The Notre Dame Pandas soccer team did not want to take anything for granted on their home Buenger Sports Complex Field, especially after hearing about an upset in another region championship game.
Head coach Brian Woeste said the goal was to score as many goals in the first 25 minutes as possible. The Pandas did just that scoring twice on their way to winning another 9th Region championship, 3-0 over the visiting Cooper Jaguars on a rainy Saturday evening.
“The longer you let (Cooper) stay in the game, the more interesting and more stressful it’s going to be,” Woeste said. “So kuddos to (the Pandas) for coming out flying around, doing what we’ve trained them to do, which is possess the ball, get it wide, drive and finish.”
Notre Dame (19-3-2) outshot Cooper, 13-5 including seven more shots on frame. The score could have been worse. But Cooper senior goalkeeper Allie Ames made four saves.
“Cooper has some difficult shapes and formations which are pretty hard to solve. But I liked our composure and desire. I’m proud of the girls for the way they played,” Woeste said.
Notre Dame senior Carly Tranter said the team knew Lexington Catholic (23-2-1), the top-ranked team in Kentucky in the latest Maxpreps poll, lost 1-0 to Madison Central in the 11th Region championship game in a shootout. Notre Dame had given the Knights their only other loss on Aug. 14 in Park Hills.
“We all knew we just had to be focused going into the game,” Tranter said. “The experience from our hard schedule was definitely needed to set us up for success in the postseason.”
Cooper (14-7-2) had its chances on free kicks off nine Notre Dame fouls while the Jaguars committed five. But Notre Dame goalkeeper Joelle Hentz made two saves as several Cooper free kicks sailed high or wide.
That first goal came just 3:38 into the game as Kimmie Woeste took a pass in the middle near the top of the attacking box and placed it to the lower right for her eighth goal of the season. Riley Robertson and Cam Kirtley made the passes to set her up.
Notre Dame stayed on the attack and put another one in with 25:06 left in the first half. Jane Schuh dribbled left and centered a pass to Tournament Most Valuable Player Hannah Knapke for her fourth goal of the season to give the Pandas a 2-0 halftime lead.
“We (coaches) talked to (Kimmie Woeste) before the game about taking advantage of that space and hitting it,” Coach Woeste said. “So that worked out well and then the second goal was exactly the way we wanted it. Nobody can stop (Knapke) right now. She is absolutely en fuego. For her to get that goal meant a lot to the team. It allowed us to be a lot more composed. We knew that if they disrupted our possession, we have a two-goal lead so we can play a little bit safer from that point on.”
Kimmie Woeste had a shot go off the left bar minutes into the second half. But with 33:34 left in the game, Notre Dame’s leading goal-scorer Kate Lenihan scored her team-high 12th goal of the season. Robertson and Caroline Harper set up the goal with nice assists.
“I think it was really important to get that goal, especially for the second half,” Lenihan said. “Riley Robertson played a great ball and luckily, I was there to finish. It really shifted the momentum and really allowed us to settle down and just take a deep breath.”
Despite the loss, the Jaguars drove the furthest in the postseason in their 16th season as a school. They won the second 33rd District championship and just the second and third 9th Region Tournament games in program history to make it to the title game.
“We’re incredibly proud of the girls in what they were able to do together, especially building throughout the season so they were peaking at the right time and went on a nice seven-game run,” said Scott Hughes, Cooper head coach. “Obviously, when you run into a team like Notre Dame, if you are not able to play a flawless game, you’re going to pay for it.”
Notre Dame moved to 13-0 all-time against Cooper with the win. But the Jaguars gave them a close one to open the season in a 2-1 loss in Union on Aug. 7.
Cooper senior Maleah Alexander scored her first of 18 goals on the season in that game. But the Pandas did not let her put up any big shots in this game.
“She is a great player,” Schuh said of Alexander. “She is definitely a big part of their team so it was super important to stay on here. I think we did well. It was the entire team, not just one person. We all took a part in what was a team win.”
Notre Dame has won two of the last three region championships. The Pandas won the first six region championships when the current alignment formed in 2012 before arch-rival Highlands won four of the next five.
Notre Dame heads south to Winchester for the first round of the state tournament Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against the 10th Region champion George Rogers Clark (11-6-3). Notre Dame Director of Athletics Janet Carl said teams could play Monday or Tuesday and those two chose Tuesday.
Lenihan, Kimmie Woeste, Megan McGraw, Alexander, Ames and Cooper senior Kathrynne Day made the all-tournament team. The others were Hailey Kidd and Emery Rowland of Dixie Heights, Reese Wilkens and Claire Cavacini of Highlands, Conner’s Ella Mann, Beechwood’s Makayla Berger, St. Henry’s Kayla Unkraut and Newport Central Catholic’s Kara Bleser.