Two second half goals lift ND over Central

Editor's note: The spelling of Blake Bauwen's name has been corrected in this story.

After trailing by one goal at halftime, Notre Dame used some necessary adjustments to jumpstart the offense.

The Bulldogs scored twice in less than 10 minutes in the second half to defeat rival Central 2-1 in boys soccer action Tuesday at Central.

"We needed a big win," Notre Dame's Ben Parsons said. "We've been in a drought. We haven't been able to put the ball in the net, and tonight we really pulled things together and we managed to put some in the net, so it was great. We needed this win."

The Tigers scored first with a goal by Matt Chism about 16 minutes into the game. Central had a corner kick that bounced in the box before Chism drove the ball low into the to the far right corner of the net.

"I thought Matt Chism had a really good game," Central coach Dan Martin said. "He had a nice goal and could've had a couple assists in the first half."

Notre Dame's Blake Bauwens gets past Central's Luke Kinder during the Bulldogs' 2-1 win over the Tigers on Tuesday at Central High School. (Adam Vogler)

Chism was forced to leave the game by the referee during the second half after he and Notre Dame's Russell Beussink collided. Chism was knocked to the ground and Beussink fell on top of him. Chism shoved Beussink while trying to stand up and there was no call made. About 20 seconds later the referee sent Chism to the bench for using bad language, according to Martin.

Chism, who wasn't carded during the sequence, was later allowed to check back into the game.

"It was physical play and he just kind of got caught up with it, that's all right, though," Martin said.

Notre Dame got its equalizer a few minutes later. With about 27 minutes left in the game Parsons connected from beyond the box on a cross from the right by Devin Ziegler.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good with 19 minutes left. Blake Bauwens scored the game-winner and Parsons assisted on the goal. Parsons played the ball into the box from the right side of the field and Bauwens sent the ball over goalkeeper Nathan Mecum into the top left corner of the goal.

"I decided I was going to beat my defender, got past him and had some space, so I looked up and saw Blake making a beautiful run into the box and I just put it on his foot and it was a lovely finish by Blake," Parsons said of the play.

Martin credited Central's defensive breakdown to a failure to adjust to Notre Dame's better execution.

"The first half we did what we wanted defensively," Martin said. "We had the play in front of us, we were funneling them through the middle, which we wanted."

Notre Dame coach Matt Vollink, whose team improved to 8-9-1, said that his team executed better in the second half and said the Bulldogs focused on keeping the ball in Central's end of the field as well as limiting the Tigers' counter-attack.

"There's a lot of close games that we've had recently," Vollink said. "Central played very, very hard and challenged us. This was a turning point for us, I think. We came together very well, possessed very well and we were able to get a result that the last few games we have been struggling finding."

The loss dropped Central's record to 11-10.

The Tigers host Jackson, who the Tigers defeated 3-2 in double overtime on Sept. 24, today.

"It was a battle back and forth," Martin said of his team's loss to Jackson. "They were up and then we were up, then we equalized and then we got lucky in overtime, so it's going to be a tough test for us."

Notre Dame's next game is at Jackson on Oct. 23.