Notre Dame soccer team follows plan to a T-itle

Notre Dame soccer coach Jeff Worley devised the perfect game plan for the Bulldogs' Class 2 District 1 championship game Thursday against Farmington.

Too bad he wasn't around to see the result.

Family obligations prevented Worley from seeing his team dominate the Knights in a 3-0 win at Central High School that earned Notre Dame (13-8) its second straight district title.

Halle Lynch scored on a pretty header just 1 minute, 33 seconds into the contest, and the Bulldogs added two second-half goals to earn the right to host Hillsboro next week Tuesday in a Class 2 sectional.

"Coach really came up with a game plan for tonight, and it was spot on," said Notre Dame assistant Matt Vollink, who led the Bulldogs from the sideline.

ABOVE: Notre Dame’s Shelby Beussink, left, congratulates teammate Halle Lynch on her goal during the first half of the Class 2 District 1 title game against Farmington on Thursday at Central High School. Notre Dame won 3-0. TOP: Notre Dame’s Kaitlin Welter shields the ball from Farmington’s Vivian Saaristo. (Laura Simon)

The plan was simple: control the midfield to set up scoring chances, and shut down Taylor Sancegraw, Farmington's high-scoring junior forward.

It worked to perfection.

"Shelby Beussink did an unbelievable job of man-marking [Sancegraw], so that was the key for us," Vollink said. "And it worked very well."

Beussink, a junior midfielder, basically shadowed Sancegraw and did everything she could to prevent her from receiving passes inside.

"I was, the whole game," she said. "That was my job. I was just trying to make her frustrated, and I guess it worked."

Notre Dame's Kaitlin Welter keeps out Farmington's Vivian Saaristo in the first half of the Lady Bulldogs' Class 2 District 1 title game against the Knights, Thursday, May 17, 2013 in Cape Girardeau. Notre Dame won 3-0. (Laura Simon)

Beussink had help, with junior midfielder Annie Siebert playing in front and senior defender Kennedy Woodruff behind in a kind of triple-team that thwarted Sancegraw at every chance.

"Just don't let her get the ball," Beussink said. "Not even a little."

Sancegraw managed just three shots the whole game, her best effort midway through the first half swatted down by Notre Dame goalkeeper Madison Buelow and eventually cleared by Siebert.

"She's been doubled, tripled most of the season every game, that's how she is," Farmington coach Rusty Sancegraw said. "And they know that's the way it's gonna be. The other people have to move without the ball. If they're standing there watching her do what she does, then that's where we struggle. And that's what we did tonight. We stood and watched her, and Notre Dame did execute what they wanted to execute."

Lynch's goal came off an early corner kick. Junior Kaitlin Welter lifted a perfect ball high in front of the goal, where several players leaped and kept the ball in play. It bounced high to Notre Dame senior forward Taylor Rinda, who headed a pass toward Lynch, and the junior midfielder leaped high and angled it past the Farmington keeper.

"I just saw it bouncing off of other people's heads," Lynch said. "Any ball in the air is a free ball, and so I saw it bounce off Taylor and I just went up and, hey, I got lucky!"

Vollink didn't downplay the significance of the goal.

"When you get a goal in the first four or five minutes, that does a lot for confidence," Vollink said. "And we needed a lot of confidence against Farmington. They're such an outstanding team. ... That goal was a lifeline for us. It gave us the hope, it gave us the confidence."

Staked to an early lead, the Bulldogs continued clamping down defensively while patiently awaiting offensive opportunities. Their perseverance paid off midway through the second half when sophomore midfielder Jordan Nelson came onto a ball near midfield and dribbled down the center of the pitch, splitting a pair of defenders and veering to her left before cranking a low shot that found the far side of the goal for a 2-0 cushion.

"I got a great pass to the middle," Nelson said. "I saw my opportunity. I saw two defenders, and I did what coach has taught me through practice, which is just go at them with all you have. Once I got past them, I realized to go low corner as coach has taught us."

Forced to scramble, Farmington (18-5) moved a midfielder up to create more scoring opportunities, but that only enabled Notre Dame to pass even more efficiently through the midfield. With three minutes to play, junior Madeline Rosenquist passed ahead to Rinda, who went left, then chipped the ball into the near corner to make it 3-0 and secure the win.

"As the half was carrying on, [Farmington] started to get a little more momentum, they started to gain a little bit more possession, but [Nelson's goal] changed it again for us," Vollink said. "And then when Taylor got the third one, you could just feel the pressure lift off of us, and it was just easy from that point on.

"It was an all-around effort, brilliant team effort. We put a lot of things together, so it was wonderful to watch them play. It was fun tonight."

Notre Dame defeated Farmington 1-0 in overtime in last year's district championship on its run to the state quarterfinals after falling to the Knights in penalty kicks in the 2011 district semifinal.

"It feels absolutely amazing," Lynch said. "We have worked so hard this year. Our seniors deserve it most of all."

"Last year was awesome," Nelson said. "To do it again, the second year in a row, it's great."