Notre Dame rips Central

~ Notre Dame's offense scored a combined 14 goals in its last two games.

Breakaway goals doomed the Central girls soccer team against another local rival.

The Tigers were beaten by breakaways when they played crosstown rival Notre Dame on Wednesday. They had allowed three breakaway goals in the first half alone during a loss to rival Jackson on March 31.

Bulldogs sophomore Anna Wren stormed through the Central defense twice -- once in the first half and again in the second half. Wren scored two of Notre Dame's seven breakaway goals Wednesday. The Bulldogs' offense looked sharp for the second straight day as the visitors posted an 8-1 victory over Central.

"We used a lot of possession," Wren said about creating breakaways. "We would pass the ball back and make sure it would go forward. Mostly just trying to get it back and possess it and then we'd go forward. We weren't going to try to dump it and run. We were going to possess and be calm. We'd get offside sometimes, but hey, we learned from it."

Central's Farrah Malik, left, and Notre Dame's Mindy Siebert struggle for control of the ball Wednesday. The Bulldogs beat the Tigers 8-1. For more photos from the game, log onto semissourian.com. (KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com)

Notre Dame (7-2) has outscored its two opponents -- St. Vincent and Central -- this week by a combined 14-2. Central's record fell to 2-5.

Notre Dame fired 15 shots at Central keeper Caitlin Smith and actually had a couple other breakaways that it failed to convert.

Taylor Sanders netted the first goal about 11 minutes into the contest, and Wren added the second goal about 16 minutes later.

"It was one-on-one with the goalie," Wren said about her first goal. "At that point, when you're one-on-one with the goalie, all you think about is low and don't choke. It's hard because I'm probably one of the worst chokers when it comes to me and the goalie."

Notre Dame sophomore Brianne Sanders also scored two breakaway goals. Her first one made the score 3-0 about 8 minutes into the second half. She took the ball at midfield and dribbled all the way in while also making a nice move to put her shot past Smith, who recently took over as the Tigers' regular goalie.

Central freshman goalie Caitlin Smith comes out to block Anna Wren's shot Wednesday.

Meg Goodman, the other keeper Central had been using last year and early this season, has been moved to the offense.

"We all passed really well and we got open," Brianne Sanders said. "So we all contributed. We've been working real hard and [the coaches] have been pushing us."

Central first-year coach Elizabeth Fleer, who has been running a different defense than had been used at Central in previous years, said her defenders need to do better.

"At this point, my defense just seems to have a lot of trouble keeping a mark," Fleer said. "That's just an issue with accountability -- going in with that somewhat killer instinct. You are the last person there. You have to go for the ball."

Lacy Boeller, Mindy Siebert and Allyson Bradshaw all added goals for Notre Dame.

"They pass the ball, they find feet," Fleer said about the Notre Dame offense. "They don't just play it to open space. They actually find a person that's wearing blue."

Keeper Brianna Ziegler made three saves for the Bulldogs. Sarah Uptmor was the only Central player to put a shot past Ziegler.

"Basically I told them they need to find themselves accountable for their mistakes and hold just not themselves accountable for it, but each other and that stuff like this has just got to stop," Fleer said when asked what she told her team after the game.

Fleer has said that her team lacks speed. Notre Dame, on the other hand, showed Wednesday that it does not lack quickness.

"I think we had an advantage team speed wise," Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley said. "So we were just looking for gaps. ... They caught us offside several times. But eventually some balls go through and we've got some pretty solid team speed."