ND's Bass named top goaltender in Class 2 soccer

Notre Dame senior Ryan Bass recently was named the Class 2 goalkeeper of the year, an award that he said was nice consolation after he and his teammates were unable to win the state title in boys soccer.

Bass helped Notre Dame win the two previous state titles in 2006 and 2007, but the Bulldogs failed to make it three straight this past fall as they lost to Helias in a shootout in the Class 2 semifinals and ended up finishing third in the state.

"It was a good perk at the end, especially with the way the season ended for us," Bass said about winning the award voted on by coaches.

Bass allowed just 17 goals while posting a 23-5 record in the 2,288 minutes in net this past fall. He recorded 169 saves and posted 17 shutouts.

He said the area of his game he improved on the most over his high school career was his quickness.

"From sophomore year to now I was so much quicker," Bass said. "We lost a lot of the defense from last year and we had, I think, maybe one person return who actually played quite a bit in the back last year. We gave up less goals than we did the year before. We gave up 19 my junior year and we gave up 17 this last year."

Bass recorded a school record 47 shutouts in his career with the Bulldogs.

Joining Bass on the Class 2 first team was Notre Dame senior midfielder Joda Holloway.

Notre Dame senior forwards Brock Dirnberger and John Unterreiner made the Class 2 second team.

Perryville senior forward Dalton Hoehn earned honorable mention in Class 2.

Jackson senior defender Dylan Dee earned second-team all-state honors in Class 3.

Saxony Lutheran had three players selected to the first team in Class 1 -- senior midfielder Garrett Fritsche, senior forward Andrew Etzold and junior forward Brent Rodewald. Saxony junior defender Chad Bachmann earned honorable mention in Class 1.