Tigers top of the table

Both teams came into the match undefeated in league play, although NDB was coming off a disappointing tie against Woodside Priory last week. But it was the Tigers who took control of the division and handed the Knights their first WBAL loss of the season with a closer-than-it-looks 3-0 win in Belmont.

“Overall, we played well against a solid team who has some solid wins against good programs,” said NDB head coach Paul McCallion. “We both knew this was the game. This is the game everyone puts on the refrigerator.”

NDB (4-0-1, 13 points WBAL Foothill, 8-2-4 overall) put pressure on Menlo (4-1, 12 points, 7-4-4) almost from the opening whistle. The game was only about a minute old when Julia Roche smoked a shot from the top of the penalty box off the crossbar.

It was the first of several early forays into the Knights’ penalty box that resulted in a 1-0 NDB lead in the ninth minute. Roche, who was also already causing problems down the right flank, latched onto a pass with a defender on her shoulder — who clipped Roche’s foot and went down, giving the Tigers wing time to look up and find someone with a cross.

That someone was forward Mckenna Conneely, who tapped a pass to the top of the box where freshman Stella Affrunti ran on and blasted a shot through traffic into the lower right corner for the goal.

“We started awfully slowly,” said Menlo head coach Ross Ireland.

That goal did seem to wake up the Knights, who had their best scoring opportunity in the first half go wide in the 15th minute. Claire Pickering slotted a perfect through ball to a charging Carol Espinosa in the middle of the Tigers penalty box. NDB goalkeeper Sophia Viviani aggressively came off her line to cut down the angle and it paid off as Espinosa pulled her shot wide right.

Menlo had looks at the goal throughout the game, but nearly all of its 14 shots came from outside the penalty area and Viviani was seldom tested.

In the 17th minute, NDB center back Viva Vorzimmer stepped into a free kick just past the midfield stripe, forcing Menlo goalkeeper Samantha Sellers to make a save.

The Knights had a few more chances — Athena Carvallo had her shot tipped wide in the 77th minute and Vorzimmer had another free kick that was punched clear by Sellers — but had to settle for the one-goal lead at halftime.

In the second half, neither team could muster many dangerous scoring chances. The Knights did a good job of limiting Roche and Conneely over the final 20 minutes of the first half and continued to do so in the second.

With the Tigers trying to find some offense elsewhere, the Knights started to put more pressure on the NDB defense. Espinosa’s stabbing shot from 25 yards out sailed just over the top of the goal in the 50th minute. Sidney Pena suffered a similar fate with her shot in the 55th minute. Gabby Kogler’s attempt in the 63rd was saved by Viviani.

And despite that pressure from the Knights, it was the Tigers that scored the next goal. Not surprisingly, it came from NDB’s top offensive threats as Roche threaded a pass to a charging Conneely in the penalty box. The sophomore held off a shoulder challenge from the Menlo defender long enough to pull a shot across her body as she fell to the turf, finding the far left corner of the net for a 2-0 NDB lead in the 65th minute.

“[Roche] was on point today,” McCallion said, adding she has been bothered by an ankle injury for most of the season.

As for Conneely?

“I think she’s only going to get better,” McCallion said. “She’s been doing the business.”

Menlo struggled to get much going offensively over the final 15 minutes of the game and Notre Dame put the Knights out of their misery with a third strike in the 74th minute. This time, it was Conneely feeding Roche for a 3-0 Tigers lead.

“[The win] puts us at the top of the table, but we still have a lot of soccer to play,” McCallion said. “Good win for the Tigers.”