4. WOMEN: No. 1 Notre Dame advances in Big East
- by Soccer America , Oct 30, 2006
No. 1 Notre Dame moved into the semifinals of the Big East Tournament with a 3-0 win over St. John's on Sunday.
Brittany Bock showed her strength in the air with two early goals on headers off set plays, and Kerri Hanks capped the victory with her 16th goal of the season. The victory at Alumni Field extended the fifth-longest home unbeaten streak in NCAA history to 37 games (36-0-1).
U.S. international Heather O'Reilly assisted on three goals in her final-regular season game at Fetzer Field to lead No. 2 North Carolina to a 4-0 win over Wake Forest -- its 18th victory in a row.
No. 3 UCLA extended its winning streak to 10 games with 2-0 wins over Washington and Washington State. Danesha Adams and Christina DiMartino scored against UW; Bristyn Davis and Lauren Cheney (her team-leading 14th goal) struck against WSU. The Bruins can guarantee itself at least a share of the 2006 Pac-10 title with either a win or a tie against Oregon next Friday.
No. 4 Santa Clara moved one step closer to claiming at least a share of the WCC title with a 3-0 win Sunday afternoon over San Francisco. All three Bronco goals were scored by seniors. Marian Dalmy twice found the net, and Bonnie Bowman scored as well.
On the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, big crowds turned out at No. 5 Portland and No. 7 Texas. The Pilots, who share the WCC lead with Santa Clara, beat Pepperdine, 3-1, on goals by Rachael Rapinoe, Michelle Enyeart and Angie Woznuk before 4,368 fans. Sophomore defender Kasey Moore scored the lone goal of the match to lead Texas over Texas A&M before 4,133 fans, the third-largest crowd ever at Myers Stadium.
TOURNAMENTS
AMERICA EAST. The first final pairings are set as No. 1 seed Hartford and No. 3 Maine will play for the America East championship on Saturday in West Hartford, Conn. The Hawks earned a 2-1 win over No. 5 New Hampshire on first-half goals by Meagan Riemer and Kacey Busque. Maine used a 2-0 advantage in penalty kicks to break a scoreless deadlock and advance past Boston University into the championship game for the fourth straight year.
BIG EAST. Besides Notre Dame, West Virginia, Marquette and Villanova moved into Friday's semifinals. Christy Zwolski's goal was all Marquette needed to defeat ranked Villanova, 1-0, for its sixth win in a row and further boost its NCAA Tournament chances. West Virginia and Rutgers beat Louisville and UConn, respectively, on penalty kicks.
MID-AMERICAN. All four seeds were knocked out in the first round. Miami (Ohio) beat top seed Ball State, 2-1, on a pair of goals by freshman Jodi Zwingelberg. The wildest contest took place at Central Michigan, where Lisa Kurz's second goal of the game, a penalty kick in the 102nd minute, gave Kent State a 5-4 win and ended the highest-scoring match in MAC Tournament history. Fifth seed Toledo will host the MAC final four and open up against Northern Illinois in the semifinals.
(Click here for Soccer America's Women's Conference Tournament Scoreboard.)
