Notre Dame reaches Class 2 semifinals

FARMINGTON -- Notre Dame keeper Ryan Bass did it all against St. Mary's in a Class 2 quarterfinal contest Thursday night.

The senior even drilled a pass about 70 yards in the air downfield to set up the Bulldogs' first goal.

Bass stopped 18 shots, added an assist and posted his 15th shutout this season and his 45th of his high school career.

The two-time defending state champion Bulldogs won 2-0 over St. Mary's at Farmington High School.

Notre Dame (22-4) advanced to the semifinals where it will play Helias (23-2-1) next Friday at noon at the Anheuser-Busch Center in St. Louis.

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.comNotre Dame's John Unterreiner celebrates with teammate Joe Froemsdorf after scoring during the first half against St. Mary's in their Class 2 quarterfinal game at Farmington.

"He's all-state," Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said about Bass. "He was the difference in the game. He's an all-state goalie and he made every play."

Bass was a second-team all-state selection last year when he allowed 19 goals in 27 games. This season he has allowed 17 goals in 26 games.

But his ability to set the table for the offense is what got Notre Dame rolling Thursday.

He drilled a pass downfield to Brock Dirnberger, who then dribbled toward the net, settled and passed to John Unterreiner, who kicked it past goalie John Berner to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead with 24:59 remaining in the first half.

"If other people don't know about you, it's a good little surprise to spring on them," Bass said about his ability to kick long passes. "First ball I got, Brock was going and there was nobody past the half line and I dropped it in [to] him and we got a goal out of it. I can hit the ball pretty far. I put a little jolt into it. But we've got John and Brock up top looking for the spaces."

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.comJohn Unterreiner of Notre Dame celebrets with teammate Joe Froemsdorf after he scores the first goal againist St. Mary.

The goal was Unterreiner's 13th of the season. The senior has 41 points.

"He's quite a weapon to have back there," Unterreiner said about Bass. "He played an unbelievable game, and a lot of teams aren't prepared for that. He saw me and Brock up top and played a great ball. .. Brock had a great settle and a great pass, and [it was] an easy finish."

Bass made some impressive saves in the first half to keep his team on top. He made a nice catch on ball fired right at him with about 6 minutes remaining in the first half, then made a nice diving save off to his left about two minutes later.

"He's such a presence back there," Wittenborn said. "They sent a lot of balls in high. He made the play on every one of those, either catching it or his decisions when he had a lot of people leaning on him in traffic -- he went over them and punched it out. And he came out aggressive and slid and took a couple balls off a guy's foot. He was awesome."

Bass said St. Mary's (18-8-1) is a strong team and put a great deal of pressure on him.

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.comJohn Unterreiner of Notre Dame celebrets with teammate Joe Froemsdorf after he scores the first goal againist St. Mary.

"This is probably the most pressure we've been in," Bass said. "It probably just beats out the Cape Central game we had the first time we played them where it was just cross after cross after cross."

Notre Dame led 1-0 at halftime.

"The second half all I wanted to do was keep the shutout," Bass said. "Keep it out and keep the ball as long as I could in my hands, run that clock out and go home with the W."

Notre Dame went on top 2-0 when Joe Froemsdorf scored off a pass from Dirnberger with 20:14 remaining.

"We were struggling with keeping possession and passing through," Froemsdorf said. "But we came with that one run down the field. Brock played a good ball across. I was just the lucky one to be there to finish."

Bass got in a collision with a St. Mary's player when he hustled out of the net to break up a breakaway with 12:45 remaining in the second half. Bass hurt himself right below the ribs on his right side, but he stayed in the game.

"Bass is one of the biggest leaders on our team," Dirnberger said. "Without Bass, I don't know where we'd be. He's hurt right now. He played through all the pain. He's leading us. I hope he gets better."

The Notre Dame offense came out strong but struggled between its two goals. The Bulldogs had eight shots.

"We have to become more consistent with how we possess the ball and pass the ball," Wittenborn said. "I thought early in the game we were brilliant in how we were moving the ball. And after we scored, we became content to just kick the ball up the field and try to defend, and that gave [St. Mary[']s] way too many chances."

The other semifinal match next Friday will be between St. Dominic (21-6-1) and Pembroke Hill (11-12-1). Bass wants to get a shot against St. Dominic.

"We're not done yet," Bass said. "We've got to go for the three in a row and be the first team to do that. We've got a real good chance. We play a pretty good team next Friday, and then we play St. Dominc hopefully on Saturday. I know a couple kids on their team from playing with them at St. Louis."