Notre Dame boys soccer team exacts revenge vs. rival Central

~ The Bulldogs dominated play in their 2-0 win over the Tigers

The Notre Dame Bulldogs started counting down the days to the rematch with crosstown rival Central.

The Tigers dominated the Bulldogs in a 2-1 win Oct. 11.

It was sweet revenge for Notre Dame on Monday.

The Bulldogs (16-8) controlled every aspect of the game in their 2-0 victory.

"The biggest thing I can say is they were just comfortable," Central coach Dan Martin. "We couldn't make them uncomfortable. The way they played, knocking the ball inside and outside, they just dominated us. I'd say for 80 minutes of the game we were chasing and all their pressure just forced turnover and turnover."

The Tigers had no answers for the constant pressure Notre Dame applied.

"We came out flat that first game," Bulldogs junior Logan Buchheit said. "We definitely didn't play at all. After that game, we all came together and were like, 'We're not letting this happen again.' And we've been waiting for this game for a long time. We got all pumped up before the game."

Central keeper Austin Bagley makes a save in front of Notre Dame's Matthew Parsons during the first half Monday.

It was Buchheit who set up the first goal.

The Bulldogs forced the Tigers (7-14) into a turnover near midfield and used nifty passes before Buchheit played a ball to Aaron Arnzen near the left side of the 18-yard box.

Arnzen took a step right past his defender and bent a shot into the upper right corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead.

"From the beginning of the game we knew we were on a mission," Arnzen said. "So we came out hard, we pressured hard and we were going to let them make the mistakes. So we kept the intensity up and they had a breakdown in the middle. We did a couple one-twos through the middle and had a nice give-and-go and just finished hard."

Notre Dame never took its foot off the gas.

"We really tried to come out strong and focused." Bulldogs senior Jonathan Lynch said. "Last time they came out hard at us real quick and they got those couple quick ones. We wanted to try and switch it up and do the opposite tonight."

Notre Dame's Matt Ponder, right, passes the ball past Central's Vance Toole during the first half Monday. (Laura Simon)

The Tigers failed to generate any serious scoring opportunities after the first 15 minutes. Notre Dame didn't allow them to do much on offense.

"With that much pressure, we really couldn't link up to getting anything going," Martin said.

The Bulldogs failed to put away the game in the first half despite dominating play.

That quickly changed in the second half.

Notre Dame went up 2-0 within the first two minutes after the intermission.

The Bulldogs earned a throw-in deep in Central territory, and Luke Mocherman tossed a long throw into the box.

Buchheit headed it back to Lynch, who blasted a shot into the net from 6 yards out.

"Just tried to get something on goal," Lynch said. "[Mocherman] made a great throw across the middle, [Buchheit] went up to challenge it and get a deflection. It came straight down, and I was fortunate to get a ball on goal."

The Tigers had little left in the tank after the goal.

Central's Matt Chism kicks the ball in front of Notre Dame's Aaron Arnzen during the first half Monday at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame controlled so much possession that Central began to fatigue.

"They had a couple runs really early in the game, but I thought we settled in and really knocked the ball around," Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said. "We possessed the ball so well, I thought we kind of took their legs away from them a little bit."

It was sweet revenge for the Bulldogs, who played their final home game of the season before both teams begin district play next Monday.

"A lot of it had to do with the last game," Arnzen said. "We weren't really happy with that, so we all talked about it today and we came out hard, all out, every single person."