JACKSON GIRLS LEAVE ND WITH BLANK LOOK

JACKSON, Mo. -- Whitney Werner literally saved the day for the Jackson Lady Indians on Monday.

Jackson's sophomore goalie was credited with 11 saves -- two of the spectacular variety -- in a 2-0 victory over Notre Dame.

"I thought we had a good game, pretty much all the way around," said Jackson coach Zack Walton, "but our keeper played awesome. We were hanging on by a thread a few times and our keeper came out and really saved us."

With the match scoreless early, Werner deflected a rifled shot attempt straight up where it hit the crossbar and bounded harmlessly away.

The athletic Werner's second nice save came, with Jackson up 1-0 in the first half, on a Notre Dame breakaway. With two Lady Bulldogs bearing down on the goal, Werner batted the shot away to her right. As the ball caromed off the post, she pivoted back to her left and dived to cover the ball in the throat of the goal.

The Lady Indians (9-5), playing against the wind in the opening half had limited scoring chances, but got on the board first when Amanda King netted a direct kick from about 25 yards out at the 18 minute mark.

On the other end, Notre Dame (8-7-1) had several good scoring opportunities during the first half, but just couldn't beat Werner. Another chance went awry when the shot barely missed off the left post.

Said Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley, "We had a couple of shots that you're trying to figure out how they didn't go in. When you've got the wind, you'd better put a couple away, because you're going to have a hard time scoring against the wind."

With the wind factor in their favor in the second half, Jackson attempted 11 shots-on-goal, but failed to capitalize until Lacie Hodo headed in a shot off an assist from Wendy Blankenship with about two minutes left.

"It's good to see us put a head on the ball and have something good come of it," said Walton. "That's been one of the things we've been struggling with this year."

Notre Dame will try to rebound when it meets crosstown rival Cape Central for the third time this season at the SEMO Intramural Field on Wednesday afternoon. The previous two matches, both overtime contests, resulted in a 2-1 Notre Dame win and a 2-2 tie.

Jackson will host St. Vincent on Wednesday.