Notre Dame girls soccer team overtakes Jackson in final minutes

(This story has been edited to change the scorers of the Notre Dame goals)

Former New York Yankees great Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

He was talking about baseball, but he could have been talking about soccer.

Stymied for more than 86 minutes by a ferocious headwind and a suffocating Jackson defense, Notre Dame scored twice in the final four minutes -- including the game-winner with 10 seconds left -- to defeat the Indians 2-1 on a cold, rainy, blustery evening at the Jackson Junior High field.

"You never quit," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley, whose squad remained unbeaten on the season at 8-0-1. "I've lost them this way, and I've won them this way."

Notre Dame’s Abby Boyer controls the ball between Jackson’s Hailey Mouser, left, and Cassidi Tomsu during the first half Monday in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

Senior forward Abby Boyer and junior forward Jordan Nelson combined on passing plays to account for the Notre Dame goals. On the first, Boyer ran onto a pass from Nelson in front of the goal, faked once, then drilled a shot into the far corner to tie the score 1-1 with 3:44 remaining.

Then, with the clock winding down, the two collaborated on another pretty give-and-go, this time Boyer's pass finding Nelson in about the same spot, and she delivered the game-winner.

"We were dribbling up, and I saw the opportunity," said Boyer, who had teamed up with Nelson on two other scoring opportunities earlier in the second half only to be denied by Jackson's retreating defense or a sprawling save from Indians goalkeeper Sarah Blanton. "Just a give-and-go, and I passed to Jordan, and she made it."

"Coach always says to look for those one-twos," said Nelson. "And that's exactly what we did. We work on it in practice all the time. I saw Abby had it, did a little one-two, and I saw my opportunity in the corner of the goal."

"We came ready to play," Bulldogs senior defender Shelby Beussink said. "It was tough the first half with the wind against us. ... That wind in your face is awful. But we pushed through. And after that first goal, we said, 'Let's do this. Let's go. Let's push through.'

"And we did."

The Bulldogs couldn't get anything going in the first half, playing into the teeth of a relentless headwind. But in the second half, with the wind at their backs, they finally began to show signs of life.

"I told [assistant] coach [Matt] Vollink before we scored the first goal that it really hadn't bounced our way," Worley said. "And Jackson played really well against us tonight and really made it kind of hard for us to get any flow. But we kept trying to push and trying to find a way, and we got a little bit more pressure, and we finally got one to go and it really changed the complexion of the game."

Jackson (6-2-1), with the wind at its backs in the first half, played aggressively on offense early, using quick, short passes in the middle of the field and speed at the forward slots to work the ball in from the wings. It paid off when, just three minutes into the game, senior midfielder Hailey Mouser passed ahead to junior forward Rachel Crites, who turned and buried a shot past Notre Dame goalkeeper Madison Buelow into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

The Indians missed several chances to pad that lead later in the half. Mouser had a corner kick that nearly bent into the far corner of the net, but Buelow was able to jump high and make the save. And sophomore Meagan Hawk lifted a high shot from about 25 yards out that Buelow leaped high to save. Emily Euclide-Gartman, following up on the play, crashed into Buelow just as the keeper came to the ground, and the ball came loose and rolled into the net, but Jackson's senior forward was whistled for a foul and the goal was disallowed.

"I said if we get out of this half with the chances that they had and us not being able to get much together, if we're only down one, I think we're in pretty good shape," Worley said. "And that was a big deal."

Mouser agreed that the Indians probably left a couple scores on the field in the first half.

"The wind was a big factor, and we probably should have capitalized a little more when we had the wind with us," she said.

Jackson coach Justin McMullen said missing those opportunities hurt his squad in the long run.

"That's what you always hope for in any game, but it just didn't work out for us tonight," McMullen said. "I'm proud of the way our girls played tonight, and I look forward to another game against them again.

"Those are two good teams out there, and I thought both teams played well. The wind was definitely a factor, and it was a good game for both teams."

Despite the loss, Mouser felt like it was one of the better games Jackson has played this season.

"I think that we were really starting to connect," said Mouser after the Indians put nine shots on goal, most of them in the first half when they had the wind advantage. "This is the first game where we really saw how we can work together. We had possession most of the game, but I guess it doesn't always turn out the way you want it to."