C3D1: Offensive barrage leads Notre Dame to rout of Cape Central

A pair of crosstown rivals met for the Class 3 District 1 title on Friday evening.

In the end, the Notre Dame Bulldogs used a relentless offensive attack to rout the Cape Central Tigers 6-0 at Cape Central High School.

From the onset, the Notre Dame Bulldogs were poised to snap their drought of not winning a district title since 2019.

The Bulldogs were relentless, never letting the Tigers rest and they were rewarded in the seventh minute as Cora Burford scored to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.

“I feel like in a way that helped relax us,” Bulldogs sophomore Maya Thebeau said. “But, it also encouraged us to keep pushing to score more goals throughout the game.”

The relentless effort continued as Notre Dame’s Erika West carried the ball down the left wing and centered the ball to the front of the goal which resulted in a Tigers’ defender deflecting the ball into her own net, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead 17 minutes in.

“We don’t see own goals as own goals,” Notre Dame senior Rylee Britton said. “The ball wouldn’t have got into the box without us pushing it down the field.”

Just two minutes later, the Bulldogs’ Maya Thebeau received a pass from Mia Panton and buried it to give Notre Dame a commanding 3-0 lead.

Even as Cape Central began to handle the Bulldogs’ pressure, the Tigers weren’t able to generate any pressure of their own because of Notre Dame’s stellar back line.

“Watching our pregame you could tell we were ready mentally,” Bulldogs coach Ryan Schweain said. “Today there was something a little bit different.”

Notre Dame entered halftime holding a comfortable 3-0 lead.

“We did not want to sit back and let them attack,” Schweain said. “We didn’t want to shell up and just play defense, we wanted to stay after them and make their defense work as well.”

Coming out of the half, the three-goal lead was quickly a four-goal advantage for the Bulldogs as Thebeau converted on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute to make it 4-0 Bulldogs.

Mia Panton got in on the scoring fun just three minutes after Thebeau’s strike on the penalty to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-0.

Thebeau’s impressive performance continued as she labeled a perfect shot to the top left corner of the goal, beating Cape Central’s Piper Underwood and giving the Bulldogs a 6-0 advantage.

“It went in and I just dropped on the ground,” Thebeau said. “It was so crazy. Then, everyone ran toward me and it was really cool.”

Neither team generated any more chances after Thebeau’s hat trick goal as Notre Dame cruised down the stretch to the 6-0 win.

With the loss, the Tigers end the season with a record of 13-6.

The win for the Bulldogs (15-6) marks the first district title for Notre Dame since 2019.

“We’ve been up a class,” Schweain said. “Class 4 is a different beast. Class 3 has a lot of good teams but I just felt like tonight a lot of things clicked for us and we did a lot of things right.”

During the three-game run to the Class 3 District 1 championship, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 18-0.

“We are just a close group,” Notre Dame senior Vita Galati said. “I think the team energy helps a lot and then we also all hang out outside of school. Having really good teamwork helps a lot.”

The Bulldogs advance to the Class 3 State quarterfinals where they will battle Cor Jesu Academy on Saturday, May 25.