Notre Dame Earns Senior-Night Soccer Victory

Lady Irish Defeat Signal Mountain 1-0 In 7-AA Play

  • Tuesday, September 30, 2014
  • Jaime Barrett

Honoring the team’s nine seniors was a focus of Tuesday night’s girls’ soccer match at Notre Dame, but it wasn’t the top priority for the Lady Irish.


They knew that a win over visiting Signal Mountain would secure a first-place finish in District 7-AA, and their mission was to earn it.


Notre Dame did just that, making Emma Higgins’ early goal stand for a 1-0 victory that gives the Lady Irish the right to host the district tournament in two weeks.


“It was good,” Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn said of the senior-night festivities, “but it was more about just getting the win.

Of course, senior night is going to add something to it, but the main thing going into tonight was that if we could win, we’d be number one in the district.”


About five minutes into the match, Higgins scored what proved to be the game-winner when she hit an open look past the Signal Mountain keeper. The Lady Eagles had several opportunities at an equalizer, but none found the goal as the match advanced to halftime with Notre Dame still up 1-0.


“I thought we had a strong first half,” Signal Mountain coach Richard Northcutt said. “Being behind a goal, we needed to throw a little caution to the wind and try to score, and we didn’t do a good job of that. When we were calm and had the ball under control, we did very well, but we needed to be better at handling chaos.”


Meanwhile, Schermerhorn said his team struggled more in the first half, but turned it around for the second period, when the Lady Irish had several good looks at goals that would have extended their lead.


“Overall, I thought we were kind of sluggish in the first half,” Schermerhorn said. “In the second half, we picked it up. We did a good job defending and didn’t make too many mistakes, so I was pleased with that.


“We had our chances, but I don’t think we created enough good chances. Signal did a good job tonight, so I was kind of frustrated that we didn’t create as much as we could have or should have.”


After the Notre Dame defense preserved the one-goal lead, it improved the Lady Irish’s record to 5-5 overall and 3-0 in 7-AA play. Schermerhorn said his team should host the district semifinals two weeks from Tuesday, and he feels good about where the Lady Irish are at as they move closer to the postseason.


“I think we’re doing pretty well,” he said. “We’ve still got a little ways to go progress-wise, but we’ve played a tough schedule and I think we’ll be fine.”


Although disappointed with the close loss, Northcutt said he and the Lady Eagles are pleased with the progress they’ve shown so far this season.


“Last year we weren’t really in any of our district games,” he said. “We weren’t strong enough to really compete. But we’re better this year. We’re walking away knowing that we certainly could’ve won this game.”



(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)
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