[PRESEASON] Melissa Henderson confirmed her status as one of the nation's top forwards, scoring four goals -- the first after 80 seconds -- to lead defending champion Notre Dame past Nebraska, 5-0, in the exhibition opener for both schools on Tuesday afternoon.

Senior Molly Campbell added the other goal.

“This was a good effort for our first time out this season, especially after having had only a few days of training under our belts,” Coach Randy Waldrum said. “I thought we got some solid minutes out of a lot of different players, particularly our freshmen, who showed some good poise and maturity for their first match at the college level. Of course, you can’t say enough about Melissa and the way she played … she was just fantastic, and were it not for a couple of timing issues in getting her the ball, she could have had five or six goals. Now, we’ll go back and look at the tape and see some areas that we need to work on to get better, but that’s to be expected at this early stage of the season. That’s what the preseason is all about.”

The game, moved to Eck Practice Field because of overnight rain, drew 600 fans.

The Fighting Irish will return to action Friday when they travel to Maple City, Mich., to take on Virginia in another exhibition match.