Notre Dame girls soccer team pulls away from Central in second half

The host Central Tigers held close to Notre Dame throughout the first half of Wednesday's girls soccer game.

The second half featured too much Brianne Sanders for the Tigers to handle.

Sanders netted two of her three goals in the second frame, helping Notre Dame net a 4-1 victory over Central after leading just 2-1 at halftime.

"She really stays in the framework of the game," Bulldogs coach Jeff Worley said. "They play a flat back four, so it gets real easy for a forward to just start taking off, and I don't think she was offsides all night. She just kind of stayed within the rhythm of what was going on, and when there was a chance to really get in and put pressure on the ball, she was all over it."

The teams played a fairly even first half on the scoreboard, although Notre Dame controlled the majority of possession.

Central goalie Apple Thomas makes a save against Notre Dame's Taylor Rinda during the first half Wednesday at Central. (Kristin Eberts)

The Bulldogs struck first just seven minutes into the game.

Notre Dame earned a corner kick and Shelby Dix capitalized when Central failed to clear it cleanly from its box. She blasted a shot just inside the left post.

"It's always great to get on the board early," Worley said. "We were frustrated coming off last night losing 1-0 [to St. Vincent]. We had some good chances to score. It just didn't happen. So to get one early, you can relax a little bit and go out and play."

Added Sanders: "They're always competition. You can't ever just say you're going to come out and expect to do anything. So you always have to come out with your hardest and Shelby had a really nice goal."

Notre Dame nearly made it 2-0 when Allyson Bradshaw drew a foul 30 yards out from Central's goal and Haley Wengert rifled a shot just over the crossbar. Bradshaw took control of the ball in the middle of the field three minutes later and fed a streaking Anna Wren down the right side, who fired a shot off the crossbar.

"They're really responding to each other," Worley said. "I couldn't ask for more with the unselfish play. There's sometimes we say, 'You need to take that shot' or 'You need to go ahead and be more aggressive.' The more you keep everybody involved, the harder they're going to work and stay tuned into the game."

The Bulldogs finally added to their lead with 15 minutes left in the first half when Sanders found the back of the net off a corner kick.

Central quickly responded.

Brooke Evans broke free and fired a shot at the top of the 18-yard box that was saved less than minute later, but Evans put the Tigers on the board when she scored off a Megan Daly corner at the 13-minute mark.

"I think one of the big things we've been focusing on this year is really going to 50-50 balls," Central coach Elizabeth Fleer said. "Winning them, winning the second ball after that, I think that helps a lot. Bringing a higher level of intensity out when we play. That's a lot of what we've been preaching every day at practice."

Added Worley: "They were reading plays very well. They played awfully hard. They stepped really hard and came after us."

Notre Dame nearly padded its first-half lead when Bradshaw broke through the Tigers' defense, but her breakaway shot was stopped by Tigers goalie Apple Thomas.

Sanders wasted little time asserting the Bulldogs in the second half.

Wren fed a ball through the defense, Bradshaw tapped it past the goalie to Sanders, who finished the goal to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead four minutes into the half.

"We've been working really hard on our give-and-go, and it's been working really well," Sanders said. "We've all been passing well and talking."

Sanders put the game out of reach when Wengert hit a cross into the box and Sanders beat the keeper to the ball, heading it into the net seven minutes after her second goal.

"I just follow the passes," Sanders said. "The other girls did most of it. I was just there to touch it in."

Added Fleer: "I think [we] were more comfortable in the second half, so [we] weren't playing nearly as tight as [we] should have been on the defensive end. That was our No. 1 flaw on the defensive end. We were being a little more lackadaisical."

Notre Dame's defense shut down the Tigers in the second half, yielding few scoring threats.

"I think our scoring and shots around the 18 we continuously need to improve on," Fleer said. "We need to find multiple people that can find the back of the net over and over again. I think that's one of the few parts of our field that keeps lacking every year."