish have rattled off 14 straight wins at home during the postseason and own a 44-3-0 all-time postseason record at Alumni Field (70-13-1 overall in all postseason games) … ND now is 7-2-1 in NCAA quarterfinal games … the 1995 and 2004 teams went on to win the NCAA title and three others finished as NCAA runner-up (’94, ’96 and ’99) while the 1997 and 2000 teams lost in the semifinals … Friday’s game marked just the third quarterfinal at home for the Irish in eight seasons under Randy Waldrum (the 2000 team beat Santa Clara, 2-1 in overtime, while the 2004 team beat Portland in a 3-1 quarterfinal) … updated career stats in the NCAAs now include: Hanks (23 pts; 8G-7A; 8 GP), Cinalli (18; 8G-2A; 14 GP), Bock (12; 5G-2A; 9 GP) and Buczkowski (8; 2G-4A; 17 GP) … overall postseason career stats: Hanks (42; 15G-12A; 14 GP), Cinalli (25; 10G-5A; 25 GP), Bock (24; 9G-6A; 14 GP) and Buczkowski (21; 5G-11A; 27 GP) … Cinalli now ranks 10th on the ND list for career postseason goals (10), five back of the record that is shared by Hanks … Cinalli is 12th at ND in career postseason points (25) … Gerardo (10) and Heft (9) are the only ND players ever to score more career goals in the NCAAs than Hanks or Cinalli (each has 8) … Buczkowski is tied with Hanks for 11th among ND players in career postseason assists (11).
SENIOR SALUTE – North Carolina (93-3-3) is the only 2006 team with a senior class that has more wins than ND’s group (91-7-3; .916) … ND’s class of ’98, led by Manthei (the NCAA all-time assist leader) and current National Team defender Kate Sobrero (Markgraf), went 91-6-4 (.921) from 1994-97 … Buczkowski has tied Boxx and Erikson as ND’s all-time leaders in games played (101) … Boxx and Erikson also played in 101 straight … left back Christie Shaner logged her 98th career game, tying Gerardo, Jen Renola and Kate Fisher for 8th in ND history (next up is Kara Brown, with 99 GP) … Buczkowski and Shaner’s combined games played (199) ties Gerardo and Boxx for the 2nd-most by ND classmates (Streiffer and Jen Grubb each played in 100 games from 1996-99) … Buczkowski’s 95 career starts rank 9th in the ND record book, one behind Boxx and Gerardo (Grubb and Manthei share that record, with 100 starts) … the 8-member senior class has combined for 578 career games played and 358 starts (Shaner has 88 GS), with others including center back Kim Lorenzen (93 GP/83 GS), defensive midfielder Jill Krivacek (93/63), F/M Lizzie Reed (90/21), DM Claire Gallerano (49/6), F Molly Iarocci (35/0) and `keeper Nikki Westfall (18/1) … Lorenzen and Krivacek are tied for 18th on the ND career games played list (next is Daws, with 94) while Reed on Friday became the program’s 28th player to appear in 90-plus career games … Buczkowski and Krivacek form the core of the ND midfield with their 194 combined games played (158 starts), as do Lorenzen and Shaner for the back line (they have 191 combined GP/171 GS) … Buczkowski (27 GS), Lorenzen (27 GS) and Krivacek (24 GS) have appeared in all 27 postseason games of their career (Shaner has 25 GP/22 GS in the postseason) … the seniors’ career stats included a 338-54 scoring margin (+284), 67 shutouts, 90 (of 101) games with 0-1 goals allowed, and 52 wins by a margin of 3-plus goals … the seniors have trailed just 6% of the minutes in their career (558, spanning parts of 16 games) … ND is 40-1-1 during the past two seasons with Lorenzen in the starting lineup … Buczkowski now ranks 13th in ND history with 37 career assists, one behind Michele McCarthy … all of Buczkowski’s 15 points in 2006 (1G-13A) have come since mid-Sept.
SO MANY STREAKS – The only teams with longer home winning streaks in the 25-year history of Division I women’s soccer are UNC (84; 1986-95) and Penn State (39; 2001-04) … UNC is the only team with longer home unbeaten streaks in its D-I history (84 from ’86-’94 and 56 from ’99-’04) … ND is 88-2-0 in its past 90 games when scoring first, including 34 straight wins when getting the first goal (48-1-0 in past 49 when scoring first) … ND’s 11-game win streak is the 10th-longest in the program’s history and 6th-longest of the Waldrum era (16 in ’00, 15 in ’04, 13 in ’05 and ’06, 12 in ’03) … the Irish have not faced a deficit since late Sept. (a span of 15 games) … ND is 37-1-1 in its past 39 games, since a midseason loss at Marquette in 2005 … aside from UNC, there are only two teams in NCAA history with longer unbeaten streaks than ND (25): Nebraska (32, from 1999-2000) and Florida (26, from ’98-’99) … UNC has compiled unbeaten streaks of 103 (’86-’90), 101 (’90-’94), 70 (’96-’98), 56 (’83-’85), 49 (’03-’04) and 35 games (’94-’95).
ADDITIONAL UPDATED HANKS NOTES – Hanks, who entered the night already owning 32 ND records, moved past Weissenhofer (17) atop the national assists list … in addition to Daws, Streiffer and Thorlakson, the other D-I players who have reached 20G-20A in a season include UCSB’s Jennings (20G-26A, in ’86), UNC’s Mia Hamm (32G-33A, ’92), Robin Confer (20G-22A, ’97) and Lindsay Tarpley (23G-27A, ’03), UConn’s Sara Whalen (21G-22A, ’97), UNC Greensboro’s Kati Katanen (24G-20A, ’97) and Santa Clara’s Mandy Clemens (24G-23A, ’99) … Hanks is averaging 2.70 points per game for her career, which would rank 8th-best in NCAA history behind Seton Hall’s Kelly Smith (3.41), Jennings (3.34), Portland’s Tiffeny Milbrett (3.32), Cole (3.15), Fotopoulos (3.09), Hamm (3.02) and former North Texas player Marilyn Marin (2.71) … Streiffer’s ND record is “just” 2.11 ppg (Hanks could go without a point for 13 games and still own the best ppg in ND history) … Hanks moved into a tie with Boxx for 11th on the ND career points list (135; next is Rosella Guerrero with 142) … she remains 6th on the ND single-season points list (64), two behind Streiffer’s 1996 total … Hanks has scored (6) or assisted (8) on 14 of ND’s 24 gamewinning goals this season (her 20 gamewinning points for the season rank 2nd in ND history, behind Thorlakson’s 23 in ’04) … Thorlakson (12, in ’05) is the only ND player with more GWAs in a season than Hanks (8) … Hanks has scored (12) or assisted (11) on half of ND’s 46 GWGs during the past two seasons … her 35 career assists suddenly rank 16th in ND history and put her on a four-year pace to potentially finish 2nd on that list, ahead of Streiffer (71) and Thorlakson (73; Manthei’s 129A are the NCAA record) … Hanks is averaging exactly one goal per game in her career (50) … she has points in 13 of her 14 career postseason games (all seven this season), with her 42 career postseason points (15G-12A) trailing only Thorlakson (53) and Makinen (43) in ND history … Thorlakson is the only ND player with more points (27, in ’04), more assists (12, in `05) or more gamewinning assists (4, in ’05) in one postseason than Hanks (23; 7G-9A; 3 GWA in ’06 postseason) … Thorlakson (29) and Gerardo (24) are the only ND players with more career points in the NCAAs than Hanks (23; 8G-7A).
ADDITIONAL UPDATED WEISSENHOFER NOTES – In addition to Boxx and Heft’s freshman hat tricks and the three-goal game from Hamks two weeks ago vs. Oakland, the other three ND hat tricks in the NCAAs have been by Amy VanLaecke (3G-1A vs. Wisconsin, 1996 second round), Gerardo (3G-1A vs. Cincinnati, 1997 first round) and Heft (3G vs. UCLA in ’97 quarterfinal) … Weissenhofer added to her ND record for gamewinning points in one postseason (9; 4 GWG-1 GWA) … she has posted four of her five GWGs of 2006 in the postseason and already is one shy of ND’s career record for postseason GWGs (5, by Gerardo) … her 53 points are 5th-most ever by an ND freshman, behind Hanks (71), Streiffer (66), Makinen (58) and Erikson (56) … only five ND players have posted more goals as freshmen than Weissenhofer (18): Hanks (28), Makinen (23), Erikson (22), Streiffer (22) and Gerardo (20) … there now have been eight total hat tricks by Irish players in 84 all-time ND postseason games, with the other two coming in the BIG EAST Tournament (Makinen had 3G as a freshman in the 1997 BIG EAST final vs. UConn) … the only other seasons with multiple postseason hat tricks for the Irish were 1996 (Heft and VanLaecke) and 1997 (Gerardo and Heft) … Weissenhofer has points in 20 of the 25 games this season.
OTHER TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL NOTES – The ND junior class now is 71-4-2 in their career, improving on the best career win pct. in the program’s history (.935) … Cinalli’s 89 career points leave her just one behind VanLaecke and two back of Tiffany Thompson (17th) on the ND career list … Cinalli and junior right back Ashley Jones have played in all 77 games of their ND careers (Cinalli has started all 23 postseason games from ’04-’06) … this marks the second straight season that ND has two players with 18-plus goals (Hanks 28, Thorlakson 18 in ’05) … four ND players now have 11-plus goals this season (Hanks 22, Weissenhofer 18, Bock and Cinalli 11) … Waldrum now is 165-23-6 (.865) in eight seasons with the Irish, including 65-16-3 (.792) in “big games” (vs. NSCAA top-25 or postseason opponents) … ND now has beaten an NSCAA top-25 opponent by 3-plus goals in 14 games of the Waldrum era – only three times by a larger margin (5-0 vs. #2 Santa Clara in 2000, 4-0 vs. #17 UConn in ’05 and 5-0 later in ’05 vs. #15 UConn, in the BIG EAST title game) … the Irish are 42-14-3 (.737) vs. NSCAA top-25 teams under Waldrum … ND is 249-3-1 all-time when scoring 3-plus goals and 71-5-3 when playing as the #1 team in the NSCAA poll … the 24 wins tie the 1996 team’s total, one shy of the ND record (25-1-1, in ’04) … junior `keeper Lauren Karas owns a 35-1-1 career record … ND has 429 more total shots than its opponents this season (559-130) … ND’s 13-0-0 home record in 2006 included the 49-3 scoring margin, plus 314-63 in shots, 130-23 in shots on goal and 74-30 in corner kicks … top scores at home in ’06: Hanks (12G-12A), Weissenhofer (11G-9A), Cinalli (7G-3A) and Bock (6G-4A) … ND and FSU will be meeting for the first time … the Irish are 26-2-0 in series openers during the Waldrum era (17-0-0 during the career of the senior class).
#8 Penn State (18-5-3) 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (25-0-1) 0 4 – 4
ND 1. Michele Weissenhofer 16 (Kerri Hanks, Jen Buczkowski) 53:05.
ND 2. Weissenhofer 17 (Brittany Bock) 55:36.
ND 3. Weissenhofer 18 (Hanks) 65:42.
ND 4. Amanda Cinalli 11th of season/31st of career (Hanks) 71:55
Shots: PSU 3-0 – 3, ND 13-14 – 27.
Corner Kicks: PSU 1-0 – 1, ND 4-5 – 9.
Saves: PSU 7 (Kate Milstead), ND 2 (Lauren Karas).
Fouls: PSU 19, ND 14.
Offside: PSU 0, ND 1.
Yellow Cards: Heather Tomko (PSU) 30:06; Akilah Duggan (PSU) 79:55.