Cory Dan didn’t want the job at first.
Notre Dame’s first-year soccer coach kept telling former bench boss Brian Woeste he didn’t want to guide the defending Ninth Region champion Pandas – until he capitulated.
“Brian Woeste kept calling me and calling me, and I kept telling him no,” Dan said. “I eventually said yes, and here I am today.”
Notre Dame opened its title defense Wednesday with a 5-0 win over Holy Cross behind Riley Robertson’s three goals and one each from Megan McGraw and Emma Strottman.
“I feel good, the girls played well,” Dan said. “I don’t know what the shots were, but we definitely outshot them by plenty.”
Notre Dame seeks its fifth state title and first since 2021. (The first three were in 2004, 2011 and 2013.) The Pandas and Highlands have won every region title since 2012, Notre Dame with six straight from 2012-17, the Bluebirds winning three straight from 2018-20, and the two alternating titles from 2021-23 with Notre Dame winning in ’21 and ’23.
“I think that’s always a goal to win the region,” senior forward Kate Lenihan said. “I don’t think it scares us at all that we won it last year, and we have that expectation. If anything, it lights a fire under our butt because we always want to be the best.”
‘Which one?’
Dan, a Twinsburg, Ohio native, is not a coaching novice – he’s worked with the Cincinnati United and Kings Hammer (a Covington club team) youth programs, and he was a director with SKY Soccer, a club in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Notre Dame is his first varsity high school job (he was an assistant at Twinsburg.)
“The girls play the game in high school to have fun and enjoy a time with their friends ‘cause there’s something that they feel they’re good at,” Dan said. “Obviously, winning is going to be that nice cherry on top.”
Dan studied construction management at the University of Cincinnati. He owns Cannon Drywall, a commercial firm in Sharonville, and is a safety coordinator for Green City Demolition of Sharonville.
It doesn’t take long for Dan’s sense of humor about his surname to come through. (Cory Nicholas Dan is his full name.) He said people thought it was his middle name.
“They used to call my house growing up and ask for Dan; we’d always say ‘Which one?’,” Dan said. “The person on the other line would get confused.”
Be happy
Notre Dame reached the state semifinals last year and compiled a 21-4-2 record. Seven seniors graduated from that team, but the Pandas have Lenihan and Robertson, who scored 12 and 10 goals, respectively.
“We tend to try to keep possession, but we have to play what the defense gives us,” Dan said. “Scheme recognition is what we’re coaching for the girls. So if anybody plays a high press against us, we know to play the ball up and over because that’s where all the space is; if they decide to play a low block, we have the ability to pass in small spaces.”
Robertson recorded her third career three-goal game Wednesday. Lenihan, Leah Young and Sadie Yapp assisted on those scores, and Megan Johns added another on Strottman’s goal.
“It’s a feeling that you can’t explain, honestly,” Robertson said.
McGraw’s goal in the 36th minute was a parabola from about 40 yards out that snuck under the crossbar.
“It was a choice that I definitely would not have made,” Dan said. “But hey, sometimes you’ve got to make the brave choices and reap the rewards.”
After Saturday’s match against Cooper, Notre Dame faces state runner-up Sacred Heart – who eliminated the Pandas, 3-1, in last year’s state semifinals, Aug. 24 in Louisville.
Whatever happens this fall, Dan wants the Pandas to be grateful for their gifts.
“Every time I would step on the pitch I’d want to win,” he said. “But in the same breath, it’s hard to enjoy a win when you’re sitting there being miserable. You’ve got to be happy you’re still able to play.”
And have fun doing it.