Bulldogs seek another trip to state's final four

Last year, Notre Dame's girls soccer coach Jeff Worley cautioned his team not to look too far ahead in its attempt to reach a second straight Class 1 state final four.

With a veteran squad, the Bulldogs managed to make it to the final four again, finishing fourth after a pair of 2-1 losses at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton, Mo.

Despite graduating a strong senior class, Worley believes the Bulldogs have enough talent to try to make it three straight final four appearances.

"With the players we have back, there's no reason we can't make another run," Worley said. "But no one's going to hand it to us."

Senior midfielder Lauren Mehner leads the cast of returning players. She is coming off an all-state season in which she tallied 17 goals and three assists.

While the Bulldogs did lose 30 combined goals from departed seniors Sierra Ellis and Amanda Dirnberger, they have sophomores Destiny Dirnberger and Meridith Medlin back. Each scored seven goals last year.

"I think we'll be OK scoring-wise," Worley said. "Lauren really made a big jump last year, looking for the goal."

Destiny Dirnberger added five assists last year, and Medlin had four.

Worley said he expects big things from the sophomore forwards.

"I think they were the best two freshmen in the area last year, and they should be the best two sophomores this year," he said.

Rita Jo Dirnberger also returns after recording a goal and an assist, and Jesse Westrich scored a goal and had two assists last year.

Senior midfielder Allison Essner, senior goalie Laura Muir and senior defender Kelsey Scheeter all bring back varsity experience.

"We lost a lot of starters but have some very good players returning," Worley said.

Notre Dame's biggest losses came on the defensive end of the field, where the Bulldogs lost three starting fullbacks and their starting goalie. Muir did get several starts down the stretch for the Bulldogs last year when starting goalie Katie Palmer was injured.

"Laura, she's a hard worker," Worley said. "She doesn't have the height Katie Palmer had, but Laura's the type of goalie that doesn't mind getting dirty."

Last year, the Bulldogs were led defensively by Emily Buehrle, an all-conference and all-district selection. Kristen Boos also had an all-state year out of the backfield.

"Where we're still trying to search and see who fits best is our defensive positions," Worley said. "We're trying to move players around and see where they fit best. We have some good defenders."

Notre Dame will open its season Monday against St. Pius. The Bulldogs defeated St. Pius in the state sectional round last season.

"It should be a good opening matchup to see where we're at," Worley said.

Jackson seeks playoff run

Jackson will try to defend its district title this season with the help of St. Louis University recruit Molly Hartmann.

Hartmann has scored more than 100 goals for the Indians in her first three years. Jackson returns much of its starters from a 22-4-1 team that lost in the sectional round to Nerinx Hall. The Indians open the season 4 p.m. Thursday at St. Vincent.