Depth leads 'Dogs deep into playoffs, two wins from title

~ Notre Dame will take a 24-1 record into today's semifinal game against West Plains.

The Notre Dame boys soccer team has a high-scoring offense and a lockdown defense, two good reasons for its 24-1 record and spot in tonight's Class 2 semifinal at the Anheuser-Busch Center.

The Bulldogs have another factor on their side heading into tonight's 6 p.m. meeting with West Plains -- depth.

Notre Dame has shown it can run in waves of substitutes without losing much in the way of talent. It is not uncommon for the Bulldogs to use as many as 18 to 20 different players in a game.

"We've got depth that goes all the way back to the sophomores," senior Austin Gelsheimer said. "In our last game we had a sophomore get an assist and another two get goals. That doesn't even start to show our depth."

Added senior Brett Heischmidt: "The guys that come off the bench, we don't lose any skill. And a lot of the seniors, we have been playing together our whole lives on a traveling team, so we know each other and how we play. That helps a lot with the chemistry."

Offensively, the Bulldogs can hurt you from multiple options. Four players have scored 10 or more goals, led by Jack Wedemeier with a school-record 29 and Ryan Willen with 21. The Bulldogs also have seven players with at least seven assists.

"We have a lot of great forwards that put the ball in the net," Willen said. "I just try to get the ball to them."

Abe Dirnberger leads the squad with 18 assists, followed closely by Ty Williams (17) and Wedemeier (17). John Unterreiner has nine assists and Willen has eight.

"We've got four guys that score a lot, then three or four more who are pretty dangerous that can get you a goal against a good team," Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said. "Joda Holloway, John Unterreiner, Brock Dirnberger, Richard Marquart, when you pair those guys with Jack [Wedemeier], Ty [Williams], Abe [Dirnberger] and Ryan [Willen], it's a lot of weapons."

Defensively, Notre Dame's depth has been tested recently by injuries. Mark Zimmer was injured in the Sikeston game and was not able to play in Tuesday's quarterfinal win over Lutheran South. Senior fullback J.P. Thompson went down against Lutheran South and will be unable to play this weekend.

Along with the loss of Zimmer and Thompson, Notre Dame had several players who were fighting illness in Tuesday's quarterfinal.

Wittenborn said the team's depth helped compensate on Tuesday, and that depth will continue to pay off this weekend.

"That will be a big part of our game plan for the weekend, to use a lot of our bench and wear the other team down as we go," Wittenborn said. "I have a lot of confidence in our guys. I had some guys that came up off the junior varsity team that played fantastic in that game."

One thing the Bulldogs lacked before Tuesday's win was playoff experience. Notre Dame had not made it past the district tournament since bringing home the program's first state title in 2002.

"Back in the eighth grade, when we last made the state championship, it just looked like everyone from the high school was having so much fun," Heischmidt said. "I just wanted to be a part of it, and here I am now."

Added Willen after Tuesday's game: "I know most of us were here four years ago. We were there watching from the stands, and now being here, I'd much rather be playing."

Notre Dame's opponent, West Plains (19-5-2), won its first postseason game on Tuesday. The Zizzers lost 1-0 to Sikeston in early October. Justin Scicluna leads West Plains with 21 goals, while Stuart Ziegler has 12 goals.

The Bulldogs enter as the favorite among the four remaining teams, according to the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association Class 2 poll. Notre Dame, which has won 19 straight games, was ranked No. 3 in the final poll of the regular season. St. Dominic, which will play Hannibal tonight in the other semifinal, was ranked No. 8 in the final poll.

The championship is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We took each game as it was," Gelsheimer said of Notre Dame's season to this point. "Of course, our ultimate goal like every team was to go to state and win state. But you have to take it one team at a time. So far, we've been able to get that done."