Notre Dame soccer resumes quest for third straight title

The road to a third consecutive boys soccer state championship won't be easy for the Notre Dame Bulldogs.

A meeting with powerhouse St. Dominic looms in the Class 2 final, but the Bulldogs have a tough opponent to get past first.

Notre Dame faces Helias in today's noon semifinal at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton.

"Helias is a school with a rich tradition in athletics, so anything they do, they're going to have a lot of pride in what they do," Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said. "I think that's kind of how things are here."

If Notre Dame wins today, it would play for the title Saturday at 5 p.m. against the winner of the St. Dominic-Pembroke Hill semifinal. If the Bulldogs lose, they would play for third place at 11 a.m. Saturday.

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.comAlex Robinson of Perryville fighting to take control of the ball with Taylor Essner of Notre Dame.

The Bulldogs' No. 1 mission will be to shut down Helias' top player, senior Forrest McCurren. Wittenborn said he might tinker with his defensive alignment to deal with McCurren, who had a goal and an assist in his team's 2-0 quarterfinal win.

"He scores most of their goals," Wittenborn said. "Most of the time, we play a straight zone defense. Occasionally we'll try to do something special. This might be one of those players where we might try to do something special. Everything they do works through him. If we can deny the ball to him, I think that would frustrate them a little bit."

Helias enters with a 23-2-1 record, while Notre Dame comes in 22-4. Helias last played in the final four in 2001. This is the third consecutive year for Notre Dame, and the Bulldogs hope to capitalize on their experience.

"We know how the game feels, of the anticipation of getting that first goal when it's tied 0-0," Notre Dame senior Josh Robert said. "We know how to do that. We know how to stay focused as a team, play well as a team, not get down if things go wrong. We know how to play well in that tournament."

Because of that experience, senior Nick Wren said the Bulldogs are taking a special approach to this weekend.

"It's kind of a business trip for us," Wren said. "We have fun at the same time, but we're up there to win. We're not up there to get second. We're here to win.

"It's kind of a comforting feeling knowing that if you play your game, you're really hard to beat. It's not just a tossup. If we go out and play our game, we can take it."

Notre Dame has three players with at least 10 goals, led by senior forward Brock Dirnberger with 22. He only may be 5 foot 5, but he combines a mix of speed and skill to get around defenders, then relies on his quick, accurate shot.

Senior forward John Unterreiner leads the team with 15 assists to go with 13 goals, while Robert has 10 goals and 10 assists.

Notre Dame tries to use its speed and precision passing to set up scoring chances.

"We try to get the other team running," Unterreiner said. "We're a big team, and coach emphasizes possession a lot. We're pretty quick and we're athletic. That's something we try to utilize. Our defense is good. We're pretty good throughout. We have to play a pretty good game to move on."

The Bulldogs' defense is anchored by senior goalie Ryan Bass. He's posted 15 shutouts and owns the school's career shutouts record. He's made 161 saves this season.

The key to victory, Notre Dame senior Joda Holloway said, will be sticking to the team's game plan.

"We really need to focus on keeping the ball moving, getting the ball out wide and connect our passes," he said. "If we can move the ball out wide, get some crosses in and spread the other teams out, I think we all know we have a really good feeling going in."