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Notre Dame loses sudden death shootout, Simon Kenton advances in girls’ soccer playoffs


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Notre Dame defender Maya Decker, right, wins a battle for possession of the ball against West Jessamine forward Eva Mitchell. (Photo by Jackson Sports Photography)


By Terry Boehmker

NKyTribune sports reporter

While the Notre Dame girls’ soccer team was selecting players for a second round of penalty kicks in its state playoff game on Monday, the student section on the opposite side of the field at Dixie Heights High School recited a Hail Mary. Unfortunately, their prayer wasn’t answered.

Notre Dame’s fourth penalty kick in the sudden death shootout was blocked by West Jessamine freshman goalkeeper Anna Rexford to give her team a 2-1 victory and end Notre Dame’s season.

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Notre Dame midfielder Mary Tierney, No. 7, gains control of a loose ball (Photo by Jackson Sports Photography)

“That’s a lot of pressure, especially when you go second and know you have to make it to keep yourself alive,” Notre Dame coach David Gronotte said of the do-or-die penalty kicks used to decide playoff games. “We practice them a lot throughout the year. We did really well in practice with them, but this was a whole different environment.”

This is the first time in Notre Dame’s six consecutive state playoff appearances that the team was eliminated in the first round. The Pandas won state titles in 2011 and 2013, lost in the 2012 championship game and were defeated in the state semifinals the last two years.

But there’s still a Northern Kentucky team remaining in this year’s state playoff bracket. Simon Kenton defeated Bardstown Bethlehem, 1-0, in another  first-round match on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals.

Sophomore midfielder Hannah Allen scored the lone goal of the game for Simon Kenton and sophomore goalkeeper Skylin Yates recorded the shutout for the Pioneers (20-3-1), who will play Lawrence County on Saturday. The site and starting time for that game has not yet been determined.

The Notre Dame vs. West Jessamine match had to be decided on penalty kicks because the score was tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation and neither team got a goal during two five-minute overtime periods. In the first round of penalty kicks, each team made two of five shots. Both coaches then selected five different players for the sudden death round.

West Jessamine kicked two balls over the crossbar and had one shot blocked by Notre Dame senior goalkeeper Audrey Nienaber in the first round of penalty kicks. But the Colts buried their first four shots in the net in the second round.

It was a unfortunate ending for Nienaber, who was able to deflect two successive shots on goal late in the second half to maintain the tie and send the game into overtime.

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Notre Dame senior goalkeeper Audrey Nienaber. (Photo by Jackson Sports Photography)

“I’m proud of my teammates,” Nienaber said after the season-ending loss. “They’re all my best friends and soccer is a time for us to get together. Of course, we’ll still hang out, but soccer is something we bonded over. It’s going to be tough not going to practice tomorrow.”

Notre Dame got the game’s first goal with 25:50 left in the second half. As players converged on a loose ball near the top of the penalty area, Mary Tierney jabbed a quick shot into the right corner of the net.

Less than minute later, however, West Jessamine tied it when senior forward Eva Mitchell got to a ball after it slipped past Notre Dame’s last defender and slipped a shot past Nienaber as she came out to challenge her.

“That was tough,” coach Gronotte said. “You’ve got to maintain your focus and composure after a goal. I’ll have to go back and watch it (on video), but I’m afraid we might have lost our focus for a second there.”

Notre Dame dominated time of possession during the first half, but West Jessamine’s goalkeeper made two nice saves in the first 40 minutes to keep the Pandas from scoring.

In the seventh minute, Notre Dame sophomore Maya Decker ripped a shot from near the top of the penalty box that Raxford stopped. In the 31st minute, senior Christin Sherrard tried to angle a shot into the net from the left side, but Raxford was able to deflect the ball away from the goal.

West Jessamine was limited to two shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, but the Colts changed their tactics at halftime to create more opportunities to score.

“In the first half, they kept Mitchell and (Anna) Lee more at midfield and in the second half they pulled them up more to attack,” Gronotte said. “So we knew the pressure was coming. They’re very good up top and Audrey just did a fantastic job keeping us in the game.”

 


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