Bulldogs present coach with district title for his birthday

The Notre Dame soccer team sang "Happy Birthday" to coach Jeff Worley before Wednesday's Class 1 District 1 championship game at Notre Dame.

The Bulldogs then gave Worley a birthday present in the form of a 4-0 win over St. Vincent.

After Megan Holloway scored the lone first half goal, Lauren Mehner gave Notre Dame (17-4-2) breathing room with a goal in the 61st minute.

"The second goal took the air out of them, and they had to start taking chances," Worley said. "And we did a good job of not panicking when they started pushing offensively."

With St. Vincent (9-16-1) forced to take chances, Notre Dame capitalized by scoring two goals late. Mehner scored off the right post in the 77th minute and less than two minutes later, Holloway scored her second goal with an assist from Sierra Ellis.

Katie Palmer recorded the shutout.

Mehner said Notre Dame expected another close game in the third meeting between the two teams.

"We knew coming in it would be a hard-fought game," Mehner said. "As the top seed, they were gunning for us and they always play us close."

The Bulldogs were patient on offense, spreading the field and making St. Vincent chase the ball on defense.

"We got by all year on intensity and outrunning our opponents," St. Vincent coach Eric Long said. "But it is hard when you have such few opportunities. We had to capitalize on corner kicks. We knew coming in they were a great team, and we knew it would be a shocker if we won"

St. Vincent was able to generate only one offensive opportunity in the first half. The Squaws threatened with two corner kicks early in the second half, but Notre Dame was able to clear the ball, keeping the lead.

Notre Dame advances to the sectional and will host Festus St. Pius (22-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs beat St. Pius 1-0 in the sectional last year en route to a state runner-up finish.