Notre Dame girls throttle Perryville 4-1

The Notre Dame Regional High School girls soccer team was missing several key players due to injury.

But the Bulldogs didn't miss a beat against visiting Perryville Wednesday.

Notre Dame controlled play throughout and rolled to a 4-1 victory.

"I was very pleased," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley after the Bulldogs evened their record at 6-6. "We've had to make a lot of adjustments the past couple of weeks. We've got five varsity players out.

"They have really stepped up and accepted whatever role we've needed them to play."

The Pirates, who had a five-game winning streak snapped, fell to 8-4. They averted a shutout by scoring in the final minute on one of their few legitimate scoring chances of the night.

"I thought we played a little sluggish. We just didn't go to the ball as well as I thought we would," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "Notre Dame is a good team. You can't take anything from them. They played a great game.

"We're young [Perryville started five sophomores and one freshman Wednesday while several other freshmen came off the bench]. If we see them again in districts hopefully we'll play better."

The Bulldogs started strong with two solid scoring opportunities in the opening five minutes.

"That was our plan, to come out strong and see if we can get them early," junior midfielder Shelby Beussink said.

Notre Dame’s Annie Siebert works to get past Perryville’s Natalie Gremaud during the Bulldogs’ 4-1 win over the Pirates Wednesday. Gremaud scored Perryville’s lone goal. (ADAM VOGLER)

Perryville’s Brooke Hogard gets a header past Notre Dame’s Kaitlin Welter during Wednesday’s game.

Notre Dame broke through 13 minutes, 56 seconds into the contest when senior forward Taylor Rinda scored from point-blank range after Perryville failed to clear a ball. Beussink was credited with an assist.

"Their first goal was a mistake on our part," Fulton said.

The Bulldogs kept the pressure on but Perryville was able to get to halftime down just 1-0.

Notre Dame didn't let up in the second half, scoring twice in the first eight minutes to open up a commanding 3-0 lead.

Beussink made it 2-0 only 3:26 into the final period with a shot just to the left of the goal. Rinda assisted.

A little more than four minutes later, junior sweeper Annie Siebert lofted a ball from about 30 yards out that just got over a leaping sophomore goalkeeper Miranda Stortz. Junior forward Madeline Rosenquist notched the assist.

"I thought it was a good game. I thought we played well today," Rinda said. "We have a lot of people injured but we have a lot of people stepping up to fill those positions. They're doing a great job."

Notre Dame made it 4-0 with 8:36 left when junior midfielder Halle Lynch headed in a perfectly placed corner kick from junior defender Kaitlin Welter.

"That was a beautiful goal by them," Fulton said.

The Bulldogs had a least a half-dozen other prime scoring opportunities but were turned away, including several times on nice saves by Stortz.

With Perryville rarely threatening Notre Dame's net, it looked like junior keeper Madison Buelow would cruise to a shutout.

But the Pirates avoided the whitewash with just 51 seconds left as senior midfielder Natalie Gremaud scored on an assist by freshman Brooke Hogard.

That did little to dampen Worley's enthusiasm for how the Bulldogs performed.

"I thought we played a very good game," Worley said. "I like the way we're progressing."

* JV: Notre Dame won 5-0.