Women's Soccer
Nov. 21, 2008
Courtesy of Notre Dame DATE: Nov. 21, 2008 Storylines
Top-Ranked Irish Set For NCAA Third-Round Game Against No. 22/24 Minnesota Notre Dame (23-0-0) will be making its fifth consecutive NCAA round-of-16 appearance, a place when the Irish have typically rounded into offensive form, posting a 4-0-0 record since 2004 and a 13-4 edge in scoring margin. The No. 1 overall seed in this year's NCAA Championship, Notre Dame earned its way into Friday's third-round contest on the strength of a 1-0 win over another Big Ten foe, Michigan State, last Sunday at Alumni Field. The Irish dominated the run of play, outshooting the Spartans, 29-3, but it took a goal from sophomore midfielder Rose Augustin -- her third of the weekend (and second gamewinner) -- off a Kerri Hanks feed at 72:03 to produce the win. Rankings A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish As if that weren't enough, Notre Dame welcomes a highly-regarded nine-player freshman class to campus, with three of those incoming players having earned multiple national All-America honors during their prep or club careers. Leading the way for Notre Dame this season are two of the country's premier front-line players (and '07 NSCAA first-team All-Americans) in senior forward Kerri Hanks and senior forward/midfielder Brittany Bock. A three-time All-American and the '06 Hermann Trophy recipient, Hanks (18G-13A) continues to blaze new trails through the NCAA and Irish record books, sitting just off the national lead in goals and points this year after setting the NCAA pace in assists the past two seasons. A two-time BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year (including 2008), Hanks became the third Division I player to log 70 goals and 70 assists in her career (82G-71A entering Friday's game). She has earned national honors from Soccer America (Team of the Week) and Top Drawer Soccer (Player/Team of the Week) a combined seven times, as well as garnering four BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week honors. She was the only unanimous selection on the 2008 All-BIG EAST First Team. Bock (6G-9A), one of the Irish co-captains in 2008, emerged as a genuine offensive threat last season, leading the team in goals and finishing second with 36 points (16G-4A). A two-time all-BIG EAST First Team selection (including 2008), Bock earned the league's Offensive Player of the Week honor on Sept. 8, as well as a spot on the Soccer America National Team of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory at No. 3/2 North Carolina on Sept. 5. More recently, she was tapped for the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Oct. 21 after registering a goal and four assists in shutout wins at Providence and Connecticut. Another key player for the Irish this season is senior center back and co-captain Carrie Dew (1G-1A), the two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Defensive Player. She also is a two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week and a three-time national team of the week honoree, including her Nov. 10 selection as the Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week. One of three defenders to start every game for the Irish this season, Dew and the Notre Dame defense have recorded 15 shutouts and a 0.43 GAA, including four consecutive clean sheets to open this season (the first time the Irish have done that since '95). A Quick Look At Minnesota Senior Lindsey Schwartz led the Gophers in their win over South Dakota State with three points, including an assist on sophomore Molly Rouse's game-winning goal, scored just 1:11 into the contest. Rouse added a goal at 13:27. On the season, Schwartz leads the Minnesota offense with 23 points on a team-high eight goals and seven assists. Rouse is tied with Schwartz for the team lead in assists with seven, while senior Kaitlin Wagner is second on the Gophers in points (6G-5A). The high-scoring trio has started all of Minnesota's 25 games. Senior goalkeeper Lindsey Dare has played every minute of the season in net for the Gophers. She has made 64 saves while recording a 0.43 goals-against-average and an .853 save percentage as well as 17 shutouts. Her 17 shutouts are a school and Big Ten Conference record. Head coach Mikki Denney Wright is in her 5th season as a head coach, all at Minnesota, and carries a 54-38-6 (.582) record with the Gophers. The 2008 Big Ten Coach of the Year has not faced Notre Dame and is in the midst of her first NCAA tournament appearance. The Notre Dame-Minnesota Series Common Opponents Lastly, Minnesota advanced out of the NCAA first round with a 2-1 win over Marquette at home. On October 5, Notre Dame defetated Marquette at home, 3-1 and followed up with a BIG EAST semifinal triumph over Marquette, 2-0. Common Attributes Both the Irish and the Golden Gophers are particularly stingy on the back line, as each team ranks in the national top-ten in goals-against-average. The Irish enter Friday's contest with a 0.432 mark (5th), while Minnesota has a 0.434 mark (6th). Each back line is bolstered by the presence of senior stalwart defenders. The Irish can rely on 2008 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Carrie Dew to lead the defensive, while Minnesota does the same with 2008 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Kelsey Hood. Strangely enough, both defenders notched their first goals of the 2008 season in NCAA first round wins. Additionally, both Minnesota and Notre Dame have a player missing out on NCAA play due to U.S. U-20 National Team duty. Irish sophomore defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes is joined on the U-20 team by Minnesota's freshman goalkeeper Cat Parkhill (see Fowlkes note on pg. 10 for more U-20 information). Irish In The NCAA Championship The BIG EAST Hardware Haul Senior All-America forward/Hermann Trophy candidate Kerri Hanks was a unanimous selection as the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference choice by the BIG EAST coaches. Also the 2006 recipient of the award, Hanks joins former teammate Katie Thorlakson (2004, 2005) as the only Irish players to earn the trophy more than once. What's more, she set conference records with four BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week selections this season and eight for her career, blowing past the old marks of three in one season and six in a career (both shared by Thorlakson and Seton Hall's Kelly Smith). For the second time in three years, senior defender/co-captain Carrie Dew was lauded as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Dew is the fourth Irish player to be a two-time recipient of the honor, along with Jen Grubb (1998, 1999), Candace Chapman (2002, 2005) and Melissa Tancredi (2003, 2004), with Notre Dame now having a player garner that trophy for the sixth time in seven seasons. Freshman forward Melissa Henderson was named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year, becoming the fourth Irish player in the past six seasons to collect the league's top award for first-year players. She's also the third current Irish player to earn the honor, following in the footsteps of Hanks (2005) and junior forward Michele Weissenhofer, who was the 2006 recipient. Head coach Randy Waldrum was honored by his peers by being voted the BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his 10 seasons at Notre Dame. Waldrum also took home the honor in 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004, and now has earned eight conference coach of the year awards in his illustrious career, adding previous citations in the Big 12 Conference (at Baylor in 1998) and Missouri Valley Conference (with Tulsa's men's program in 1991 and 1993). The Irish also fielded four first-team all-conference selections -- Hanks, Brittany Bock, Dew and Henderson -- for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Bock also becomes the 15th Notre Dame player to be a two-time first-team all-BIG EAST honoree. Junior midfielder Courtney Rosen was voted a second-team all-BIG EAST selection, her first career all-conference certificate. Senior defender Elise Weber was an honorable mention all-conference pick this season, earning her second consecutive all-BIG EAST citation, following a third-team honor a year ago. ------------ Courtesy of Minnesota The champions from the Big Ten and Big East conferences collide in a third-round NCAA tournament match as 22nd-ranked Minnesota visits top-ranked Notre Dame in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Minnesota is making its first trip to the “Sweet 16” while the Fighting Irish advanced to the round for the fifth straight year and have played in the past two Women’s College Cups. The winner of this weekend’s match advances to the national quarterfinals to face either Boston College or Florida State the following weekend. Scouting the Fighting Irish
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