Notre Dame-Belmont girls’ soccer team fends off Menlo-Atherton

It kicked off this past Saturday and finals won’t be played until next Saturday, but between those dates, the teams can expect, at minimum, three games — and if you make it one of the various final games, a fourth.

More importantly, teams in field are guaranteed three strong preseason games to prepare for league play.

Such was the case when Notre Dame-Belmont traveled to take on Menlo-Atherton in a second-round game Tuesday evening. After weathering a heavy initial push, Notre Dame-Belmont stabilized before scoring three times in the second half for a 3-1 win over the Bears.

“As a coach, you want to be tested (in the preseason),” M-A head coach Jason Luce said. “[NDB] played a heck of a game.”

It took a while for the Tigers to get going, and if the Bears could have managed to capitalize on early opportunities, NDB could have been playing catch-up instead of in a scoreless game at halftime.

The Bears had a prime chance go by the board in the second minute when they misfired on a tap-in. M-A came up empty again in the eighth minute when NDB goalkeeper Zeina Zumot smothered an M-A shot attempt and the Bears failed again when they hit a one-timer high in the 12th minute.

“We started very slowly,” NDB head coach Paul McCallion said. “We very easily could have been down a couple (goals early).”

The Tigers had no answer for M-A right wing, Tatum Olesen, who is rounding into soccer shape just a couple weeks after running in the state cross country meet. Time and again she ran onto passes and past her defensive mark before whipping crosses into the middle of the NDB penalty box.

But the Tigers’ defensive line did not panic, despite three players in their first varsity seasons: Lola Sanguinetti, Ryann Leyte-Vidal and Cailin Thompson, who joined up with returner Milan Pineda.

Goalkeeper Zumot also came up with a couple of big saves to keep M-A off the scoreboard for the first 60-plus minutes.

“Our goalkeeper … kept us in the game,” McCallion said.

Despite thwarting a number of M-A attacks, it wasn’t like the Tigers had nothing to give offensively. On the contrary. They were on their front foot as much as the Bears, they just didn’t have the quality of chances M-A did.

And by the middle of the first half, the Tigers began to grab the momentum that would carry them to their second-half surge. NDB methodically started to take control of the midfield and put consistent pressure on the M-A defense.

“They outplayed us in the middle,” Luce said.

And the halftime break didn’t blunt the Tigers either as they took a 1-0 lead just three minutes into the second half. The Bears failed to adequately clear away a NDB corner kick. The ball eventually fell to Athena Carvallo, who sent a pass to Nora Isley, who put it away for a 1-0 NDB lead.

“As we got into the game, we started to get more confidence,” McCallion said. “After that first goal, our confidence soared.”

M-A, again, had a prime chance missed when Jimena Sandoval had a breakaway, only to see Zumot make a kick save in the 46th minute.

The miss loomed large as the Tigers came back minutes later to make it 2-0.

Earning a free kick along the right sideline, about 40 yards from the M-A goal, Pineda sent a long cross into penalty box. It pinged around until Carvallo poked a shot into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

“I moved her up to an attack (role). That’s when things changed a little bit,” McCallion said.

M-A stepped up its attack at that point, could not find the right finish. Zumot made another big save in the 60th before the Bears finally got on the scoreboard with about 10 minutes to play. Sandoval, who was denied in the 46th, finished her chance in the 69th when she ran onto a through ball for a breakaway, carried it into the box, slalomed the goalkeeper and side-footed a shot into the back of the net to cut the Tigers lead in half, 2-1.

But the Bears could not muster an equalizer and just before the final whistle, the Tigers capped the win on a Ava Jarolimek penalty kick for the game’s final goal.

“We put ourselves in trouble by not finishing early,” Luce said.

Sacred Heart Prep 4, Capuchino 0

The Gators scored three-second half goals to pull away from the Mustangs in a game for the Firebird Classic soccer tournament.

Carly Gee gave SHP a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. Mollly Tinsley scored goals in the 60th and 70th minute, with Camy Sheldon reounding out the scoring in the 77th minute.

Lauren Bassett and Anna Bassett, along with Syndey Adas, all picked up assists for the Gators.