Notre Dame girls soccer falters late in sectional loss

ST. LOUIS -- It looked like Notre Dame had made all the right adjustments in the second half. Then a five-minute letdown led to heartbreak.

The Bulldogs rallied with two second-half goals to take a 2-1 lead over Notre Dame St. Louis, only to see the host Rebels score twice within two minutes to secure a 3-2 victory in a Class 2 girls soccer sectional Saturday afternoon at Debbie Lowery Athletic Field.

ND St. Louis got a game-winning penalty kick from Amanda Kopp in the 75th minute to advance into the state quarterfinals and end Notre Dame's season.

"The PK," Notre Dame coach Ryan Schweain said. "I hate to say anything negative -- I thought it was a little bit of a weak penalty call. ... That's the call, and you've got to live with it.

"That was one of those, for it to end on a PK, you never want to see that."

The call came when Rebel striker Lexi Lanzafame attacked the left side of the 18-yard box, cutting past a first defender and advancing into the area before falling to the ground between a pair of Bulldog defenders. The whistle blew, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Kopp then stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the right side of goal to seal the final score line.

"I knew we were going to be resilient, there's no question about that," Notre Dame St. Louis coach Jeff Roblin said. "It didn't surprise me we were going to battle until the end, and obviously I'm pleased with the result. That's the [objective].

"They're a solid team and they've got a nice win-loss record against some bigger schools. Our record, you look at it and you kind of scoff and say, 'Well, they haven't won many games, and the games they lost, they lost by a lot.' But that was the tale of our season. We learned lessons. I told the kids early on, 'Some things went right for us, but a lot of things went wrong.' And today was an opportunity for us to right some wrongs."

It was Lanzafame who gave the home side a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. The Rebels sent a long ball into the Bulldogs' back line, and Lanzafame pounced when it was not appropriately dealt with. In alone on goal, she put the ball away.

It was the only goal of the first half, despite a possession and shot advantage (11-4) for the Bulldogs. Too many of those shots were half-chances and weren't on frame.

"Notre Dame St. Louis, they came in with a game plan and I thought they played extremely well today," Schweain said. "They played extremely physical. They were probably the most physical team we've come up against this year, and that probably took us out of our normal play. ... Overall during the year, we were usually the ones that were more physical."

But the Bulldogs shored things up in the second half, changing their defensive shape by pushing center back Abigail Wilson into a sweeper role behind a three-player back line that inserted Anne Ziegler in the middle.

The move settled the defense and kept pressure off the visitors.

"It was really [to combat] that physicality they were coming with, and they weren't trying to use the outside at all," Schweain said. "They were straight coming down the central channel, so I wanted to put my big, physical back in the middle so they have to go through her."

The attack began to generate more pressure as well, which paid off in terms of chances and corner kicks.

In the 48th minute, Shelby Bauwens hooked a corner kick in from the right to the near post where Megan Heisserer was waiting to knock it across the goal line. It wasn't the prettiest finish, but it locked the teams at 1-all.

In the 55th minute, it was Bauwens on a corner kick again, this time from the left side, and this time she took care of things herself, putting the corner directly on frame, where a leaping Beers was unable to keep it out of the far side of the goal.

Up 3-2 with the bulk of possession, it looked like the Bulldogs' game to win.

But with about 15 minutes remaining, the Rebels began to push the issue offensively, throwing numbers into the attack and creating opportunities.

With Notre Dame on its heels, its St. Louis counterparts drew even in the 73rd minute, as Lauren Chastonay took advantage of space outside the box and launched a sailing shot from 25 yards out that went over the hand of Bulldog keeper Claire Landewee and into the back of the net.

"It's a couple bounces the wrong way for us," Schweain said. "We had a couple players pushed up a little bit too high for their second goal and left a little bit of space there. She had an open look at goal, and she put it on."

Tied at 2, the Rebels continued to push, and two minutes later, with less than six minutes to play, they finished the job.

"We're on a roll," Roblin said. "The record during the regular season doesn't really matter; what matters is the record during that second season, and right now we're 4-0 and there's not a whole lot of teams that are. We're one of the few, so, hey, we're going to roll with it."

ND St. Louis moves to 8-13 with the victory and will face Bishop DuBourg in a quarterfinal Wednesday. It's the program's first quarterfinal appearance since 2011, which was the culmination of five straight appearances in the semifinals.

The Bulldogs' season ends at 16-7. They'll say goodbye to nine seniors -- Megan Eudy, Alexa Turnbow, Breanna Westrich, Mackenzie Lynch, Riley Gant, Emma Sievers, Maddie Urhahn, Ziegler and Landewee.

"I told them after the game that this is going to be one of those teams that I look back at with so many great memories," Schweain said. "I'm really going to miss them as a group together.

"We have nine seniors graduate, and every single one of them led in a different way. And they all together led the underclassmen. ... That was impressive to see, too."