I thought I'd start a new thread for the new year for Notre Dame women's soccer. This is the 20th anniversary of the 1995 Championship so I would like to start it off by naming my personal All-Time Notre Dame team and it's now 20 years since I began following the Notre Dame women's program. It is hard to pick the best because there were so many great Irish players over the years. But I am choosing who I felt were the best of those years from my own eyes in the many, many games I watched at both old Alumni stadium and the new stadium. Hope I got their career dates at ND correct. My 1st team: F- Melissa Henderson - A superstar while at ND. Gifted forward with speed and scoring ability. F- Kerri Hanks - Two time Hermann Award winner. The most decorated Irish player ever. F- Amy warner (2000-20030- Lightning speed. Scored many goals. One of my favorites OAT. M- Shannon Boxx (1995-1998) - Gifted holding mid. Most successful Irish ever. Hard worker. Great ball skill. M- Anne Mackinen (1997-2000) - IMO, the best Irish soccer player of all time. From Finland. M- Brittany Bock (2005-2008) - An unselfish skilled player that busted her butt 100% every game. D- Lauren Fowlkes (2007-2010) - Most versatile player ever. Captain of 2010 National Champs. D- Jenn Grubb (1997 - 2000) - Maybe the best Notre dame defender ever. D- Carrie Dew (2005-2008) - or maybe dew is the best defender ever D- Kelly Lindsey (1997-2000) - The toughest Irish defender I ever saw. G- LaKeysia Beene (1996-1999) - Quick, catlike reflections. Had outstanding career in college and the pros. My 2nd team: F- Jenny Streiffer (1996 - 1999) F- Katie Thorlakson (2002-2005) F- Jenny Heft (1996-199) M- Holly Monthei (1994-1997) M- Courtney Barg (2008-2011) M- Jen Buczkowski (2003-2007) D- Jessica Shuveiller (2007-2010) D- Kerri Bakker (1997-2000) D- Ellise Weber (played 2 years at ND) D- Monica Gonzales ( 5 year player, I believe) G- Jenn Ranola (1993-1996)
OMG. I forgot one of the greatest of all time - (D) Kate Sobrero (Markgraf) (1995-1998) - one of the best defenders ever for both the Irish and USWNT. See, there are so many Irish greats over the years it's hard choosing who was the best. Honorable Mention list: Randi Scheller - Loved her vision on the field. Melissa Tancredi (D) - Tough as nails. Amanda Guertin (F) - Scored many key goals for the Irish. Meotis Erickson (F) - Just knew how to finish. Vanessa Pruzinski (D) - When you think Irish women soccer, you can't help but think of her. Rose Augustin (M) - Unbelievable ball skill and passing skill. Candice Chapman (D) - One of my favorite all-time Irish defenders. Elizabeth Wagner (G) - Solid goalkeeper, kept Irish in many games. Erika Bohn (G) - I will always remember watching her make the PK save against UCLA to win the 2004 NCAA National Championship in Cary, NC. Annie Schefter (M) -Outstanding vision and ball skills. Sammy Scofield - I always loved her calm demeanor on the back line. Never panics. Cari Rocarro and Katie Naughton - Story to be continued... There you go folks, wanted to start 2015 in honor of 20 years of the first National Championship and my tribute and honor of watching one of the best women's college programs of all time. Watching this program for 20 years has been one of the best soccer experiences I've ever had and I've played this game most of my life as well, including college. I can keep going on naming great Irish women players. There were so many. If I missed a date or detail or misspell, sorry. Someone can correct me, please. I hope the legacy continues, great players keep coming to South Bend and more Championships are in store.
MRAD...As a longtime ND observer, can you comment on the differences you've detected between Waldrum's and Romagnolo's style of play? And, the type of players needed to make each of their systems work?
An excellent list, MRAD12. I would add Liz Tucker (2010-13). Not the most skilled player, but great work-rate. Played in every game, started more than 80, an important part of the 2010 championship team, 4.0 GPA, and the only ND player in any sport and the only soccer player from any school ever to win the NCAA's Woman of the Year Award (2014). Until Tucker came along, I always though Pruzinski (4.0 in Chemical Engineering) was the most impressive player in terms of off-the-field performance.
I agree about Liz Tucker. I have two more questions for the board: 1) why has ND been so good defensively but so bad offensively? Is it the style of play, the coaching, or recruiting shortcomings at the forward positions? 2) why has ND consistently wilted late in games or in overtime? If ND would have stayed strong late, the records would have been much, much better the last two seasons.
One possibility is that the opponents were simply better. In 2013, 7 of the 8 losses were by a single goal (and 4 in OT). The national ranking of the opponents at the time of those losses: 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and NR. In 2014, 5 0f the 6 losses were by a single goal (only 1 in OT). The national ranking of the opponents at the time of those losses: 4, 5, 9, 15, and NR.
Good response and I agree. Unfortunately, the schedule will remain just as tough now that ND is in the ACC. At some point, the team has to find ways to grind out these overtime games. Last season's UNC game was especially painful. I should have written overtime or nail-biter games.
To compare, here are the goals for/goals against numbers for the past 15 years: 2000: 76/10 2001: 47/15 2002: 46/27 2003: 73/12 2004: 70/14 2005: 110/15 2006: 82/8 2007: 64/25 2008: 83/12 2009: 58/18 2010: 55/13 2011: 44/24 2012: 46/18 2013: 45/20 2014: 36/18
I haven't charted this out, but it looks like there hasn't been a big change in goals against, but at least over the last 10 years there has been a decline in goals for. This is not atypical for top teams. For the very top teams, goals against have remained fairly constant at a very low level (~0.8 goals per game maximum) but goals for have declined.
I don't disagree about the trend. If looking at only the championship team in each of the past 8 years, here are the GF/GA: 2007: 47/13 2008: 89/16 2009: 63/12 2010: 55/13 2011: 73/9 2012: 55/17 2013: 51/8 2014: 70/9
Love MRad's lists. I had forgotten about Elise Weber, who was a tower of strength as a transfer in. Two names that came to mind are Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, a strong D, and Michele Weissenhofer, a F with a flip throw as a weapon.
Another name worth adding: Cindy Daws (1993-96). Her DFK won the 1995 title in triple OT. When the Ref asked if she wanted 10 yards, she said "no" as she kicked the ball into the net while the defense was directing its attention to setting a wall. Won the Hermann Trophy and the MAC Award (in the days before these awards were combined) and also the Honda Award.
Another question for the board: how is ND looking in recruiting this year? Signing day is a few weeks away.
The incoming class is quite strong. Not large, but they do not need numbers. The Irish have such a large roster full of great talent, they could conceivably replace the three departing starters (Bohaboy, Von Reuden, and Andrews) with last year's bench. That said, incoming frosh Natalie Jacobs will likely start and two additional frosh (Natalie Ward and Ann Marie Niro) both should get significant playing time. They also have Hoosier Shannon Hendricks coming in who is no slouch.
Agree. I was doing this kinda fast from my own memory. Cindy Daws was a HUGE standout for ND. Def. a first teamer. Thanks for remining me. Gosh there are so many outstanding former players. You would actually have to sit down and spend some time going back in history. What a rich soccer history for the Irish women. One of my favorite players was Ali Lovelace. I don't think she played all four years at ND. She used to score on Santa Clara all the time when the Irish played them it seemed to me.
Michele had the best flip through ever. It was a like a sharp cross into the box. Not a wobbly high duck you often see players do.
That's what I'm not sure about. Wish there was some info I can read on recruits coming in as well as where ND ranks nationaly in recruits coming in.
I'm starting to w I'm starting to work on a full report coming out near signing date. The Irish will rank pretty high. (Top 10 unless someone doesn't sign.) As I said above, there is no shame in having a compact class of 4 coming in. It's the quality that counts. (As an example. if a school went 4 straight years recruiting 4 players per year of the same quality of the 2015 ND class, then after 4 years they would have 16 on the roster with 4 US YNT starters, 8 players who were in the U18 or U20 national pools, plus 4 very solid ODP or top ECNL players. I'd put money on such a team to go very deep in the NCAAs. That's the kind of quality the Irish have coming this year. (See my post above.)
Soccerhunter, thanks for your response. I look forward to reading your report. Is Natalie Jacobs a forward or a defender? She is listed at different positions on some websites.
That's an interesting question because she will play where ever she is needed next fall. There are countless examples of kids who played forward on the their high school and club teams, but were recruited to play on the back line in college. I'd say it's a 50-50 call for us fans to make. Only the player, her family, and the coaching staff have the information that was discussed in the recruiting visits and subsequently. But even that coluld change during pre-season as it might just become apparent to all concerned that she works best in another position altogether.
I agree. She's an attacking player for her club and high school, but a center-back for the youth national team(s) where she's seldom been challenged in the games that I've seen. ND returns 3 of the 4 starters on the back line (right center-back Sammy Scofield graduated) and probably needs a goal-scorer more than a defender next year. So, if she can score goals at the college level, she may see more time on the attacking side of the ball. But that's just me guessing.
Oh yes. She was a key player in the 2010 Championship team. I remember talking to her dad at games often.
Rumor is that Mimi Asom is not longer going to Stanford and has committed to Princeton? New coach must be working hard as we speak.
Not quite sure this is in this thread, but..OK Remember she committed to Randy. So expectations of where she fits could change under TR. Either way, the Irish get a stud in this Kid