Notre Dame reaches final with 4-0 win over Farmington

Cameron Ross picked a heck of a time to net the first goal of his senior campaign.

In fact, it felt so good to Ross he netted two.

The first one started the rout and the last one ended it as Notre Dame romped past Farmington 4-0 on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Class 2 District 1 title game.

The Bulldogs will face Perryville for the championship at 6 p.m. Thursday at Central High School.

It is the first time the Bulldogs have reached the title game since 2010.

"It means a lot," Notre Dame junior Devin Ziegler said. "It shows we're having a good program again and getting back in it."

The Bulldogs can thank Ross for providing the needed boost.

The senior put Notre Dame on the board 12 minutes before the half with a nifty back-heel shot past several Farmington players after a scrum in front of Farmington's net.

The play started when Notre Dame earned a throw-in deep in Farmington territory. Ziegler launched a throw across the box that bounced once before the Bulldogs' Blake Bauwens headed the ball off the crossbar, and the carom came back into the box.

Several players got touches on the ball before Ross back-heeled it into the net.

Notre Dame midfielder Benjamin Parsons kicks the ball past Farmington midfielder John Augustine during the second half of a Class 2 District 1 semifinal Tuesday at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"I didn't realize it went in at first," Ross said. "Then I was really excited and I celebrated. I was glad I did it."

It was just what Notre Dame had been looking for all season -- someone to score.

The Bulldogs have struggled to find the net this season, but seem to be clicking at the right time.

"We've been talking about taking chances and getting numbers in the box and pushing numbers forward and holding teams in on their end and good things will happen," first year Notre Dame coach Matt Vollink said. "The last few games they've started to figure out, 'Yes, if we can get numbers in and put dangerous balls into the box, good things will happen from it.' That happened tonight. We got numbers in, put dangerous balls in and we capitalized."

Still, the Bulldogs found themselves clinging to the 1-0 lead midway through the second half before the floodgates opened.

Notre Dame's William Roberds dropped a pass off to Ziegler at the 20-yard box and Ziegler hit a bullet between several players that Farmington's goalie never quite picked up. The ball squirted underneath him for a 2-0 Notre Dame lead.

"I just asked [Roberds] to leave it back," Ziegler said. "I put a good strike on goal, and the goalie bobbled it and it went in."

The goal came at the 24-minute mark and forced Farmington on the attack.

Notre Dame's defense, led by junior goalie Thomas Himmelberg, refused to break.

Himmelberg constantly won balls in the air for the Bulldogs all night, either punching away threats or snagging loose balls.

"His confidence of coming out and winning balls in the air is huge for us," Vollink said about Himmelberg. "We struggle sometimes winning balls in the air, and with him being able to go up and be vocal and being confident like he was tonight, it makes us much more confident and then it takes all the pressure off of us. We're not as nervous when the ball is a corner or when the ball is a free kick from 30 out. It makes everything easier on us."

The Bulldogs certainly played loose, and it got even better for Notre Dame when Roberds added the nail in the coffin with 13 minutes remaining.

Notre Dame again harassed Farmington in their own box, this time with the ball bouncing every which way before it landed on Roberds' foot. The sophomore knew what to do it, blasting a shot into an open net.

Farmington had little left in the tank when Ross finished up his career day by adding a goal with less than a minute to play.

The win was a welcome sign to a program that has struggled in district play in recent years.

"It's one of those things that our district has gotten a lot harder," Vollink said. "It's not the same caliber of teams that it was five, six, even 10 years ago. So it's much more difficult for us to make it to the finals, so it means much more to us. All the teams in our district are good teams."

The Bulldogs will face one of those teams in defending champion Perryville on Thursday for the crown.

The lone meeting between the two teams this season resulted in a 1-0 Pirates win.