University of Louisville
#1 Notre Dame
Top Ranked Irish Beat Cardinals 4-1 Friday
September 27, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 27, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Top ranked Notre Dame took a 3-0 lead into halftime, and held on for a 4-1 win over the University of Louisville women's soccer team Friday night to remain undefeated on the season. The Cards were just the third opponent on the season to score a goal against the Irish.
"Tonight we played an extremely talented and deep Notre Dame team. We were very tentative in the first half and they capitalized by scoring three goals on us," said Head Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.
"The second half we were much better, and I was very proud of how we played and continued to battle for the remainder of the game."
Three of the Cardinals' four losses on the season have come at the hands of teams that have yet to lose this season. Texas, Oklahoma State and Notre Dame are now a combined 25-0-2 on the season.
Hermann Award candidate Kerri Hanks opened the scoring in the 17th minute with her eighth goal of the season, on an assist from Julie Scheidler, giving the Irish (9-0-0, 2-0-0 BIG EAST) a 1-0 advantage.
Notre Dame made it 2-0 on Courtney Barg's first goal of the season on an assist by Erica Iantorno at the 33:35 mark.
Iantorno notched her third goal on the season with a little under five minutes remaining in the half to make it 3-0.
The Cards were outshot 11-3 in the first half.
UofL (3-4-1, 1-1-0 BIG EAST) came out of the break with some fire. Chelsea Spencer placed a shot on just a tad under two minutes into the half that was stopped by ND keeper Kelsey Lysander.
Shannon Smyth shot high in the 55th minute and Ashley Auld missed wide in the 59th minute. Giselle Mangal had her bid for the first Cardinal goal stopped by Lysander in the 60th minute.
The Irish countered with the next four shots, one of which was blocked by the Cardinal defense, another that was high and two that were stopped by keeper Chloe Kiefer.
Louisville broke through in the 72nd minute on a scramble in front of the goal following a corner kick. Smyth buried a loose ball into the net to cut the lead to 3-1. It was Smyth's third goal of the season and just the third goal scored against the Irish all season.
But Notre Dame quickly responded. Brittany Bock set up Hanks for her ninth goal just 16 seconds later to seal the win.
The shot advantage was just 12-7 in the second half in favor of the Irish.
Louisville will next host DePaul as part of a "Pack the Park" promotion Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET in Cardinal Park. There will be inflatables, free food, face painting and the men's soccer, field hockey and softball teams will also be playing Sunday. Admission to all of the events is free.
