Jackson squeezes past Notre Dame in soccer showdown

~ Jackson avenged an earlier loss with a 1-0 win over Notre Dame

Law Duncan said he couldn't have asked for a better ball.

"Oh my God, it was at my head," Duncan said.

Duncan was talking about the spectacular throw-in from about 25 yards away by fellow Jackson junior Clayton Baker early in Wednesday's soccer game.

Duncan, stationed in front of the goal, headed Baker's perfect setup into the top of the net just 6 minutes, 15 seconds into the contest.

The Indians made the goal stand up during a 1-0 victory over visiting Notre Dame that avenged an early season penalty-kick loss to the Bulldogs.

"We were really excited to get to play them a second time," Duncan said.

Jackson improved to 10-4 while Notre Dame fell to 7-9.

"It was a very big game. They're our rival," Baker said. "We had to come out and play hard."

Duncan said he shouldn't have been surprised that Baker was able to send a perfect throw-in toward the Notre Dame goal.

"It's happened before, but I don't expect it to be right at my head," Duncan said.

Baker had several other impressive throw-ins from about the same distance that created solid opportunities for Jackson.

"We've tried that a lot but it hasn't really paid off very much," Baker said.

Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said the Bulldogs should have been able to defend Duncan better on the game's only goal because long, accurate throw-ins by Baker are no surprise.

"We've played them once and we've seen them a few other times," Wittenborn said. "We didn't have players in the right spot, knowing how far he could throw the ball.

"Sometimes in the flow of the game, kids forget where their responsibility is. That happens. If we don't make that mistake, we might still be playing."

Besides the impressive hookup between Baker and Duncan, the story of the game was Notre Dame junior goalkeeper James Holloway.

Jackson might have scored five or six goals had it not been for Holloway. He was brilliant, making several spectacular saves while controlling the box like a pro.

"James is excellent. I think he's an all-state goalie," Wittenborn said. "He dominates the box. He's a special player.

"He put on a show in St. Louis over the weekend [where Notre Dame lost three games, all by shutout, during a tournament]."

Duncan said several of the Indians play on a team with Holloway in the offseason so what he did Wednesday did not surprise them.

"Their goalie is very talented," Baker said. "But our defense shut down their offense and we played well as a team."

While Jackson peppered Notre Dame's net much of the night, the Bulldogs had few dangerous chances and never came especially close to scoring.

Wittenborn said the Bulldogs have struggled offensively all year.

"Goals have been hard to come by most of the season," Wittenborn said. "Our defense has been solid."

Duncan appeared to add an insurance goal with just more than two minutes left in the game but the referees waved it off.

"They said they didn't know if it went in or not and he [Holloway] ended up with his hands on it," Duncan said.

Junior Austin Baker earned the shutout for Jackson.

"I thought our boys played fine," Jackson coach Zack Walton said. "They played with a lot of intensity."