Nelson's goal lifts Notre Dame girls soccer team past Perryville

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Notre Dame's offense kept coming and Perryville's defense kept holding strong.

Something had to give.

Jordan Nelson made sure it wasn't the Bulldogs.

The freshman finally broke through with 11 minutes remaining to give the Notre Dame girls soccer team a 1-0 victory on the road Wednesday.

"It was just effort and how hard we worked," Nelson said. "And just working 100 percent. Annie [Siebert] played a great ball and I just happened to follow through with it."

Siebert took the ball in the middle of the field and dumped it in for Nelson.

The lightning quick freshman blew by a Pirates defender and hit a low blast just past the goalie.

It was a welcomed sight for the Bulldogs, who had numerous chances but failed to capitalize.

"I think we were able to sub a little bit more than them, and we made a few adjustments," Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley said. "We talked about before the game they're very strong and athletic up the middle, and we knew to use more of the width. And the more we did that, the better the opportunities we got out of it."

The Bulldogs controlled the majority of the possession throughout the game but failed to get on the scoreboard.

Brianne Sanders started a string of Notre Dame chances five minutes into the game when she got past the last Pirates defender, but she was met by goalie Miranda Stortz, who made the save.

Notre Dame almost scored three minutes later on a Miranda Fowler cross, but Stortz again was there.

The Bulldogs' best chance of the first half came on a Nelson corner.

The ball went back post and rattled around the box before Perryville finally cleared it.

"You just got to keep the right mind because if you get down, everything's just going to fall apart," Nelson said. "We just kept playing through it."

Perryville had opportunities of its own.

The Pirates, who play a tight, compact defense, were selective in their explosions to the offensive end.

Libbi Schnurbusch nearly netted a goal in the 29th minute when she got past the last Bulldogs defender, but goalkeeper Madison Buelow was there for Notre Dame.

Allison Moldenhauer had the best chance of the first half. She hit a bullet from the right side of the box that sailed just high and left.

"We're a young team and Notre Dame always plays a good possession game," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "They always will and they always do. Our goal was to try and maintain them like we did in the first half and take our opportunities when they came up. I thought we did that fairly decent. We had our opportunities and they capitalized on the one they got."

The Pirates' defense was impressive throughout, withholding all the Bulldogs threw at them to keep the game even.

"Our defense has got stronger as the year has progressed," Fulton said. "We did a couple switches early in the year. We had a couple different girls back there early in the year and realized it just wasn't going to happen. We made a few changes, and I'm very proud of the defense that we have."

The Pirates looked certain to get on the board first four minutes into the second half.

Courtney Borden got free on the right side and played a perfect ball to a streaking Kaitlyn Ellsworth in the middle of the box.

Buelow reached out at the last second and managed to deflect away the ball.

"I had confidence at the beginning of the year, but I've gained it over the season," Buelow said. "And with our defense, it goes even more up because I feel more confident back there and I don't have to make as many saves as I would if our defense fell apart."

It was one of a few impressive stops by Buelow.

The Bulldogs' defense got caught being too aggressive on a few occasions but managed to recover well, led by Buelow.

"If we're committing to going forward, that's going to happen," Worley said. "When the ball did get in behind, Madison Buelow was ready to come in and sniff that out. Although they were dangerous, we limited the number of clean looks."