Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/80354
Irish Women Look To Recover On The Pitch After A Disappointing 2011 ND SPORTS BY DAN MURPHY D soccer team imagined. A year after winning a national championship, Notre Dame bowed out of the 2011 NCCA Tournament, which they al- most missed altogether, in the first round. FALL SPORTS PREVIEW look, one that head coach Randy Waldrum thinks might surprise some people. Gone are leading scorer and three-time All-American Melissa Henderson and defensive stalwarts Jessica Schuveiller and Courtney Barg. Twelve talented freshmen, the top recruiting class in the country, will replace them. Waldrum said many of them arrived on campus ready for the college game and will be key contributors while the team tries to get back on top of the NCAA. "I think there is going to be enough This season the Irish have a new talent to get us there," Waldrum said about a trip back to the Final Four and perhaps the title match. "A lot of people probably think I'm crazy because we're so young. But I think talent-wise it's there. Sometimes be- ing young is good. They seem to be naïve to all of that." The group, unranked in the pre- season, had no problem matching up with No. 7 Virginia in a 2-0 exhibition win to start the year. They'll be tested early on against top competition such as No. 8 North Carolina and No. 17 Santa Clara in the first month of the regular season. The Irish will have to play both those games without their top midfielder, junior Mandy Lad- dish, and most promising freshman, Cari Roccaro, both of whom are at the U-20 World Cup in Japan for the first three weeks of the season. Roccaro was ranked as the fifth- efending their title turned out to be harder than the Irish women's Sophomore forward Lauren Bohaboy, who tallied a goal in each of Notre Dame's exhibition games in August, will be counted on to carry the Irish offense this fall. PHOTO BY MATT CASHORE/COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS best soccer recruit in the country by Top Drawer Soccer last year. Wal- drum said he expects the Long Island native to be of the same ilk as past All-Americans and record setters such as Kerri Hanks and Shannon Boxx. 90 PRESEASON 2012 fense will likely be carried by sopho- more Lauren Bohaboy, who scored a goal in each of the team's exhibi- tion games this summer. She scored six goals as a rookie last year and provided 75 percent of the team's offense during their spring scrim- mages. Bohaboy, like the rest of her team, was streaky last season and has worked on her shot all summer in hopes of finding more consistency throughout the year and within each game. "I've seen improvement. I think we a way we haven't had a freshman do, maybe since Henderson," he said. In the meantime, Notre Dame's of- "She's clearly going to impact us in more games that we play and getting more experience." men's soccer team are singing a simi- lar tune this summer. After a handful of close losses last season, the Irish missed the national tournament for the first time in Clark's 10-year ten- ure in South Bend. Notre Dame finished 9-5-4 and Head coach Bobby Clark and the MEN'S SOCCER still need to make sure we finish out an entire game and not have five- or 10-minute breakdowns," she said. "I think it's just going to come with lost a 1-0 match to Villanova in the Big East Tournament to end its year. Clark said this year's team is focus- ing on getting results, even if they have to win ugly. "It's not figure skating where you get points for nice form and good style," he said. "You've actually got to win games, as well. We certainly got a lot of points last year for play- BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED