Final eludes 'Dogs

FENTON, Mo. -- Notre Dame didn't have anything left in the second half to overome a 2-0 halftime deficit, and the Bulldogs fell to Springfield Catholic 2-1 in the semifinals of the Class 1 girls soccer tournament Friday night at Aheuser-Busch Center.

"I couldn't tell you how disappointed I am at how we played," Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley said.

Notre Dame (19-5-2) will play O'Hara at noon today in the third-place game.

Courtney Dahlberg redirected Jordan Swift's corner kick seven minutes into the game to put Springfield ahead for good.

Then, with less than a minute left in the first half, Springfield scored again on a corner kick from Swift. This time, Alli Bailes redirected the kick.

Springfield coach Ben Timson said it was only the second and third times that his team had scored on corner kicks this year.

Despite facing a two goal deficit, Worley said his girls were confident they could come back.

Lauren Mehner scored a wild goal for the Bulldogs 17 minutes into the second half. Mehner scored from about 18 yards away after receiving a pass from Sierra Ellis. The shot went off of the goalie's fingers, then off the crossbar, before hitting the net.

Notre Dame became increasingly aggressive from there and mounted an offensive onslaught with a flurry of scoring chances. But the Bulldogs ran out of time.

"It's awesome to be here, and no matter what happens we got here and only four teams in the state get here," Mehner said. "Obviously we wanted to play in the championship game, but we're still looking for third."

Springfield (23-5-1) rides a 14 game winning streak into the finals against Visitation Academy (10-15-1) today at 2 p.m.