CENTRAL KICKERS USE RECALL TO OUTSMART NOTRE DAME 2-1

Some people say it's more important to be lucky than good.

Right now the Notre Dame High soccer team, in the midst of a rare two-match losing streak after a 2-1 loss to Cape Central Tuesday, may be a testament to the adage: Luck just hasn't gone the Bulldogs' way the last few days.

First, Notre Dame lost the championship of its Soccerfest Saturday 2-1 to Carbondale, Ill., on somewhat of a fluke goal.

Then Thursday against Central at Lou Muegge Field, what appeared to be an easy goal to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 advantage was waived off when a referee called a foul on a Notre Dame player for contact with Central's goalkeeper. The Central goalkeeper had moved out to gather a long pass toward the goal, and then bobbled the ball, which was then controlled by a Notre Dame player, who had raced onto the scene.

Both coaches said they thought the nullified goal should have counted. Central's goalkeeper, Cameron Leggett, was injured on the play and didn't return to the game until 10 minutes into the second half.

"Actually I didn't know there was a dangerous play on that, I thought they (Notre Dame) had already gone up a goal," said Central coach Tom Doyle, whose team improved to 3-1-1. "So that was most probably a big turning point in that game because our starting goalie is out and they're up 2-1 and then the goal gets called back."

Said Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn: "From the Notre Dame point of view it was a good goal; we would have sure liked to have it in the book. The breaks haven't gone our way the last couple of games, but if we continue to work hard the luck will go back our way."

Notre Dame (2-2) scored the match's first goal eight minutes into the contest. After receiving a pass from Greg Kennard, Derek Fenwick took a long, crisp shot that was initially was stopped by the Central goalie, but then got away and rolled into the goal.

Central later took advantage of a Notre Dame miscue on defense and tied the match at one with around 12 minutes remaining in the first half. After a well-placed throw-in by Josh Ferguson, Central's Chris Thompson eluded the Notre Dame defender with a couple of quick dribbles and went in for an easy score.

After Notre Dame's apparent goal was erased with around a minute left in the half, Central's Ben Keefe broke away down the left side of the field, and although his shot with his left foot was misdirected, it bounced off a Notre Dame defender and into the net as the half expired.

After Central looked a little lethargic early in the match, Doyle went to a mass substitution to spark the team.

"Our team kind of came together today," said Doyle. "I made a big change and put a bunch of guys in at one time, and they just really played hard. So I think that the guys who had started and were sitting on the bench saw how hard those guys were playing and in the second half we came out and we really worked hard."

Wittenborn was also pleased with his team's play.

"I thought we played pretty well," he said. "We created a lot of opportunities. There's not a lot we need to fix right now."