Rutgers University
Notre Dame
Rutgers Falls to Top-Ranked Notre Dame 2-0
Oct 08 | Women's Soccer
SOUTH BEND, IN -The Rutgers women's soccer team (11-2-1, 5-1-1 BIG EAST) dropped a hard-fought 2-0 decision to No. 1 Notre Dame (13-0, 6-0 BIG EAST ) on Sunday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.
"We worked extremely hard today," said head coach Glenn Crooks. "Notre Dame is the top team in the country and they showed every bit of that. For us, it was a great learning experience. We were in the game from start to finish and there were different times during the match when they put more pressure on us than others and [goalkeeper] Erin Guthrie (Sparta, N.J.) came up big a number of times during those points in the game."
Notre Dame wasted no time attacking offensively, as Jen Buczkowski took the Irish's first shot just 30 seconds into the game. Fifteen seconds later, Notre Dame's Christie Shaner nailed a header towards the goal, but Guthrie came up with the early save for Rutgers.
Following six more Irish scoring attempts, Rutgers produced a shot of its own as Alicia Hall (Port Republic, N.J.) nailed the ball wide from the right side of the field. Gina DeMaio (Parsippany, N.J.) and Hall both got off shots in the first half, but the Notre Dame defense limited Rutgers' offensive productivity, allowing only three shots in the half.
In the 35th minute, Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead when Brittany Bock scored from the top of the box on an assist by Kerri Hanks. The goal came off one of the Irish's 15 attempts in the first half.
With 43:47 remaining in the game, Rutgers had an opportunity to score off a corner kick. DeMaio took the corner for the Scarlet Knights, but the Irish cleared the ball, ending the scoring threat.
Following the Rutgers possession, the Irish struck again, scoring in the 49th minute to take a 2-0 lead. Amanda Cinalli scored from inside the box on an assist from Hanks. Hanks nailed a free kick low into the box from the right side of the field and Cinalli one-touched it in for Notre Dame.
"The biggest disappointment was giving up that goal early in the second half off a set piece that we just weren't organized for," Crooks said. "They took a quick re-start, a couple of our players had their backs to the play. We just couldn't adjust off of that. It was kind of a soft goal and that's very unfortunate considering how much effort everyone put into the match."
In goal, Guthrie posted eight saves, including five big second-half stops for the Scarlet Knights, marking a season and career-best for the freshman. Defensively, Crooks was pleased with Rutgers' effort as Michelle Weissenhofer, who is second in the nation in scoring, was held to only two shots on goal.
"She's the player with the flip-throw so we prepared for that'she's gotten six assists off of that this year," Crooks said. "We defended that well and a big part of that was Erin coming off her line and making sure nothing happened. In terms of during the run of play, she mostly played on Jaime Komar's (Matawan, N.J.) side and Jaime did a great job on her. They have a lot of weapons and it's difficult to contain them all for 90 minutes. I thought we defended very well and that the backs did a great job."
Looking back on both of Rutgers' losses this season, the first coming to Stanford on Sept. 8, Crooks said the improvements made from that match and knows the same will come from the match with Notre Dame.
"Just like the first half against Stanford, that was something that we needed to see and have happen to us, where we're back on heels and we learned from that, and got better because of it," he said. "We're going to do the same with this Notre Dame match. Notre Dame kept the ball better than any team we've played this year so therefore that'll cut down on your opportunities."
Another aspect of the match which Notre Dame managed to control was the air game, something which Rutgers has been accustomed to controlling thus far this season.
"They did a very good job in the air, winning a lot of the air game and that made it difficult for us because that's something we've been very good at," Crooks said. "They make it hard to get into a rhythm and we like to play with a rhythm. They're so athletic and they work hard themselves. They're a really good team and they were very prepared today. I think they showed a lot of respect for us by the way they went at it and we're obviously disappointed with the loss, but its hard because we've been so successful so far this year."
Following the match, Notre Dame moves to first place in the National Division of the BIG EAST with 18 points, while Villanova is second with 17 points. Rutgers moves to third place with 16 points following the match with the Irish.
"We had a lot of things to play for today. I'm really happy with how hard everyone worked and not at all disappointed with the efforts, just with the result," Crooks said. "It was a great effort, I'm very proud of how we went at it and, no matter what the score was, we continued to try to press and make things happen until the very end. Part of the learning experience was to see what a team at level brings and now, if we have a chance to play them again in the BIG EAST tournament, which I hope we do, we'll be that much better for it."
Rutgers will have two more BIG EAST match-ups on the road next weekend, playing at Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 13, at 7:00 p.m. and then traveling to St. John's to take on the Red Storm on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 1:00 p.m.
Notre Dame 2, Rutgers 0Women's Soccer Sunday, October 8, 2006; Alumnit Field; South Bend, Ind.
1st 2nd Final Shots: ND 31, RU 3. Saves: ND 0, RU 8 (Erin Guthrie 8). Fouls: ND 10, RU 10. Corner Kicks: ND 7, RU 2. Offsides: ND 0, RU 0. Cards: YC-RU (#16) 82:10 Time Team Goal Assist34:45 ND Brittany Bock Kerri Hanks
Notre Dame 1 1 2
Rutgers 0 0 0
48:23 ND Amanda Cinalli Courtney Rosen, Kerri Hanks
