CAPE CENTRAL WINS 'INJURY-FEST' 2-1

Cape Central soccer coach Tom Doyle had a lot to worry about during the Tigers' 2-1 win over Notre Dame Tuesday.

He had one guy out with a bad ankle, another out with mono and another playing his first game since injuring his leg -- that was before the game.

During the game, three Tigers were forced to leave after various injuries, including one who had to go get stitches in his head.

Before he knew it, there were just three substitutes at his disposal.

As if that wasn't enough, the Bulldogs walked in with a 3-0 record, fresh off claiming the Soccerfest title on Saturday, while Central came out of the same event with a fourth place finish and a 2-2 record.

But there was one thing Doyle didn't have to worry about Tuesday: his players' guts.

"I told the refs and the coaches that I was going to add one of our junior varsity players at halftime," Doyle said. "It's like we have a bunch of walking wounded right now. I knew we would have to have a gut check and see how bad we wanted this game."

Apparently, bad enough.

The game-winning goal came at the 10-minute mark in the second half when Central defender Andrew Christensen gathered a rebound and blistered a low, 25-yard line drive to make the score 2-1.

Central scored its first goal of the game at the 10-minute mark on a header by Jon Mark Thompson off an assist by Chris Cole.

Shortly after his goal, Thompson, who has scored half of Central's six goals this season, had to leave the game with a bloody gash on his head.

Notre Dame had injury problems of its own.

Tommy Wencewicz hurt his knee in Saturday's game against Carbondale. Preliminary reports have indicated that the talented senior injured his meniscus cartilage. If the tissue is torn, he will miss the entire soccer season.

Without Wencewicz and with some players in their first or second game back from injury, Notre Dame wasn't nearly as sharp as it was Saturday.

"I thought Central played well and it was a good even game," Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said. "Both teams had chances to score and I think they were a little quicker to the ball than we were. They have some good quickness. In soccer, you get a lot of 2-1 games and it comes down to one or two plays and we didn't make the one or two plays today. But it wasn't like it was one-sided.

"I didn't think we were as strong in the midfield today as we had been. We were trying to play Oliver (Sanders) up front a little bit more, but Cory Elfrink's foot was hurting him and my son (Scott) couldn't get his hamstrings loosened up and they were overall a step quicker than us in the midfield."

Notre Dame's goal came with just a few seconds left in the first half, when Sanders rifled in a shot low and left into the net.

All things considered, Doyle was pleased with a 1-1 tie at halftime.

"I told them at halftime that I was pleased with the way we played," Doyle said. "The first eight to 15 minutes they sort of ran us ragged. But we didn't allow any goals and we kept after it. Then (in the second half) things started happening and we began using the whole field. At the end we were just trying to hold on."

Notre Dame's junior varsity claimed its season opener with a 2-1 win over Central.

Tyler Cuba scored the Bulldogs' first goal from an assist by Adam Prasanphanich and Adam Ralls scored a goal on an assist from Dustin Tatum.

Paul Miller scored Central's goal.