Staying in the moment
So what do you do when you’re a defender and your team owns a 5-0 lead eight minutes into the game?
Well, you make sure you don’t get hurt.
That was how the Quincy Notre Dame defenders approached Tuesday’s Class 1A Warrensburg-Latham Sectional semifinal against Charleston. The Lady Raiders scored 2 minutes, 15 seconds into the game and by the time Shannon Foley scored with 31:26 to play in the half, their lead was 5-0. QND ultimately won 8-0 and will play either Staunton or Mount Zion at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the sectional championship.
While the offense was scoring on five of its first six shots and piling up gaudy numbers, the defense was trying to stay focused, yet remain loose and carefree.
“(QND coach Mark) Longo tries to tell us to relax and just have fun,” senior sweeper Hannah Witte said. “We want to keep playing hard, but it’s not worth it to go full out and hurt someone when we’re up 5-0.”
With that said, the defense never let down. Charleston managed just three shots — all in the second half — and starting keeper Mackenzie Little had to make one save and backup keeper Grace Horman nabbed two as QND posted its 18th shutout of the season. By the way, the school record for shutouts in a season is 19, set in 1999 and tied in 2010.
Handling the moment
Several of the soccer players were part of QND’s juggernaut girls basketball team that beat its postseason opponents by an average of 33 points on the way to winning the Class 2A state championship. So the Lady Raiders understood how to stay focused and worry about the task at hand as Tuesday’s game became lopsided.
“We still have to play hard like we do every other game,” junior forward Jordan Frericks said.
Yet, that can still be a challenge.
“It might be somewhat of a struggle to stay focused, but we all have the mindset that we can’t let up even when we’re winning by six,” Frericks said. “We have to keep the pressure on.”
Filling in nicely
Senior defender Macy Willer did not dress for Tuesday’s game after injuring her ankle in last Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Rochester in the regional championship. In her place, sophomore Shelby Ulrich earned the start and was part of a stingy defensive effort.
Willer said the injury was healing and she hopes to be available Friday night.
Early start time
The sectional championship will be played at 4:30 p.m. because Warrensburg-Latham’s soccer field does not have lights. The school district, located northwest of Decatur, is doing a considerable amount of construction to its campus, while creating a nice sports complex in the process. The grass surface on the soccer field is well manicured, but the width of the field is incredibly tight and the facility lacks lights, a scoreboard and permanent bleachers. Those are things likely to be corrected over time.





