Sept. 18, 2008

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

DATE: Sept. 19, 2008
TIME: 4:00 p.m. CT
AT: Chicago, Ill. - Wish Field (1,000)
SERIES: ND leads 3-0-0
1ST MTG: ND 6-0 (9/16/05)
LAST MTG: ND 4-0 (9/21/07)
WEBCAST: None
LIVE STATS: depaulbluedemons.com
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Storylines

Top-Ranked Irish Open BIG EAST Play Friday At DePaul
Armed with the No. 1 ranking in the country by all of the major national polls, Notre Dame kicks off its 2008 BIG EAST Conference schedule Friday afternoon when it travels to DePaul for a 4 p.m. (CT) contest at Wish Field in Chicago.

The Irish (6-0) have had a week off since their last game, a 5-0 victory over SMU on Sept. 12 at Alumni Field. Notre Dame got three goals from freshmen in the win, including two from forward Melissa Henderson in a 6:05 stretch early in the second half. It also was a milestone night for senior All-America forward Kerri Hanks, who became the sixth member of the NCAA Division I 60-goal, 60-assist club with her helper on Henderson's first goal.

The Irish also continued to ride the strength of their defense, holding the visiting Mustangs without a shot in the first half and outshooting SMU, 28-4 on the evening.

For the third time this season, junior Kelsey Lysander and sophomore Nikki Weiss split a shutout in goal, with each netminder making one save between the pipes.

Rankings

A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
Notre Dame rolls out one of its deepest teams in years, with 19 monogram winners (including nine starters) back from last season's squad that went 19-5-2 (11-0-0 in the BIG EAST) and advanced to the NCAA College Cup semifinals for the ninth time in the past 14 years. The Irish also bring back a powerful offensive punch, with 83.3 percent of their goalscoring (55 of 66) returning.

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 (5G-2A) continues to blaze new trails through the NCAA and Notre Dame record books, having led the nation in assists the past two seasons, and aiming to become the third Division I player ever to log 70 goals and 70 assists in her career (69G-60A entering Friday's game). She earned national honors on Sept. 1 from Top Drawer Soccer (Player of the Week) and Soccer America (Team of the Week) after garnering her second consecutive Offensive MVP award at the Inn at Saint Mary's Classic with her school record-tying sixth career hat trick vs. Loyola Marymount.

Bock (1G-1A), 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). The reigining BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year, 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.

Another key player for the Irish this season is senior center back and co-captain Carrie Dew, the 2006 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year who made a successful recovery from an ACL injury late in the '06 regular season with a solid '07 campaign. She is the two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week and Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week honoree, after leading Notre Dame to four consecutive shutouts to open this year (the first time the Irish have done that since '95).

A Quick Look At DePaul
DePaul is 2-6-0 entering Friday's BIG EAST opener against Notre Dame. After beginning with five consecutive losses, the Blue Demons have won two of their last three games, scoring eight goals in that stretch.

In its last outing, DePaul dropped a 3-2 decision at Northwestern last Sunday afternoon. The Blue Demons jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Shannon Williams' goal less than nine minutes into the second half, but NU's Amanda Hoffman singlehandedly rallied the Wildcats to victory with three goals in a 16:42 span, the gamewinner coming at 85:24.

DePaul is led offensively by a trio of sophomores in midfielder Tara Strickland (2G-2A), and forwards Jenna Fagerman (2G) and Callie Hemming (2A). Another second-year player, goalkeeper Kelsey Hoinkes (2-4-0, 2.39 GAA), has appeared in seven of eight games for the Blue Demons this year, starting the past three games (she had a career-high 10 saves in a 3-2 overtime win at Miami-Ohio on Sept. 12).

Head coach Erin Chastain, a former assistant at Santa Clara from 2002-07, is in her second season at DePaul with a 7-19-1 (.278) record. She is 0-1 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-DePaul Series
Notre Dame has won all three series games against DePaul, including their only prior matchup in Chicago (5-0 on Sept. 15, 2006). The teams did not face each other before the Blue Demons joined the BIG EAST Conference in 2005.

An individual game listing for this series can be found on page 98 of the 2008 Irish women's soccer media guide.

The Last Time Notre Dame And DePaul Met
Kerri Hanks netted her fifth career hat trick, scoring twice on penalty kicks, as the 14th-ranked Irish opened BIG EAST play with a 4-0 win over visiting DePaul on Sept. 21, 2007.

Hanks put Notre Dame on top at the 7:43 mark, running on to a cross from Amanda Cinalli and nodding it under the crossbar from point-blank range. The Irish then iced the game with three goals in a span of 8:34 midway through the second half. Hanks completed her hat trick with a pair of PKs and Ashley Jones finished off matters with a goal off assists from Erica Iantorno and Rebecca Mendoza.

Notre Dame finished with a 27-1 edge in total shots (8-0 in shots on goal) and held the Blue Demons without a shot for the final 75 minutes of play.

Other Notre Dame-DePaul Series Tidbits

Poll Position
Notre Dame took over the No. 1 ranking in all of the major national polls this week, with the Irish now having earned the top spot in the nation in four of the past five seasons (and five of the 10-year Randy Waldrum era, with Waldrum joining North Carolina's Anson Dorrance as the only coaches with five top-ranked seasons in this decade).

Notre Dame last was ranked No. 1 in 2006, assuming that post in all the polls by the end of the season's first month and carrying it through to the NCAA College Cup final, where the Irish fell to North Carolina, 2-1 (one of only two blemishes in a 25-1-1 season).

Notre Dame remains the only team in the country to own the No. 1 ranking in the NSCAA poll in four of five years from 2004-08. All-time, the Irish are 74-6-3 (.910) as the nation's top-ranked squad.

As has become the custom on the Notre Dame campus, the traditional lighted #1 sign has reappeared atop Grace Hall, and a #1 flag now flies outside the Irish athletic department offices at the Joyce Center (see note on pp. 26 of this year's media guide).

This year's women's soccer ranking marks the ninth consecutive academic year (starting in 2000-01) that Notre Dame has fielded at least one top-ranked team, with women's basketball, fencing, baseball and ice hockey also reaching the top of their respective polls during that span.

Beasts Of The BIG EAST
Notre Dame enters Friday's conference opener riding a 38-game unbeaten streak (36-0-2) against BIG EAST opposition, dating back to a 4-1 loss at No. 15 Marquette on Sept. 30, 2005. In that time, the only ties were a 0-0 draw at Connecticut (Oct. 13, 2006) and a 1-1 deadlock at No. 12 West Virginia in last year's BIG EAST final on Nov. 11 (WVU won 5-3 on PKs, but the game is recorded as a tie).

Since joining the BIG EAST, the Irish are 112-8-4 (.919) all-time in regular-season conference games, 29-2-1 (.922) in the BIG EAST Tournament, and hold a 635-75 scoring edge dating back to that first league season in '95.

What's more Notre Dame maintains a 13-year, 79-game home unbeaten streak (78-0-1) versus BIG EAST teams, with Connecticut the lone conference team ever to defeat the Irish at Alumni Field (5-4 in OT on Oct. 6, 1995).

Gone In 60 Seconds
Senior forward Kerri Hanks added two more feathers in the cap of an already-brilliant career. With her assist on Melissa Henderson's second-half goal on Sept. 12 vs. SMU, the Allen, Texas, native became the sixth NCAA Division I player ever to amass 60 goals and 60 assists in her career (Hanks has 69G-60A entering Friday's game at DePaul). The six members of this elite sorority (three are Notre Dame alums) are listed in the accompanying chart (see PDF file).

Hanks also moved into a tie for 10th place on the NCAA D-I career assists chart, passing former North Carolina standout and current U.S. National Team member Lindsay Tarpley (59 from 2002-05), and pulling even with former UC Santa Barbara great Carin Jennings (60 from 1983-86).

The national leader in assists the past two seasons (22 in '06; 21 in '07), Hanks now looks ahead to two more milestones -- 70G-60A (needs one assist; done by three others) and 70G-70A, a landmark achievement that only two players in the history of Division I women's soccer have managed to attain (and neither got beyond 72G-72A).

Here's a look at the next four landmarks Hanks is close to:

Setting The Table
Set plays and dead-ball situations now have accounted for 61 (20G-21A) of Kerri Hanks' 198 career points (69G-60A), representing nearly one-third (31%) of her points with the Irish. Her 20 goals have come on free kicks (10), penalty kicks (9-for-9, including 2-for-2 this year), or directly on a corner kick (1), while her 21 assists have been via corner-kick (13) or free-kick (8) services.

Staying A-Head Of The Game
Nearly half (20) of the 41 career goals scored by senior forward/midfielder Brittany Bock have come on headers, including eight last season (seven of her final eight scores came via headers). Bock also has four rare header assists in her career.

Lead, Follow Or Just Get Out Of The Way
With the potency of the Notre Dame offensive attack, most opponents opt for the third option. In fact, the Irish have not trailed at any point this season and have led for 397:11 of 540 minutes this season (73.6 percent of the elapsed game time). In addition, Notre Dame has been tied in the second half just three times (0-0 at No. 3/2 North Carolina, 0-0 and 1-1 against No. 12/11 Duke) for a combined total of 12:49, taking no more than 7:04 to break any of the three ties and move back in front.

Getting The Jump On The Competition
Notre Dame's quick start this season has been fueled by its lightning-fast beginning to either the first or second half.

In their four home games, the Irish scored a goal in the first 20 minutes of play each time, with senior forward Kerri Hanks owning the fastest strike of the season (penalty kick at 2:39 vs. Loyola Marymount on Aug. 29). That marked the 11th-fastest goal of the Randy Waldrum era, and the quickest since Nov. 5, 2006, when Hanks struck 57 seconds into the BIG EAST final against Rutgers (a game the Irish ultimately won, 4-2).

In its two road games, Notre Dame has been scoreless at halftime, but bolted to the lead less than five minutes into the second half. Against No. 3/2 UNC, senior forward Brittany Bock scored at 50:21, then against No. 12/11 Duke, Bock fed Hanks for a score only 69 seconds after emerging from the locker room.

No Soup For You
For the second time in program history, the first time since 1995 and the first time in the Randy Waldrum era, Notre Dame opened its season with four consecutive shutouts, blanking Michigan (7-0), Loyola Marymount (4-0), No. 21/12 Santa Clara (2-0) and No. 3/2 North Carolina (1-0). The Irish actually put together a string of 419:44 scoreless minutes to begin this season (437:44 dating back to the end of last year), before the run was snapped on Sept. 7 when Duke scored at 59:19 off a corner kick that deflected in off an Irish defender.

The 1995 squad reeled off eight consecutive shutouts to begin what would be a 21-2-2 season, culminating with the program's first national championship.

Spreading The Wealth
In an early example of the incredible depth of this year's Notre Dame squad, the Irish had seven different players score goals in the season-opening 7-0 whitewash of Michigan (including three who tallied their first career goals). That matched the largest number of goalscorers in one game during the 10-year Randy Waldrum era (since '99), and the most since the 2005 season opener (an 11-1 rout of New Hampshire on Aug. 26 in the TD Banknorth Classic at Burlington, Vt.).

For the season, 13 different Notre Dame players, representing all four classes, have scored at least one goal, with only two individual multi-goal games thus far (Kerri Hanks' hat trick against Loyola Marymount on Aug. 29; Melissa Henderson's two-goal game against SMU on Sept. 12).

Game #6 Recap: SMU
Freshman forward Melissa Henderson scored twice in a six-minute span early in the second half, and senior All-America forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Kerri Hanks reached a career milestone as the No. 2 Notre Dame women's soccer team cruised to a 5-0 win over SMU on Sept. 12 before a rain-drenched crowd of 1,412 fans at Alumni Field.

After taking a 2-0 lead at halftime, Henderson doubled the Irish lead virtually in the blink of an eye, taking a cross from Hanks and blasting a shot from close range into the left side of the net at 53:27. Henderson added her fourth goal of the year (and second of the night) at 59:32, using a textbook chest trap to settle a pass from sophomore midfielder Rose Augustin and then hammering her 10-yards volley high under the crossbar for her first career multi-goal game.

Hanks' assist on the first Henderson score was noteworthy, as it was the 60th of her career, making the award-winning striker just the sixth player in NCAA Division I women's soccer history to register 60 goals and 60 assists (see note earlier in this package).

Three other players tallied their first goal of the season for the Irish (6-0) -- junior midfielder Courtney Rosen (19:59), freshman midfielder Molly Campbell (39:06) and junior midfielder Amanda Clark (83:50). Clark's goal also was the second of her career and first since her freshman season (2006 against USC).

Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander went the first 67:20 in goal for the Irish, making one save. Sophomore Nikki Weiss completed the shutout for Notre Dame (its fifth in six games this season and third shared whitewash), also turning aside one shot in her 22:40 of work.

As a unit, the Irish defense held SMU (1-3-1) without a shot in the first half and outshot the Mustangs for the game by a 28-4 margin (13-2 in shots on goal). Notre Dame also dominated in corner kicks by a 14-1 spread, with SMU getting its lone corner kick at the death.

The Honor System
Freshman forward Melissa Henderson is the latest Irish player to garner national and/or conference recognition, earning a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week and the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll, it was announced Monday.

Henderson scored twice in a 6:05 span on Sept. 12 against SMU, and had a hand in Notre Dame's opening score, as her cross was punched out by the Mustangs' goalkeeper, but landed at the feet of Irish junior midfielder Courtney Rosen, who collected the loose ball and rifled a 10-yard shot into the net.

You Stay CLASS-y, Notre Dame
Senior All-America forwards (and Hermann Trophy candidates) Kerri Hanks and Brittany Bock are two of the 30 nominees for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top senior player based on their dedication and achievement in four areas: Classroom, Character, Community and Competition. Notre Dame is one of only five schools with multiple nominees for this year's award, joining BYU, Clemson, Duke and USC.

Both Hanks and Bock have exemplified the term "student-athlete" in their career. After enrolling at Notre Dame in the spring of 2005 (due to playing in the FIFA Under-19 World Championships the previous fall, Hanks worked hard to graduate one semester early (with her Class of '08 teammates), earning her bachelor's degree in sociology this past May.

Bock earned ESPN The Magazine Third-Team Academic All-America honors last year while compiling a 3.365 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) as a marketing major. She also garnered dean's list recognition in the spring 2008 term with a 3.70 semester GPA, and added a sharp 3.834 GPA this past summer.

A national media committee will select the 10 finalists in October, with the official ballot opened for nationwide fan voting on Oct. 9. That fan balloting, coupled with votes from coaches and media, will determine this year's recipient, who will be announced at the NCAA Women's College Cup Dec. 5-7 in Cary, N.C.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the award was launched in 2001-02 in response to the trend of college basketball players leaving college early to turn professional. Lowe's has since extended the award to other sports including soccer (2007) and football (2008).

The Magic Number
Scoring three goals has meant virtually an automatic win in Notre Dame women's soccer history, with a 266-3-1 (.987) record in those games, including a 168-1-0 (.994) mark since Oct. 6, 1995. The Irish also are 363-9-15 (.957) when holding the opposition to 0-1 goals.

Most impressively, Notre Dame is 289-0-1 all-time when claiming a 2-0 lead and is unbeaten in its past 266 contests when going ahead 2-0 (dating back to a 3-3 tie with Vanderbilt on Sept. 15, 1991, in Cincinnati). In fact, just one of the past 179 Irish opponents to face a 2-0 deficit have failed to even force a tie, something achieved by three opponents in Notre Dame history: Duke on Oct. 17, 1993, in Houston (Irish won 3-2), Connecticut on Nov. 10, 1996, in the BIG EAST final at Alumni Field (ND led 2-0, later tied 2-2 and 3-3, ND won 4-3), and Duke on Nov. 30, 2007, in the NCAA quarterfinals at Alumni Field (Irish won 3-2).

You Can Put It On The Board
Notre Dame has scored a goal in 31 consecutive games, dating back to a scoreless draw with Michigan to open last season. The current 31-game goal streak ties for the fourth-longest in school history (Oct. 24, 2000-Sept. 1, 2002) and it's the longest since a 49-game run from Oct. 24, 2004-Oct. 8, 2006. The school record is 55 straight games with a goal from Aug. 29, 1997-Sept. 17, 1999.

A Little Added Face Time
Notre Dame is slated to play on television twice during the 2008 regular season. The Irish will visit Penn State Sunday with that game airing live on the Big Ten Network. Then, on Oct. 19, Notre Dame travels to Storrs, Conn., for a BIG EAST matchup with Connecticut which will be shown live on CBS College Sports.

In addition to its commercial TV coverage, Notre Dame enjoys an extensive broadcast footprint on the Internet. All of the Irish regular-season home games are slated to be broadcast live on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.UND.com), with supplemental live stats information provided by CBS College Sports Online's GameTracker service.

Fans also can follow the Irish on their cell phones by signing up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system. This free service is available by logging on the women's soccer page at www.UND.com and scrolling down the right-hand sidebar.

Finally, the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) remains a reliable resource for all the latest Irish athletics information. Regular updates on the Notre Dame women's soccer program can be found by calling the Hotline, then selecting option 4 and pressing "2".

The Golden Girls
Former Notre Dame standouts Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf ('98) and Shannon Boxx ('99) helped the United States successfully defend its Olympic gold medal with a 1-0 overtime win over Brazil in the 2008 title game on Aug. 21 in Beijing, China. Both players started and played all 120 minutes in the final on the way to earning their second consecutive gold medal.

The duo join fencer Mariel Zagunis ('10) as Notre Dame Olympians with multiple gold medals. Markgraf also matches Zagunis' career total of three medals (Markgraf won silver with the USA at the '00 Sydney Games), a standard also equalled by former track & field great Alex Wilson ('32).

Parking Changes
Due to ongoing construction within the Notre Dame Athletics Quad (including the new Irish soccer stadium tentatively set for completion in June 2009), parking for Irish soccer games this year is limited to the Eck Baseball Stadium and Joyce Center lots. Fans may ride the complimentary shuttle bus from the Eck Stadium lot, or walk around the south end of Eck Stadium, then proceed north between the stadium's right-field wall and the soccer practice field before entering at the south end of Alumni Field.

Next Game: Penn State
The Irish wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule Sunday with a 1 p.m. (ET) visit to No. 17/16 Penn State. The game, which will be televised live on the Big Ten Network, is a rematch of last year's contest at Alumni Field, which PSU won 2-1 on a pair of goals 3:12 apart early in the second half.

The Nittany Lions (5-2) are coming off a split of two games at the UConn Classic last weekend, falling in overtime to Brown (1-0) before rebounding to blank the host Huskies (2-0). Penn State's only other loss this year was a 4-1 decision to then-No. 5 Florida State on Aug. 29.

PSU traveled to James Madison Thursday night for a nationally-televised (Fox Soccer Channel) matchup with the Dukes and will return home to face the Irish on Sunday afternoon.

-- ND --