Notre Dame gets the ball in the Chattanooga Christian School box Friday night. The Lady Irish and Lady Chargers played to a 1-1 tie.
photo by Greg Davick
The scoreboard reflected a 1-1 tie, but Friday night’s high school girls’ soccer match felt more like a win for Notre Dame, and a loss to Chattanooga Christian.
The visiting Lady Chargers led for around 50 minutes of the District 7-A/AA rivalry match, but Emma Higgins’ goal in the final 10 equalized for Notre Dame, and neither team could break the tie in the frantic final minutes.
“I thought we played well in the first half, up until they scored their goal,” Lady Irish coach Jim Schermerhorn said.
“We kind of got our heads down a little bit after that, but at halftime we regrouped. We kind of settled everybody down and said okay, we’ve given up a goal, now we just have to go do something about it. I told them to battle your way back to one more goal, which we did.”
The Lady Chargers got on the board about 20 minutes into the first half when the sister duo of Olivia and Leah Hoffman connected to put their team ahead.
“It was a good combination,” CCS coach Cal Sneller said. “Olivia had it, and she’s a dangerous player. Instead of shooting, she turned to the back post and her sister was there. Leah was able to hit it far post, and it was a nice job from both of them.”
Although Chattanooga Christian held the lead through the first half and for most of the second, Sneller said his team, which currently holds the top spot in the Class A/AA state rankings, struggled to play to its potential against the rival Lady Irish, who are ranked No. 7.
“We had a very hard time playing like we’ve been playing,” Sneller said. “I think we were caught up in the moment too much. There was too much anxiety, which is not the way we play. These girls play much better when they’re passing the ball around, and we had a hard time with that tonight.”
The Lady Chargers had several opportunities to extend their lead in the second half, but it was Higgins who broke through for Notre Dame with around eight minutes remaining. Her high strike from about 25 yards out sailed over the head of the CCS keeper and into the goal for the equalizer.
“I thought we worked really hard for that,” Schermerhorn said. “We had the opportunity and Emma hit a great shot, so I’m glad we got it.”
With a win, CCS would’ve clinched the district regular-season title, but now must wait on the result of next week’s matchup between Notre Dame and Signal Mountain to determine the 7-A/AA standings.
Notre Dame, now 4-6-3 overall and 0-0-1 in district play, would need to beat the Lady Eagles by at least a 3-0 score after CCS (9-3-2, 1-0-1) defeated Signal Mountain by that margin. Anything less would secure the regular-season title for the Lady Chargers, while a score of 4-0 or higher would give the Lady Irish the top spot. Another 3-0 score would force a tiebreaker to determine the 7-A/AA postseason spots.
Notre Dame will travel to face Signal Mountain on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)