Notre Dame girls open season with home win over Cape Central

A late change in the schedule led to a pair of crosstown rivals squaring off on Thursday evening.

Ultimately, it was the Notre Dame Bulldogs defeating the Cape Central Tigers 3-2 in a tightly contested battle.

Picking up where they left on Monday, the Tigers opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Celeste Gutierrez struck to make it 1-0.

“First-game jitters came into play in a big way tonight,” Bulldogs coach Ryan Schweain said. “Girls were nervous before the game and in first games, you tend to have some kinks to work out.”

Just four minutes later, the Bulldogs got a fortunate bounce off a free kick by Skylar Craft that knotted the game at 1.

“Tonight’s game was intense,” Schweain said. “Central brought a lot of intensity and they have a strong team this year, they were tough to beat.”

Just when you thought you had seen it all, the Tigers got a fortunate bounce of their own when Gutierrez had a free kick just beyond the box that initially was stopped by the Bulldogs’ goalkeeper and then bobbled into the net for a goal.

The strike from Gutierrez was her second of the half and was good enough to send the Tigers into halftime with a 2-1 advantage.

“We had a lot of things to talk about at halftime,” Schweain said.

With momentum in the hands of Cape Central, the Bulldogs generated a tremendous look that Addison Clippard finished off to tie the game at 2.

“I felt like the field was stretched,” Schweain said. “We were too thin up the middle and I think a lot of it had to do with game fitness, we’re not quite there yet.”

11 minutes later, a handball in the box awarded the Bulldogs a free kick that Clippard capitalized on to give them a 3-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“She’s played the game for a long time,” Schweain said. “She has a lot of skill to rely on, she works hard and she’s unselfish.”

Cape Central (1-1) returns to action at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, when the Tigers travel to take on Windsor (Imperial).

Notre Dame (1-0) continues the home stand at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, when the Bulldogs host Visitation Academy.