New On-Campus Field for Notre Dame Academy!

Pandas fall to LexCath at new on-campus field

NDA loses first-ever "home" game

 

Notre Dame unveiled its beautiful new on-campus artificial turf soccer field on Saturday, honored its past coaches and players and boasted an actual home-field advantage for the first time in its program history.

 

Unfortunately for the Pandas, Lexington Catholic crashed the field-warming party, edging Notre Dame, 2-1 in the inaugural game at the Notre Dame Academy Sports Complex.

 

“Lexington Catholic is a good opponent,” Notre Dame coach Sara McSorley said. “I think we missed a lot of opportunities, but I’m not disappointed in the game at this point.”

Notre Dame had two excellent scoring chances in the first 20 minutes, but junior Katie Schutzman shot just wide off a centering feed 13 minutes in and senior striker Heather Shelton slipped on a similar play six minutes later.

Junior midfielder Ellyn Abdelghany fired just high on a chance with 11 minutes left until halftime, and junior midfielder Belle Leininger nearly scored on the transition following an errant LexCath corner kick.

But the momentum shifted late in the half. Sophomore Mary Beth Gorham shot from straight on inside the box, but junior Lauren Knasel made a clean stop. Knasel then denied a close-range shot by senior Mary Catherine Combs with a sliding save in the final two minutes before halftime.

The teams traded scoring chances in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but LexCath finally broke through with 19 minutes remaining. Gorham fired a point-blank blast that new Notre Dame goalkeeper Megan Reilly denied, but the rebound went right to freshman Sarah Gorman, who tapped it in to make it 1-0.

Mary Beth Gorham, who finished with a team-high 10 helpers in 2009, set up the second Knights score with a perfect corner to junior Claire Bodart, who beat Reilly to extend LexCath’s lead to two with 13 minutes left.

Abdelghany had two more chances in the next few minutes as Notre Dame furiously attacked the LexCath net, but one shot was saved and the other just missed the post.

Finally, junior midfielder Chandler Clark knocked home a header with six minutes left to make it 2-1 Knights.

But Notre Dame had just two more chances – one was a shot that went high by sophomore Ellie Eckerle, the other a shot on net by junior Sydney Scheben that was denied in the closing minutes.

Knights coach Terry Quigley admitted that despite his team’s win, Notre Dame outplayed the Knights in many aspects.

“The game really doesn’t matter – it’s the second game of the season,” said Quigley, whose team was a state semifinalist last season. “The significance is it might make us a little more confident.”

Two bursts of rain – one in each half – and the final score put a damper on the opening of the new field, but the long-term impact far outweighed one early-season non-district loss.

“We’re all really excited, it’s awesome to have our own field,” Shelton said. “I definitely think it’ll give us a home-field advantage and make us more excited to play, more determined to win.”

The complex is not yet complete – a scoreboard and restrooms are still in the works – but not having to play home games like this one off-campus is a benefit the Pandas have been without for far too long.

“Normally this would be an away game,” McSorley said. “It’s just really nice we can play where it’s convenient for our fans to come out and watch.”

HALFTIME: 0-0. GOALS: LC—S. Gorman, Bodart. ND—C. Clark. RECORDS: Lexington Catholic 1-0-1, Notre Dame 1-1.

Original article can be found here.