St. Vincent girls soccer team shuts out Notre Dame

A two-game losing streak led to a team meeting for the St. Vincent girls soccer team.

The Indians responded to the adversity with a 1-0 victory over host Notre Dame on Tuesday.

"We had a little bit of a setback this past week, so I think we were very determined to win this game tonight," St. Vincent junior Kayla Seabaugh said.

The Indians managed to limit Notre Dame's offensive surges and took advantage of two Bulldogs (5-4) shots that smacked the crossbar.

"I think we had a lot of communication tonight," Indians junior Storm French said. "For as much switching as we did with positions, we talked a lot and we were able to communicate really well."

French played a crucial role in St. Vincent's defensive effort Tuesday. Indians coach Dusty Wengert moved French from the midfield to sweeper, and French flashed her speed to catch up to Notre Dame players trying to make offensive runs and extinguish Bulldogs threats.

"Moving her back to sweeper really shored up a lot of things on the back side," Wengert said. "It's not the position that she'll probably play at the next level, and there were 10 or 15 minutes where we moved her to the outside. We may do that a little bit more, pick our poison when we're going to move her to the outside."

French said she last played in the back row during his freshman year.

"It's a little weird, but I like the adrenaline rush," she said. "I like being able to see everything on the field and knowing where everyone is."

Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley credited the Indians' speed with limiting his team's offensive chances.

"They're one of the fastest teams we'll play," Worley said. "All over the field, they have very good team speed. You're going to have trouble. The faster a team is, the harder it is to break them down."

It was St. Vincent's speed that led to the game's lone goal. The Indians (7-2) used a quick counterattack to gain a 3-on-1 advantage. Seabaugh carried the ball near the sideline before sending a pass to teammate Abby Lappe.

"I didn't see anybody around her," Seabaugh said. "I was like, I'm just giving it to her now. I trusted her."

Lappe took the pass without a defender between her and Notre Dame keeper Madison Buelow and buried a low blast.

"It was a perfect ball," Lappe said about the pass from Seabaugh. "I knew I had lots of time. I just made sure to place it nicely because I was told by a couple of teammates she's good if it's up high. But if it's down low, she's not as good with it. So I just tried to play low and to the corner. That was my best bet."

Notre Dame tried to sustain an attack by pushing up late in the contest, but St. Vincent did a decent job of pushing the ball toward the Bulldogs' goal.

"We did our best job of getting back on defense," Wengert said. "We really went up and down the field tonight for a good 80 minutes. We played really hard for 80 minutes tonight."