Notre Dame foils Lancers' attack

Notre Dame (21-1-3), the top-seeded team in the tournament, scored in the 15th-minute against St. Francis and then withstood a furious Lancer attack in the second half. St. Francis was all over the Tigers throughout the final 40 minutes, getting several quality chances to score, but not getting that one shot to tie the game.

"Everybody needs a little luck," said Notre Dame coach Mike Becker.

The Notre Dame defense, which has seldom been tested this season, came through when it mattered the most. Several times, the Lancers had control of the ball inside the Tigers' penalty box, but the Lancer shots were either deflected away by the Notre Dame defense, or St. Francis simply missed easy shots.

"That was the most pressure we had all season," said Notre Dame senior fullback Amanda Villa. "We tried not to panic and stay composed. We don't want to let the ball get to the goalkeeper."

Fifteen minutes into the second half on the Lancers' fourth corner kick of the half, St. Francis had its best chance to score up to that point. Jennifer Grijalva sent a cross into the box that found the head of Sara Doyle, who nodded the ball down and began bouncing toward the net. Notre Dame goalkeeper Hilary Waldo had no chance at making the save but fullback Catherine Becker - who was guarding the near right post on the corner - maintained her position and cleared the ball off the line to preserve the Tigers' lead.

Fifteen minutes later, the Lancers' lack of a finishing touch cost them the tying goal. St. Francis midfielder Liz Behlen carried the ball into the Tigers' penalty box and sent a square pass to Doyle, who was all alone in front of the goal. Waldo came off her line to cut down Doyle's angle and it worked as Doyle shanked a shot just wide left.

The Tigers had a hard time getting any offense going in the second half for a variety of reasons. The wind played a definite part in the game as neither team did very well attacking toward the south goal. As much as Notre Dame dominated in the first half going south to north, so did St. Francis when the teams switched sides after halftime.

Notre Dame was also hampered by the fact that midfielder Kate Berrini went out halfway through the first half with an ankle injury. It forced Becker to juggle his midfield to compensate for her loss. That, in turn, forced the Tigers' forwards to drop back deeper on defense to get the ball and with St. Francis pushing the attack, caused the second half to be played mostly on Notre Dame's side.

"(Losing Berrini) was a big blow," Becker said. "We had to drop (midfielder) Chioma [Igwe] back, let her play defense so we lost that attacking midfielder."

Villa said that with the team concentrating so hard on thwarting the St. Francis attack it was hard to shift gears and suddenly go on the offensive.

"They were putting so much pressure on us … it was hard to attack when your first thought was to defend," Villa said.

Notre Dame had a couple of chance in the second half to extend its lead but neither Michelle Ancelj nor Katie Conner could convert on partial breakaways.

Ancelj did not have any problems finishing her scoring chance in the first half. After Igwe won a loose ball near midfield and jumped over a couple of tackle attempts, she sent a perfect diagonal pass into space. Ancelj, a speedy freshmen, got a step on her defender, gathered the pass, took a couple of dribbles into the St. Francis penalty box and sent a low, hard shot that slipped just inside the far right post for the game's only goal.

Notre Dame continued the offensive pressure in the first half and had the St. Francis defense yelling at each other as they continued to struggle against the Tigers' attack.

The Notre Dame defense got a taste of that pressure themselves in the second half but refused to wilt.

"In the middle of the second half, despite the pressure, I knew we were going to win," Villa said.