Notre Dame soccer girls overwhelm Sikeston

District titles are nice, but in reality, the Notre Dame girls soccer team hopes to do better.

Much, much better.

The Bulldogs routed Sikeston 7-0 on Wednesday night to claim their third consecutive Class 2 District 1 title at the Notre Dame soccer field.

They did it with an offense that showcased an ability to score from anywhere on the field, a defense that shut down Sikeston's attack for most of the night, a goalkeeper that came up with clutch saves on the few times Sikeston penetrated the scoring zone, and a team that clearly has its sights set on accomplishing loftier goals.

"I think we definitely have a lot more potential," said senior defender Kaitlin Welter, who opened the scoring on a free kick from 30 yards out about 13 minutes into the contest. "We just keep building throughout the season, and I think we're going to just keep getting better. I'm really excited to see what we can do."

The Bulldogs (18-1-1) advanced to face Windsor (19-5) in a Class 2 sectional Tuesday at a site to be determined.

Welter's kick may have opened the scoring, but it was Notre Dame's four-goal flurry late in the first half that sealed Sikeston's fate. The Bulldogs' second goal came off a corner kick at the 13:32 mark. Junior Jordan Nelson lofted a kick to the far post where senior midfielder Halle Lynch, crashing hard, leaped and headed the ball into the goal to make it 2-0.

Lynch knew she had a shot at the header when she saw Nelson's kick coming in.

"Honestly, I just wait for it because she has such amazing passes," Lynch said. "I just know it's going to be right in the spot, so I just get ready every time. Her crosses are perfect, literally. Perfect doesn't even describe it. ... I just lift my arm up, tilt my head, and she knows right where to put it."

Nelson said the two have forged a chemistry when it comes to those set plays.

"Whenever I go up for a corner kick, I always look straight to her," Nelson said. "We make eye contact, and if I'm going to play the ball, I want to get it to her because I know if I get it to her head, she's going to put it in the back of the net. And that's exactly what she did tonight."

Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley likes seeing his key players come through in those situations.

"She just flat-out buried it," Worley said about Lynch's header. "She moved to get it with a head of steam and perfect technique. A big reason why she plays where she does in the midfield, more of a defensive role, is because she does that a lot in that position and we're able to win the ball right back and go in on a team. And it's also very effective in the corners."

That goal seemed to take the steam out of Sikeston. Just four minutes later, junior midfielder Mackenzie McDaniel made a cross from the right side to senior midfielder Madison Baumgart, who one-timed a shot into the far corner for a 3-0 Bulldogs lead. The goal was set up when McDaniel and Nelson controlled play on the right side of the field, working a give-and-go down the field and pulling the Sikeston defenders over to that side. Nobody covered Baumgart coming from the left side to take McDaniel's cross.

Two minutes later, Nelson ran onto a ball near midfield and headed up the center, maneuvering past four Sikeston defenders before moving in on Sikeston keeper Madeline Witt and poking the ball into the corner of the goal to make it 4-0.

Senior midfielder Abby Boyer had told Nelson earlier to try to take the ball through the middle of the Sikeston defense.

"She said, 'If you have that opportunity, take it past them,'" Nelson said. "Without them telling me to do it, I probably would have just passed it off."

"When she starts feeling it and gets settled, she's so dangerous," Worley said. "So many assists this year. And then they don't know whether she's going to pass or dribble, and she just becomes more effective."

Scarcely a minute later, Boyer made it 5-0 when she scored on a penalty kick that a hustling Baumgart was able to draw on the goal line.

"Notre Dame is a possession team, and I knew if they were able to possess that they would possibly break our defense apart," said Sikeston coach Gabe Dement, whose team finished 12-12-1. "And sure enough, they did. They're ranked in the state for a reason."

Sikeston had just one senior on its roster while Notre Dame started nine seniors. That experience showed throughout the night.

"We've been able to get down the sides against them in the past," Worley said. "We were able to hurt them early in the season, but they made some adjustments to try and close that down. So we had to change a little bit about some of the balls we're used to playing in. They did a good job of taking that away from us. So we had to play a little bit more possession, slow down a little bit so we could build up our attack. Once we started to get into that, then we were able to get in on them and get plenty of box play."

With the big lead, Worley was able to empty his bench and give his reserves playing time in the second half. Sophomore midfielder Madeline Urhahn found Baumgart with a lead pass that led to Baumgart's second goal of the game with 13:58 remaining. Notre Dame junior Calleigh Ainsworth closed the scoring at the 7:47 mark when she redirected a cross from sophomore Breanna Westrich into the net.

The Bulldogs hope to take a step further than they did last season when they reached the Class 2 quarterfinals before falling at Rosati-Kain 3-1.

"I don't want to jinx anything, but we can go pretty far," Boyer said. "Most of our team is seniors. so this is the last time we're ever going to play together. Every game, we're playing it as our last. I think we're going to get pretty far this year."