NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Sophomore forward Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas/Berkner) scored twice, including her 30th career goal, while senior defender Haley Ford (Midland, Texas/Midland) added a goal and an assist, as fifth-ranked Notre Dame kicked off the 2009 NCAA Championship with a 5-0 win over Summit League champion IUPUI on Friday night at Alumni Stadium.
   
With the victory, the Fighting Irish advance to the NCAA round-of-32 for the 16th consecutive season, joining North Carolina as the only programs to make it to that level in every tournament since 1993. Notre Dame will next face Mid-American Conference champion Central Michigan in a second-round match on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium — the Chippewas earned a 2-0 win over 24th-ranked Purdue in Friday’s early contest.
    
The Fighting Irish (18-3-1) extended their current winning streak to 10 games and their unbeaten string to 16 in a row (15-0-1) with a workmanlike effort that saw the hosts get on the board early, then steadily build up the lead to the point where they could rest some of their regulars. By game’s end, 21 different Notre Dame players had taken the pitch, all for at least 13 minutes of action, with three of the Fighting Irish reserves notching career milestones.
    
Senior forward Rachel VanderGenugten (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) scored the pivotal third goal of the night for Notre Dame with less than two minutes to go in the first half, registering her first career score in the process. Freshman midfielder Lindsay Brown (Ladera Ranch, Calif./Mater Dei) then assisted on Henderson’s second goal of the night to pick up her first career point, before sophomore midfielder Brynn Gerstle (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) did the same when she set up an 86th-minute goal from sophomore midfielder Ellen Jantsch (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa’s Academy).
    
Junior goalkeeper Nikki Weiss (Redding, Conn./Immaculate) went the first 65 minutes between the pipes for Notre Dame, making three saves before giving way to senior netminder Kelsey Lysander (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo), who stopped two shots to preserve the 14th Fighting Irish shutout of the season, and eighth in the past 11 games.
    
As a team, Notre Dame outshot IUPUI, 26-11, including a 14-5 margin in shots on goal. The Fighting Irish also edged the Jaguars in the corner kick column, 5-4, and were charged with 16 of the 21 fouls in the contest.
   
 “We accomplished what we set out to do tonight, which is come away with a win, be able to both rest some of our starters and give others the opportunity to gain postseason experience,” Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum said. “It certainly wasn’t our cleanest performance of the season, and there’s a lot we’ll need to address in preparing for a very good Central Michigan team on Sunday. However, I was pleased with the level of play that some of our reserves showed tonight. That’s the kind of effort we needed to get from everyone, right from the opening kickoff, and it’s one of the key things we have to focus on if we want to continue forward in this tournament.”
    
Playing host to first- and second-round games in the NCAA Championship for the 16th consecutive season, Notre Dame held a decided experience advantage over IUPUI, which was making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tourney. That edge paid off less than eight minutes into the game, as sophomore midfielder Courtney Barg (Plano, Texas/Plano West) gathered the ball on her side of the midfield circle and swung a pass out to Henderson on the right flank near the center line. The speedy second-year Fighting Irish attacker then zig-zagged through the Jaguar defense all the way into the penalty area before finally beating IUPUI goalkeeper Jamie Farrell from eight yards out with a low left-footed shot (7:23).
    
Notre Dame had several chances to add to its lead during the next half-hour, but Farrell did well to keep her club in the game, picking up three of her eight saves in that span. However, a pair of set pieces late in the first half would be her undoing — the first coming at the 39:22 mark, when sophomore midfielder Molly Campbell (Mission Hills, Kan./St. Teresa’s Academy) served a corner kick from the left flag across the face of goal, that Brown headed back into the fray from the right side of the six-yard box. Ford snapped a quick header at the left post that was cleared off the line, but came right back to the veteran defender, who capitalized on the second opportunity by toe-poking a shot through the maze of IUPUI protectors into the near-side netting.
    
Campbell also started the sequence that led to VanderGenugten’s score less than four minutes later, sending in a free kick from 35 yards out in the right channel. Ford once again got her head on the ball, this time flicking a pass to the left post, where VanderGenugten beat Farrell and another Jaguar defender to the punch with a timely finish from close range (43:08).
    
Henderson added her second goal of the night in the 54th minute, as Brown delivered a precise lead pass from the left side that connected with Henderson in the box. She quickly beat her mark with one touch and chipped the on-rushing Farrell inside the right post (53:57).
    
Jantsch closed out the Notre Dame scoring at the 85:08 mark, potting her second goal of the season (both in the past four games) by running on to a well-placed pass from Gerstle at the right edge of the six-yard box and beating Farrell with a sliding short-side shot.
    
The Fighting Irish now turn their attention to a CMU side that recorded its 19th shutout of the season with Friday’s 2-0 whitewash of Purdue. Tickets for Sunday’s second-round NCAA Championship game between Notre Dame and Central Michigan are available through the tickets page of the Notre Dame athletics web side (www.und.com/tickets) or by visiting the Alumni Stadium ticket windows on game day.