NOTRE DAME SOCKS LEFT TO SIKESTON 2-0

Entering Notre Dame's soccer season opener, Rob Cuba had yet to conquer coach Danny Wittenborn's prescribed time for running the mile and he was still less than stellar kicking with his left foot.

Thursday against Poplar Bluff in the opening round of Notre Dame's Soccerfest, Cuba scored his first career goal -- with his left foot -- 70 minutes into the match to break a 0-0 tie and spur the Bulldogs to a 2-0 win.

So will Cuba's shortcomings as a distance runner now be forgiven by Wittenborn?

"I guess so," Cuba said with a laugh.

Also Thursday, Cape Central beat Sikeston 3-1, Jackson romped Hillsboro 10-0 and Carbondale blasted Farmington 12-1 in first-round games.

Central will play Jackson at 3:30 this afternoon, followed by Notre Dame and Carbondale at 5 in semifinal matches.

Cuba, a junior, scored in front of the goal after Zach Miller's free kick deflected off a Poplar Bluff defender.

Notre Dame scored again with a minute left: Cory Elfrink headed a ball which Jonathan LeGrand scored from the left side.

"It was a pretty well played first game; we're a young team and we don't have a lot of varsity experience," said Wittenborn. "We went real deep into the game with a 0-0 tie . . . and showed a lot of maturity."

Cape Central 3, Sikeston 1

While Central didn't score until the final seconds in its season opener Tuesday at Jackson which ended in a 1-1 tie, the Tigers scored three minutes into their match and dominated the Bulldogs.

Josh Ferguson scored the opening goal on an assist by Justin Shelby.

Mike Stone scored at the 22-minute mark on a pass by Ferguson, and Stone was successful again on a penalty kick five minutes into the second half.

Sikeston's only score was by Andrew Lawson and came 20 minutes into the game.

Jackson 10, Hillsboro 0

It took the Indians about 10 minutes to score their first goal, but from there they dominated the first-year program.

The match was stopped with about 10 minutes remaining. Jackson improved to 1-0-1.

Spencer Knowlan and Nathan Windeknecht both scored three goals, and Chris Schuette, Chris Kohm, Zane McClard and Ben Turner each scored.

Kohm and Eric Rhodes both had two assists and Brandon Blattel, Paul Johns, Schuette, McClard, Turner and Raju Dirnberger each added one.