Story Matters

Story Matters

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Notre Dame beats NewCath for 9th Region crown

Photo by G. MICHAEL Graham/Fort Thomas Matters. Members of the Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds watch after falling to defending state champion Notre Dame, 3-1 in the 9th Region title game at Ryle on Saturday. The Lady Breds finished the year 14-6-1 with a 36th District championship.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

UNION – The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds made the defending state soccer champions nervous hanging around for some time.

But the deeper Notre Dame Pandas scored twice in the last two minutes to one time for the Lady Breds and held on for a 3-1 win in the 9th Region championship Saturday at Ryle. Notre Dame won the regular-season meeting by the same score on Sept. 18.

“I think we settled down more in the second half,” said Kevin Turnick, NewCath head coach. “We talked to them about playing more possession and target-type soccer instead of just clearing the ball and setting up their attack. We took them out of the attack as much as we could. We played better in the second half than I thought we did the first half.”



This marked the 10th regional title for the Pandas (22-2-1), including the sixth since 2002. They won it in 2004 and last year and finished state runner-up in 1992, 1997, 1999 and 2009.

“They’ve been fantastic,” said Sara Raaker-McSorely, Notre Dame head coach. “I think they’ve been one of the calmest teams that I’ve ever had the privilege to coach. That’s a nice factor. However, you want to make sure they’re on their game just as much.”

Three players off this Notre Dame squad have committed to play NCAA Division I soccer. Defender Alex Lonnemann will go to Western Kentucky University with striker Ellie Eckerle and midfielder Maddie Tierney going to Xavier University.

NewCath (14-6-1) made its first appearance in a regional title game since 2005. The Lady Breds have finished region runner-up four times since consecutive region crowns in 2000 and 2001.

Notre Dame outshot NewCath, 16-5 overall and 6-4 on goal. In the first half, the Pandas outshot the Lady Breds, 7-4. But the Lady Breds had three shots on goal to two for Notre Dame.

Both teams had their opportunities. NewCath had two corner kicks and five free kicks and Notre Dame had five corner kicks and three free kicks.

Both goalkeepers made three saves a piece. They were sophomore Erin Ackerson for the Lady Breds and Olivia Voskuhl for Notre Dame. Voskuhl committed to play basketball at Cleveland State University.

The only goal of the first half came with 30:11 left. Ellie Eckerle dribbled right and crossed the ball in front of the NewCath goal. In a scrum in front of the net, Notre Dame senior Katherine Koplyay scored.

“Everyone must step up in the postseason,” said Sara Raaker-McSorely, Notre Dame head coach. “It’s great to see people who have been working hard all year finally hit the back of the net.”

Sam Bunzel had the chance to tie the game minutes later for NewCath. She smacked a hard shot that Voskuhl deflected. Notre Dame hit two more off the sideposts in the half.

The Pandas gave themselves some breathing room with 9:55 left. Tournament Most Valuable Player Koplyay scored her second goal on a rebound.

However, NewCath did not quit. Bunzel scored on a corner kick to cut the margin to 2-1 with 6:18 remaining.

But the Pandas added another goal with 4:53 remaining. Jamie Bramlage scored on a corner kick.

It was a clean game. Neither team drew and yellow or red card.

Bunzel and Courtney Hagedorn made the all-tournament team for NewCath and freshman Brooklynn Rivers made the squad for Highlands. The Lady Breds graduate Jillian Hoover, Emily Weyer, Madison Little, Christina Seibert, Hagedorn, Nikki Buller, Morgan Stackslager and Jill Hamilton from the team.

“It’s been a great season,” Seibert said. “We wanted to keep everything going. It was really important to us.”

The Lady Breds still won the first district championship since 2005. They finished 54-23-10 over the career of the seniors. NewCath has recorded double-digits in victories every year but 2008 dating back to the 1999 campaign when Turnick took over as head coach.


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