By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – It’s not how you start a game but rather how you finish.
The Notre Dame Academy girls’ soccer team scored four second-half goals to defeat the Fox Valley Lutheran Foxes 5-0 in a game played March 28 at Ted Fritsch Field in Green Bay.
“We had some nerves to start the game,” said Notre Dame head coach Bob Rickards. “We had some young kids in there that took shots up the middle. Once we settled down a bit, we were fine.”
The Tritons outshot the Foxes by a whopping 33-0 margin.
Freshman goaltender Tessa Wilson made 28 saves in net for the FVL.
Notre Dame received great looks right from the start.
Tritons forward Jenna Cuene put a left-footed attempt on goal during the 8th minute, but Wilson made the save.
With 16 minutes remaining until half, and 95 percent of the ball possession belonging to Notre Dame, Claire Noble broke free down the left half of the field and sent a rocket on net.
Wilson poked the ball over the crossbar, and the game remained scoreless.
It appeared the Tritons had scored their first goal with 4 minutes remaining in the half, but Emily Lin was called for a hand-ball before scoring.
Finally, with 2:05 showing on the scoreboard, Cuene put a missed shot home on the opposite side to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
The Tritons carried that momentum into the second half and scored just 4 minutes in when Lin curved a ball into the right half of the net for a 2-0 lead.
With 37:09 left, Izzy Kellner received a beautiful cross from Keighley Blindauer to make it 3-0.
Just prior to the score despite not having any shots on goal, the Foxes were on a breakaway heading toward the Tritons goal when a FVL player went down, but no penalty or free kick was given.
Just minutes later, Kellner added her second goal of the evening to give Notre Dame an insurmountable four-goal lead.
“It was really special to have Izzy step up and get two goals for us tonight,” Rickards said. “We need firepower with our forwards and our mids this year. It sends us off in the right direction.”
Notre Dame added a late goal by Noble with multiple reserves in to win its home opener.
A scary scene occurred halfway through the second half when Tritons midfielder Lucy Quidzinski had to be helped off the field in an air-cast after being down for approximately 15 minutes.
“I thought our ball movement was very good tonight,” added Rickards. “First game out of the gate you have very limited practices. On the flip side, I’d like to see us have more dangerous opportunities to score moving forward.”
Box score
Fox Valley Lutheran: 0, 0—0
Notre Dame: 1, 4—5
