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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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