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.”