NOTRE DAME SOCCER DROPS SECTIONAL GAME

FENTON -- Different year, same result.

For the second consecutive year, Notre Dame had its season ended by St. Mary's and, again, it was a 1-0 setback in a sectional game at the Anheuser-Busch Conference & Sports Centre.

Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said the Bulldogs had several opportunities in the last 10 minutes of the game, but couldn't come away with a goal against the top-ranked team in the state."We didn't get many clean shots," Wittenborn said. "They were a very good team. I thought we were deeper than them and that was our strategy to substitute freely and wear them down. And the strategy worked, but we needed probably five more minutes in each half. We had them pinned in the box the last 10 minutes. I thought we played very well."Michael Gosche had a great game in goal and always seemed to be in the right place. Our defense seemed to be in place when we needed it except one time."Notre Dame ended its season at 21-5-1, while St. Mary's improved to 21-5-3.