The Notre Dame Fighting Irish soccer shut out the CSTHEA Patriots by a massive score difference of 6-0. The Fighting Irish came into the game looking to gain their second win this season. After a good 3-0 win against CSLA in their previous match, Notre Dame felt confident in their ability to win, while the Patriots, still yet to find a win this season, hoped to have a change in pace. Unfortunately, they were not able to get the job done.
The Patriots kicked off the first half by attacking straight out of the gate. They seemed to be hungry for the first goal of the game, however, they only found missed chances. CSTHEA used their central midfielders to create space and look for shots. Notre Dame had the same attacking mentality. They focused on their midfielders to move the ball quickly. Then they send their fast wingers through the defensive line to take shots.
The Irish opened up the scoring with a quick goal by Lucas Johnson. A through ball sent in by Caleb Salenda to beat the defense and give them an easy first chance. After this it was one goal after another for Notre Dame. The next goal came from Caleb Salenda. It was a solo chance created from a beautiful dribble into the box that left the defense falling behind.
Two more goals followed before the first half came to a close. Both goals for the Irish. Luke Rossillini scored the third goal with an assist by Salenda. It was a beautiful long shot that found the top corner of the goal. Next was another goal by Salenda. After a brutal mistake by the Patriots keeper, Notre dame counted and found the net for their fourth goal and ending the first half.
The second half showed chance after chance for Notre Dame, yet there was very little to show for it. they managed to score a couple more goals to only add burn to an open wound. The goals came from Dax Brown, a solo goal, and Sebastian Saenz Lara on a counterattack from Salenda who assisted the forward. This finished the scoring for the night and Notre Dame earned the win at home. final score 6-0. Caleb Salenda also ended the night with an impressive performance that showed two goals and three assists.
Jim Schermerhorn, the head coach of the Irish, gave a few of his thoughts on the game and the rest of their season to come, “I just thought we played good tonight. We have been kind of struggling with some of our games. I mean the first part of the season we had been playing against really tough teams and not getting good results, but I think tonight we really played well. I think we have a decent team. We just have to make things click and tonight we did.” Coach continued to say, “I think it is just a good confidence thing for everybody. I got to play a lot of guys tonight and for sixty minutes I thought we played really good.”
Notre Dame hopes to keep capitalizing on this recent win streak as they face another extremely difficult opponent in their next match against Boyd Buchanon. However, coach Schermerhorn is confident that his guys can get the job done and can continue winning for the rest of their season.
Game Summary:
CSTHEA 0 0 --0
Notre Dame 4 2 --6
Goal Scorers:
Notre Dame- Caleb Salenda 2, Lucas Johnson, Luke Rossillini, Dax Brown, Sebastian Saenz Lara
Assists:
Notre Dame- Caleb Salenda 3
(Email Alex McElyea at alexmcelyea26@gmail.com)