Dec. 1, 2006

By Matt Meyer

Special to CSTV.com

CARY, N.C.--The beauty of single-elimination tournament play is the unpredictability, but in the case of the 2006 NCAA women's soccer tournament the final is as predictable as they come, and also what makes it so dramatic.

With a 2-1 victory over Florida State, Notre Dame advanced to the final for the sixth time in school history and will face the legendary program of North Carolina. The game will offer a referendum of sorts on women's soccer, as both The Fighting Irish and Tar Heels are arguably the most dominant programs in the sport, they are co-ranked No. 1 and both are riding enormous unbeaten streaks.

"If you had asked people through the year what match-up they wanted to see, this is probably the match-up they were looking to see," Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum said.

Carolina enters the game with a record of 25-1, having won their last 25 games after losing their opener to Texas A&M. Notre Dame, at 25-0-1, has not lost this season and has won 11 straight after a 0-0 draw against Connecticut on October 13. Their 26-game unbeaten streak is a school record and the win over Florida State was their 247^th straight win when taking a two-goal lead.

It will not be the first time that the Tar Heels and Irish have squared off in a College Cup final. The two teams met there in 1994, 1996 and 1999, with Carolina victorious on all three occasions. Their most historic showdown, however, came in 1995 when Notre Dame ended Carolina's run of nine consecutive NCAA titles when they defeated the Tar Heels in the College Cup semifinal, though Waldrum was not the coach.

"I've played against (North Carolina coach) Anson (Dorrance) an awful lot of times and I've never won," Waldrum said. "I think personally it would mean a lot (to beat Carolina for the championship) because you always want to challenge yourself against one of the best coaches in the country."

Facing an opponent with 17 NCAA titles to their name one would understand if Notre Dame would be slightly intimidated, but their players insist there is nothing different playing against the girls in Carolina Blue.

"I don't think so," senior midfielder Jill Krivacek said. "I haven't played against them so I am not really sure what to expect.  I haven't seen them at all this year and our main focus was tonight. We are just going to eat dinner, enjoy tonight and then prepare tomorrow."

To defeat Carolina they will have to figure out how to neutralize Yael Averbuch, who assisted on both Carolina goals in their 2-0 semifinal win over UCLA and all-american striker Heather O'Reilly, who scored the second. Waldrum, however, remains confident.

"I don't think you'll find us go out and sit back and be in fear of Carolina," Waldrum said. "You'll see us play a very good game against Carolina and we are very confident in what we can do. We think we like some of those matchups and I think it is going to be a good final."

The combined 50 wins between the two teams is the most in the history of the College Cup final. The only other matchup that comes close is when a 25-1 Florida team defeated a 24-0 UNC squad in the 1998 final.

And while North Carolina is the school most commonly associated with women's soccer, Notre Dame showed the kind of dominance on Friday they have had all season, at least in the first half. Florida State coach Mark Krikorian did his best to try and combat their explosive offense by flipping around his regular lineup to begin the game, particularly with his team going into a stiff wind for the first 45 minutes, but to no avail.

Senior midfielder Kelly Rowland started the first game of her career on the right side and freshman defender Becky Edwards started her first game as a midfielder. Most surprisingly was the move of India Trotter, the team's No. 2 scorer, from striker to right back.

"We felt that Kelly would have some success playing out on the right side, playing her out wide with her pace," Krikorian said. "We knew that Becky Edwards background was as a holding midfielder even though she hasn't played there at all for us this year. We thought she would give us some discipline playing in front of the back four and helping to protect that space. And we know that India is going to be a national team back, we've trained here some and she played there some for us and we though that with the matchup today, the tactics might suit us to start that way."

Though Trotter neutralized freshman Michele Weissenhofer, the Big East freshman of the year, the move was rendered moot to a certain extent as both of the Irish's first half goals were generated from play on the right side. The first came when Notre Dame substitute midfielder Courtney Rosen won a loose ball 25 yards out and fired a rocket into the upper right-hand corner of the net in the 36th minute. It was her second goal of the year.

"The coaches always tell me to hit it from long range," Rosen said of her second goal of the season. "I heard this goalie was a little tentative in the air so I thought, `why not?' I'll just take some shots and it ended up working out for me."

Just three minutes later, Notre Dame earned a corner from the right side. Kerri Hanks, the nation's leading scorer took the corner and it was headed towards goal by forward Brittany Bock and headed home deftly by midfielder Jill Krivacek for her fifth goal of the season.

Krikorian switched gears in the second half and put Trotter back at striker. It paid off early when she showed the skill that has earned her time with U.S. National Team and fielded a pass from Rowland at the right side of the six-yard box, cut left, and poked one into the upper left-hand corner of the net to cut the lead in half.

"When she went up front it gave us even more energy," Krikorian said. "In the locker room I think we felt very comfortable that the game wasn't over and that we would come back and give ourselves and opportunity to win in the end, which I thought we did."

Though they controlled play for most of the half, the Seminoles were able to muster only one more shot on goal and Notre Dame will another chance to take their shot at the giants of woman soccer.

Though Florida State played Carolina tight this season in a 2-1 overtime loss in the ACC tournament final, Krikorian was at a loss when asked for tips on how to top the Tar Heels.

"There's no advice," he said. "Good luck."

Adu, Adu, Adu

Florida State received a surprise on the bus ride to the stadium in the form of a phone call from Freddy Adu, the 17-year-old midfielder for D.C. United in MLS who has recently been working out with Manchester United.

"He called to wish our team good luck," Trotter said. "Trevor, our sports psychologist he's also his sports psychologist. I think he's in England now, I'm not too sure. He called to say good luck and give us some words of advice."

Deferring Credit

Though Krivacek was given credit for Notre Dame's second goal, she was honest enough to admit her season tally should remain at four.

"I'm not really sure it was my goal," she said. "Brittany Bock headed it and then the Florida State girl headed it in. I had good enough position that if she was going to win the ball it was going to go in the back of the net. Brittany Bock won that first ball and put it on goal, so I give all the credit to her."