Soccer: U facing a loaded Irish lineup

Facing top-seeded Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 round, the No. 22-ranked Gophers are prepared for a challenge.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: November 20, 2008 - 9:30 PM

Gophers midfielder Kaitlin Wagner did a little early scouting of Notre Dame on her own. She watched the NCAA semifinals last season on TV; the Irish lost to Florida State 3-2.

This season the Irish want a better ending and the next obstacle in their way is Wagner and Minnesota. The Gophers (20-3-0) play the Irish at 6:30 p.m. today at Alumni Field at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in the round of 16. Notre Dame is 23-0-0, the top seed in the field.

"You have to beat them some time, right, if you are going to go all the way," said Wagner, one of six seniors who could be playing their final game.

Notre Dame certainly has all the trappings of a team that has been atop the major soccer polls since early in the season. The Irish have, oh, pretty much everything:

• Superstars: Senior forward Kerri Hanks likely will be named first-team All-America for the third time after this season. She has 18 goals and 13 assists. Hanks is one of only three women in college soccer history -- Mia Hamm (North Carolina) and Jenny Streiffer (Notre Dame) are the others -- with more than 70 goals and 70 assists in her career. Hanks was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year.

Forward Melissa Henderson was the conference's Freshman of the Year. She has 17 goals and one assist despite playing less than 50 minutes per game. Henderson scores on 33 percent of her shots. Notre Dame is averaging a Division I-best 3.4 goals per game.

• Defense: The Irish have 15 shutouts. Opponents are averaging only 2.5 shots on goal per game.

Junior keeper Kelsey Lysander, whose father Rick pitched for the Twins in the early 1980s, has a 0.43 goals-against average. Senior defender Carrie Dew was the Big East's Defensive Player of the Year.

• Coaching: Randy Waldrum, in his 10th season at Notre Dame, started the year with the fourth-best winning percentage (.772) among women's college soccer coaches. It's now up to .785. His career record is 315-79-20. He has been named Coach of the Year in his conference seven times, the past four times in the Big East. He has been a member of the U.S. national coaching staff since 1992. He has coached three national players of the year, including Hanks in 2006.

• Rich history: Under Waldrum, the Irish have advanced to the College Cup weekend, a synonym for the national semifinals, five times. Notre Dame won its second NCAA title in 2004 (the first was in 1995). The Irish were the national runners-up in 1999 and 2006, and lost in the semifinals in 2000 and 2007. This is Notre Dame's 16th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Underdogs undaunted

The Gophers tied for the Big Ten regular-season title with Penn State, the same team that beat them in the conference tournament final. Minnesota is ranked No. 22.

"This is the farthest we've gotten," said coach Mikki Denney Wright, referring to six NCAA appearances. "We love being the underdogs. We're dangerous."

"I've seen Minnesota play a few times," Waldrum said. "Mikki has done a great job. It should be an unbelievably good game."

"We hear it's freezing cold with snow" at Notre Dame, Wright said. "We love that weather."

Trouble is, the 2-3 inches of snow that fell this week on Alumni Field had mostly melted by late Wednesday. A bad sign, perhaps, although snow is in the forecast today with a predicted high of 32. What could be worse for the Gophers' upset chances is Notre Dame's robust home record of 37-3 in NCAA tournament games.

Today's winner will play either Boston College or Florida State the following weekend.