As disappointed as Notre Dame soccer coach Jim Schermerhorn was with his team’s performance in the first half of Tuesday’s District 7-A/AA semifinal, the Irish still went to the locker room with a lead over Signal Mountain.
And after Notre Dame’s work in the second period paid off with an insurance goal midway through the half, the Irish advanced to Thursday’s championship match with a 2-0 victory over the Eagles.
“In the second half, we played better,” Schermerhorn said.
“In the first half, we did not. We had a bunch of scoring chances that we didn’t take advantage of. I thought we started out slow, and just didn’t play well in the first half. I was frustrated and disappointed with that, but somehow we found a way to win.”
Notre Dame also earned a 2-0 win over Signal Mountain in the regular season, but struggled to get going in the opening period of the rematch. The Irish finally finished a scoring opportunity just before the first half whistle when Rhys Robertson took a pass from Milan Card and scored off a deflection.
But even with the lead, Schermerhorn let the Irish know he expected more from them in the next 40 minutes.
“We talked about getting off our butts and playing,” he said. “I thought we were just lazy and slow in the first half. But these guys got it, and we showed up and played a lot better in the second half.”
Notre Dame responded with increased pressure in the second period, and with 18:15 remaining, Card played a ball to Alex Tuttle, who finished to make it 2-0. The insurance goal took some of the pressure off the Irish, and although Signal Mountain had several scoring chances the rest of the way, the 2-0 margin held.
“I thought we were pressing and pressing,” Schermerhorn said. “You could almost feel a goal coming. And once you get that second one, it’s a big relief, for a couple of reasons. You get a little bit more control over the game. And it’s a relief because when you’re working that hard for a goal and you don’t get it, it’s frustrating. You’re working that hard and you want to get something out of it.”
The loss ends the season for Signal Mountain, but coach Richard Northcutt has reason to be excited about the future prospects for his young team, which will face new district opponents next season after the upcoming TSSAA reclassification.
“We played hard, but unfortunately, we were on a field where no one is really capable of possessing the ball,” he said. “But we knew that, and just had to do the best we could.
“You don’t really want to acknowledge it until the season’s over, but we only have one senior. We didn’t even have another senior on the bench; we just have one senior, period. We’ve got a lot of really good kids. We play a lot of guys, and we’re going to be in very good shape for a while. We’re really young, and it’s a really bright future.”
Notre Dame (6-9-2) now advances to meet top-seeded Chattanooga Christian in the district championship match on Thursday. The Chargers earned the right to host after a 1-0 victory over the Irish in the regular season, and Schermerhorn expects another close match on Thursday.
“We’re pretty evenly matched,” he said. “It’s not like we can plan something special for them. If we step up and play well, we have a great chance. We talked about that going into this game, and it’ll be the same with CCS. It’ll probably be another 1-0 game.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)