Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum was reluctant to admit it, but his team's shocking 4-1 loss at Marquette on Sept. 30 may have been a blessing in disguise.

"In that instance, it may have been a good thing at that time of the year because I think we really had a kind of a 'come to Jesus' meeting after that, and we got it straightened out," Waldrum said.

The No. 5 Fighting Irish have outscored their opponents 46-1 in the 10 games since the defeat, including an emphatic 5-0 victory over No. 15 Connecticut in the Big East championship game Sunday at Valley Fields. With this result and Friday's 3-0 win over Marquette in the semi-final, Notre Dame earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and appears primed to defend its national title.

Senior Katie Thorlakson was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the conference tournament, and the 2004 national player of the year has excelled under great expectations this season.

"I've been pretty closely marked the last couple of years, and I think I play better when I'm closely marked," Thorlakson said. "That's the kind of thing that gets me going. If teams lay off me, I wouldn't really know what to do."

Thorlakson created a host of scoring chances during the game, none prettier than her combination with freshman Kerri Hanks midway through the second half for the third goal. Hanks fed it wide to Thorlakson, who beat her defender and crossed it back to Hanks, who then slid the ball into the net. Both players have recorded more than 60 points this season.

"They just from day one have seemed to be on the same page," Waldrum said. "They're both students of the game, and they understand the game, and I think that's why they play so well off of each other."

The "other" starting forward, sophomore Amanda Cinalli scored on a breakaway in the 24th minute to start the rout. Freshman Brittany Bock doubled the lead just two minutes later.

Reserve forwards Maggie Manning and Susan Pinnick added insurance goals in the final 20 minutes. Manning recorded her eighth goal of the season coming off the bench.

"Sometimes when you make changes you worry that you lose a little bit of your rhythm … it seems like the last few weeks anytime when we've changed (the lineup), we haven't skipped a beat," Waldrum said.