SOCCER: ST. MARY'S TERMINATES ANOTHER ND SEASON

ST. LOUIS -- Soccer, perhaps more than any other sport, is a game of opportunities.

Saturday night, the St. Mary's Dragons were more opportunistic than the Notre Dame Bulldogs.

For the third straight year, St. Mary's (21-6-3) knocked the Bulldogs (18-8-1) out of the Class 1A-3A playoffs, this time in a closer-than-it-sounds 3-0 sectional victory at the Anheuser-Busch Soccer Complex.

Though the second-ranked Dragons were perhaps a shade quicker than the eighth-ranked Bulldogs, Notre Dame had plenty of chances to score, especially late in the game when coach Brad Wittenborn moved the sweeper toward the front in an attempt to generate more offense.

But the Bulldogs had some chances before Wittenborn had to force his hand.

The first came just five minutes into the game when Tyler Cuba, in alone on the goalie, missed just left of the goal.

"We had some very good chances," Wittenborn said. "We had one really good one early and just missed. If that goes in, who knows what would've happened."

The first half was evenly played. Though Notre Dame probably had more legitimate shots at putting the ball in the net, the Dragons controlled the ball more.

But St. Mary's, 2 1/2 minutes before halftime, got the benefit of a hand call and John Ryan took advantage of a penalty kick, ripping his shot halfway up the left side of the net.

"When we got that goal late in the first half, it gave us some breathing room," said St. Mary's coach Jeff Robben. "It allowed us to relax a bit and gave us more confidence with the ball."

At the 11-minute mark of the second half, Notre Dame's Nathan LeGrand, alone out front, had a chance to tie the game, but barely missed wide right.

About one minute later, the Dragons scored when Cory Schiepeter headed in a pass from Pete Cacciatore.

Then, when Notre Dame moved up its sweeper, the game got crazy as more shots were fired in the last 25 minutes of the soccer game than in the entire Rambo movie.

Notre Dame missed three shots by about three feet and misfired on a wide-open cross pass about 10 feet in front of the goal.

"Once we got behind, we rushed too many shots," said Wittenborn. "We needed to be more poised in our shooting."

In Notre Dame's desperate mayhem during the final few minutes, St. Mary's took advantage of the Bulldogs' defensive disadvantage as Ryan Haman rifled a rebound past goalkeeper Paul Unterreiner with four minutes left in the game.

Though the score may have been lopsided in soccer terms, Wittenborn said he thought this year's version of the Bulldogs played the Dragons better than last year's squad which lost just 1-0.

"We played well enough that if we were a bit lucky we could've won," Wittenborn said. "We had more chances to score this year."

Though the Bulldogs were visibly disappointed in the outcome, they have a lot to look forward to. Notre Dame loses just one senior, Nick Kapfer.

"We'll miss Nick," Wittenborn said. "He's had a wonderful career for us. We're only losing one, and he's a good one, but we have a lot coming back."