Report: Because of his trained Brian, Carolina key player Socall scored the first goal of the season.

NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S SOCCER – NCAA Semifinal vs. Santa Clara (Dec. 3, 2004); SAS Soccer Park (Cary, N.C.)

The nation’s No. 4-seeded and No. 2-ranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team (23-1-1; 68-13 scoring edge) will play in the NCAA College Cup semifinals for the 7th time, with the Irish readying for a rematch from the ’04 regular season as they will face familiar foe Santa Clara on Friday, Dec. 3, in the second semifinal (4:30 EST) at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. … UCLA and Princeton will meet in the earlier semifinal (2:00), with the championship game slated for Sunday at 1:00 (both semifinals and the final will be telecast live in ESPN2 … since ’94, only UNC (10) and SCU (8) have made more NCAA semifinal appearances than ND (7) … ND is 4-2 all-time in the NCAA semifinals, advancing to the title game from ’94-’96 and again in ’99 (the ’95 team won the title) … the Irish opened the NCAAs with a 4-0 win over Eastern Illinois before beating Wisconsin in the final minute (1-0; ND had a 18-1 shot edge and did not allow a shot on goal or CK) and then defeating UConn in the third round (2-0) and Portland in the quarterfinals (3-1) … SCU advanced wins wins over California (2-1), Stanford (1-0/2 OT), UNC (1-0/OT) and Illinois (2-0) … this will mark the 8th ND-SCU game in the 6-year tenure of ND head coach Randy Waldrum … six of the 16 seeded teams failed to advance to the 3rd round (including the 2-3-8-9-10) while ND was the only top-4 seed remaining in the quarterfinals (SCU is 16th, UCLA 14th and Princeton 7th).

INFORMATION HIGHWAY – Livestats can be accessed via the www.und.com main page (and ncaasports.com) while all three games this weekend will be shown live on ESPN2 … game recaps are available on the ND Sports Hotline (574-631-3000, press “4,” then “2”).

QUICK TEAM NOTES – ND has opened the NCAAs with a 10-1 scoring edge and dominant edges in total shots (74-18), shots on goal (37-6) and corner kicks (28-3) … ND’s ’04 postseason includes a 20-3 scoring edge, 130-33 in shots (avg. 19-5), 67-12 in shots on goal (10-2), 44-4 in CKs (6-1) … after handing Seton Hall an early lead on an errant goal kick (Oct. 22), ND scored the next 17 goals (before UConn rallied to win the BIG EAST title game, 2-1) and now is riding a 27-3 scoring edge over the last 8-plus games … the `03 and `04 Irish teams have combined for a 43-4-2 record … ND ranks 4th in the nation with a 0.52 GAA (4th ND history) and is 16th in scoring (2.72 goals/gm), as one of four teams in the top-16 of both scoring and GAA … ND owns a 56-12-1 all-time record in postseason play (.819), including 35-3-0 at home (.921) and 30-10-1 in the NCAAs (.744, 2nd-best all-time) … since joining the conference in ’95, ND is 110-10-3 (.907) in all games vs. BIG EAST teams … the Irish have more goals (68) than opp. shots on goal (64; 2.5/gm) and have allowed just 37 corner kicks all season (1.5/gm, with 5 total opp. CKs in the last 9 games) … ND is 47-13-3 (.770) in the Waldrum era when facing a top-25/postseason opponent … the Irish have held 20 of the last 21 opponents to 0-1 goals … ND spent six weeks at No. 1, completed the 4th unbeaten regular season in the program’s history and was unbeaten after 20 games for the 4th time (’94, ’97 and ’00 teams went 23-0-1) … ND owns a 28-4 first-half scoring edge … 19 players have started for ND this season (17 with 5-plus GS) … the Irish technically have played 31 games this fall (5-1-0 preseason Brazil trip) and took several days off from training late in the regular season …ND has reached 20 wins for the 9th time in the last 11 seasons and is one win shy of tying the team record for wins (24-2 in ’96), with three other teams all going 23-1-1 (’94, ’97, ’00) … ND was the nation’s final unbeaten/untied team and is 37-1-2 in its last 40 regular-season games … since a rare deficit vs. Pittsburgh on Sept. 24, ND has outscored the opposition 44-6 … the 0-0 game vs. Rutgers on Oct. 22 prevented ND from matching the program’s best start (16-0-0, in ’00) … the Irish have won the BIG EAST regular-season title 8 of 10 times (all but ’98, ’02) … ND has been 1st or 2nd in the NSCAA poll 8 of 11 seasons since ’94 (all but ’99, ’01, ’02; #1 in ’94, ’95, ’96, ’00, ’04).