Oct. 20, 2006

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. - A matchup of the nation's top two defensive teams offered all of the intensity that could be expected, but it was the flurry of a combined six goals which was the unexpected outcome in a 4-2 victory for No. 1 Notre Dame (15-0-1, 8-0-1 Big East) over Villanova (14-2-2, 6-2-2) on Friday afternoon at the West Campus Soccer Complex.

The Fighting Irish scored just 9:07 into the game and held a 1-0 lead at halftime before the scoring pace picked up in the second half. Wildcat freshman Erin Byrnes (Sayville, N.Y.) scored at 48:21 to tie the score at 1-1, but Notre Dame raised the level of play after that and scored three unanswered goals over a 20-minute period.

"Once we scored the tying goal they raised the level of play and we needed to respond to that," Villanova head coach Ann Clifton said. "We are still a young team in some spots and couldn't get to the level that Notre Dame was at. It was a great learning lesson for us because I think we will be a better team coming out of this game. I thought to get two goals on them was pretty good but we could have been better defensively."

The Fighting Irish controlled the ball in Villanova territory for a lengthy stretch after the tying goal and prevented the Wildcat defense from clearing the possession with their trademark efficiency. Each of the team's first two goals came off deflections from the Villanova defense.

In the 10th minute, a shot by Kerri Hanks was knocked down by junior goalkeeper Jillian Loyden (Vineland, N.J.), but the ball caromed away and was aided by the wind as it rolled into an empty net. Loyden saved an initial shot in the 61st minute but the ball again went into the net as Hanks tried to gain possession from a defender.

The second goal by Hanks broke the 1-1 tie after Byrnes got the Wildcats on the scoreboard early in the period. It was the first goal allowed after halftime by Notre Dame this season. Byrnes dribbled in from the right side and took a shot to the left corner that got past Fighting Irish goalkeeper Lauren Karas.

With just under a minute to play, Byrnes found the left side of the net again, shooting past Karas after junior Kayce Blandford (Columbia, Md.) slid the ball in from the middle of the field. In doing so, Byrnes registered the first two-goal game of her career and moved into second on the team with five goals for the season.

Loyden tallied all six of her saves in the game during the second half, when Notre Dame got off 12 of its 17 shots. Courtney Rosen scored her first goal of the season at 74:11 and Jill Krivacek scored on a corner kick in the 81st minute.

"The Notre Dame players command greatness from each other and that is a level that we are on our way to reaching," Clifton said. "It was a great environment on our field today and I think we did a lot of the things that we should have done in a game like this. The deciding factor was that we couldn't clear the ball efficiently and we gave up goals on set pieces, which is unusual for our defense."

A season-high crowd of 673 fans were on hand for what was looming as a top-notch defensive battle between teams that had allowed just three goals each in the first two months of the season. Instead the two sides combined for six goals, matching their combined total allowed entering the day. It was a story of opposites, as Villanova allowed a first-half goal for the first time all season and Notre Dame allowed a goal in the second half for the first time.

Villanova will host DePaul on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the final game of the regular season. The Wildcats will honor their four graduating seniors prior to the game. The Senior Day ceremony will begin at 12:45 p.m. with the game set to kickoff at 1 p.m.