Tigers, Bulldogs settle for 1-1 tie

On paper, a girls soccer matchup between Central and Notre Dame would appear pretty even.

Both teams entered Monday's game at Central coming off shutout losses to St. Louis area schools.

On grass, after 100 minutes of play, the teams proved to be dead even.

The Tigers and Bulldogs played to a 1-1 tie.

"It was a fun game to watch," Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley said. "Both teams really played hard. A lot of the girls play together, so they really go hard at each other, but they respect each other."

Starting out with the wind, Notre Dame switched to a three-forward formation to try to give its struggling offense a spark. The move paid off, as the Bulldogs were able to create several strong scoring chances in the first half.

Central goalie Chelsea Burns was up to the task, though. Burns made several difficult saves in the opening half. The teams appeared to be headed into halftime scoreless, when Lauren Mehner found Destiny Dirnberger for a quick turnaround shot that slipped by Burns with under two minutes left.

"Having the wind in the first half, that really helped us out," Worley said. "We had so many good chances. It would be disappointing not to get one in there."

Central coach Tom Doyle said the goal took him by surprise.

"I hate to give up a goal the last two minutes of the half," he said. "It wasn't that dangerous of a play."

In the second half, the wind put some air into the Tigers' offense. Central (6-2-1) began to keep its passes on the ground, which led to better ball control.

"That's what I talked to them about at halftime, getting the ball on the ground," Doyle said. "We spent a lot of the time in the first half in the air."

Controlling the ball did not lead to goals, though, as Notre Dame (4-4-2) continued to have the better scoring chances. The Tigers looked like they might even the score with 12 minutes remaining when Kate Miller's got loose on a breakaway, but her shot went straight to Bulldog goalie Claudia Brauss, who made the save.

With three minutes to go in regulation, Central finally broke through. Laura Burdick scored off a pass from Haley Pilsner. Burdick found herself open on the edge of the box and slipped a shot past a diving Brauss.

"I thought we got beat off the dribble and collapsed, which allowed them to have someone open," Worley said of the goal.

Neither team had a strong scoring chance in the two 10-minute overtimes. The teams will meet again at Notre Dame on Monday.