Notre Dame girls soccer weathers storm, wins tight conference clash with Sikeston

A bounce here. A roll there. These are the things that make a difference, and teams will take what they can get.

On Monday the Notre Dame girls soccer team was just happy to survive as it went up 2-0 before weathering a flurry of Sikeston pressure to prevail 2-1 in an early-season SEMO Conference matchup at Harry L. Crisp Field in Cape Girardeau.

"We had to work for this win tonight, but we knew Sikeston was going to be ready to go and [Sikeston] Coach [Gabe] Dement would have them organized and we're happy to get a win," Notre Dame coach Ryan Schweain said.

"At [the end] I felt like both teams were running on adrenaline. It was high paced and we kind of eked that one out. If the ball bounces just a little bit different they could have found themselves in front of the goal with a shot and tied that up easy enough. We were fortunate enough to come out of it with a win tonight."

Notre Dame scored an early goal inside the game's first 15 minutes to take a 1-0 advantage in the first half, but the real excitement came as the visiting Bulldogs continued to press for opportunities.

It appeared the hosts might have put the game away with a 68th-minute penalty-kick goal from Megan Heisserer, but just five minutes later the ball bounced off the arm of Notre Dame's Emma Sievers inside the 18-yard box, and Sikeston came away with its own goal from the spot, as Torrie Helms slotted it in to the right side of the net for a 2-1 score.

Notre Dame's Maddie Urhahn battles with Sikeston's Emma Jones for an aerial ball on Monday, March 28, 2016, at Harry L. Crisp Field in Cape Girardeau. Notre Dame won 2-1.JOSH MLOT

Notre Dame got a pair of quality looks at goal from Shelby Bauwens in the ensuing minutes, but both skipped just wide.

Sikeston ramped up the pressure in the final moments, as Claudea Kuykendall went on a slaloming run into the attacking third to force a deep throw-in for the visitors, but they couldn't find a way to truly test the Notre Dame net. A corner kick opportunity in the last seconds went by the wayside without the ball even entering the box.

"It's just a matter of putting the ball in the back of the net, but it wasn't for a lack of effort or chances. Both teams had lots of good chances and it was an even match, I thought," Dement said. "One thing I liked about my team is you go down 2-0 and we battled back. We kind of shifted it up a gear. By the same token, we've got to play like that more often for more of the game, and then maybe we're not in a position where we're having to make the comeback."

Sikeston not only pushed back in the latter stages of the first half, but also maintained some attacking pressure through the first 15 minutes of the second half. Emma Sanders nearly tied the game for the visitors when she launched a shot from 20 yards out on the right, clanking the ball off the far post in the 55th minute.

That near chance, however, saw the visiting Bulldogs cede possession to Notre Dame for the next stretch of the game. That paid off when Maddie Urhahn sprang Heisserer on a through ball from the midfield, allowing the young attacker to run in behind the defense and onto the ball, in alone on goal.

Sikeston defender Annie Ensor was left with little to do but clatter into Heisserer 12 yards out from goal, providing an opportunity from the penalty spot. That opportunity turned out to be the game-winning goal, as Heisserer went to her right and put the ball into the back of the net.

"We talked at halftime about just slowing the game down and trying not to force it," Schweain said. "They were playing with five in the back, and in the first half that's kind of where we struggled -- we were trying to force the ball into the corner or into gaps that weren't there. In the second half we wanted to slow it down and find that space in between their mids and their backs. We felt like there was some space we could hopefully hit and find somebody open at that point and hopefully pull a defender or two out."

Notre Dame's Riley Gant attacks on the right wing and battles with Sikeston's Kayla Graham during the second half of Notre Dame's 2-1 victory Monday, March 28, 2016, at Harry L. Crisp Field in Cape Girardeau.JOSH MLOT

The game was far from over at that point, but it turned out to be just enough.

"It's something we've done a lot this year -- we play from behind," Dement said. "We don't finish early in the game; and we get chances, we just don't bury them. It's tough when you're behind the eight-ball trying to fight back, but credit to my girls to fight back and make it 2-1. It was kind of a frenetic pace at the end, the midfield was pretty wide open and it was back and forth.

"[We need to work on] smarter positioning, smarter passes and just playing at that intensity level for more of the game, and hopefully, at some point, for a whole 80 minutes."

Sikeston goes to 0-3-2 on the season and will host Kelly on Thursday.

Notre Dame moves to 2-0 after a 2-1 penalty shootout victory over 2015 Class 2 third-place finisher St. Pius X (Festus) in the season opener a week ago.

"It's just our second game, we're still kind of building that team unity," Schweain said. "We have freshmen all the way up to seniors, so they're still trying to figure it out and the types of runs and types of players their teammates are. We're working on that at this point."