chasanooga

As I think back to September 19th and I am driving home from Memphis (Rivals tourney) the Lady Irish have 2 win and 7 losses. The girls in my car are devastated and not much is said on the 5 hour trip home. Our next four games are against East Hamilton (ranked 8th A/AA), Chatt Christian (#6 A/AA), Baylor (ranked 3rd overall in state) and Bearden (ranked #2 in state). We easily can be 2-11 in less than a month with dreams of a run at the state championship looking bleaker by the moment. We played East Hamilton and eaked out a hard fought win 1-0 to go to 3-7. Next up is Chattanooga Christian and we battle to a 0-0 tie. Next up is Baylor who is undefeated and looks like the state champs that they are and we play our best game of the year thus far tieing them 1-1. At this point we are gaining momentum. Next up is Bearden who totally dominated the first half against us going into half time up 2-0. It was very reminiscent of last year's game when they beat us 5-1. But lo and behold are girls came out in the second half and played great! Kathryn Healy's goal to tie them at 2-2 with a minute to go felt like a win. That finishes up our regular season with a very pedestrian record of 4-7-3 going into the playoffs and I am sure no one thought we were going anywhere except the players and Coach Schermerhorn. A win vs Chattanooga Christian (1-0) in districts and wins vs Dekalb county (10-0) and Livingston Academy (1-0)and Boyd Buchanon (6-0)sets the stage for our 6th consecutive state tourny. We have a terrific record of playing great only to lose in OT or PK's or losing with a minute to go in the state finals (2009) to CAK. We draw the number 1 ranked CPA with record of 17-4-3 (we had previously played them in the Baylor tourny with CPA winning 2-1) in our first game and we score first when Michelle Spangler delivers a perfect ball to Gaby Gurrola who heads it in the back of the net. CPA ties the score 17 minutes late and CPA has the momentum. In what was the greatest display of goal keeping that I have ever witnessed Grace Courter made 13 saves of which 3 of those come under the heading of "spectactular". Grace single handedly kept the Irish in the game long enough to get us into overtime. We then do two 10 minute overtimes and by this point our girls are wearing down and CPA is dominating the field of play. We are still tied and we are going into two 5 minute golden goal (sudden death)through guts, determination and plain ol fashion hard work Blair Barker races to the end line to save a ball that looked certain to go out of bounds she draws it back and crosses the ball to Erin Freeman who was waiting in front of the net and she puts it for the game winner with 1:07 left in the second overtime! It was one of the best games I have ever witnessed and certainly one of the most exciting. Next up is Page who comes in with a record of 19-3-2. It was a miserable night with rain and wind but at the 79th minute Blair barker finds Sophie Mullin on a beautiful cross and Sophie clanks it off the right post for the 1-0 victory. We now in our second state finals vs the same team that beat us last year 2-1. We have played CAK a lot over the last 5 or 6 years and we have come up short in all except one ( I think). All of the games have been extremely competitive but the Irish always seemed to come up a little short at the end. Our girls come out very confident and look good early as we have the better opportunities to score in the first half but are not able to find the back of the net. We go into half confident (but nervous) knowing we have had the better of the play thus far. Coach Schermerhorn has been making great half time adjustments all year so I felt pretty good about our chances to pull it off. We are starting to control more of the action on the field as Sophie Mullin, Blair Barker, Kathryn Healy are putting more and more runs together. Finally with 17 minutes left on the scoreboard Kathryn Healy found a streaking Sophie Mullin who then delivered a perfect crossing pass to Lacy Mahoney who then heads the ball into the back of the net. The Irish then hold on for the win and the Lady Irish defense shut out their 6th team in their last 7 games allowing only 1 goal over the last 7 games! The back line of Michelle Spangler, Caitlyn Clifford, Ashley Henry and Liz Kidwell were magnificent in defending the Irish goal this year and along with keeper Grace Courter goals were few and far between for opposing teams. Let me stray from the girls for a second and talk about Coach Jim Schermerhorn. I have had the privilige of having 2 of my daughters play for Jim over the last 6 years at Notre Dame High. My youngest is a senior so we have played our last game for the Lady Irish. We have been to the state tourny all 6 years. We have been to the finals twice and we won the State Championship this year. Like all coaches, not all parents agree with the coaches decisions over tactics, player positioning and most importantly playing time. The one thing that I'll take away from our years playing for Jim is that he is first and foremost concerned about putting people on the field who will give him the best chance of winning, period. I think this was Jim's best coaching job yet when you consider the 2 wins and 7 losses early on and then to go undefeated over the last 12 games going 9-0-3 is a phenomenal accomplishment. We have been very fortunate to have some quality players come here to play for the Lady Irish. Jim has produced the last 4 out of 6 "Player of the Year Awards" from the Chattanooga Times Free Press. There are alot a very good players in the Chattanooga area so Coach Schermerhorn's accomplishment is no coincidence.They are the following players: 2009 Danielle Ciabattone 2008 Kris Cambron 2006 Jamie Cooper 2004 Nikki Brannen "Notre Dame girls soccer; 2010 State Champions", sounds pretty sweet. The ride has been great and the friendships will last a lifetime. Jim and the girls thanks for the memories!! Go Irish!!!

Baylor wins 1-0 on a goal by Alex Cannon Congrats to all the girls!

It is unfortunate that CPA and Notre Dame got matched up in the first round. They are both talented teams and this would have made for a great final game. The key for the Irish was the play of their keeper Grace Courter who made at least 3 game saving deflections and or saves. It was a career day for the talented junior. The Irish were holding on by a thread (in the overtimes) until Blair Barker made a beautiful cross to Erin Freeman who did a nice job of finding the back of the net with 2 minutes left in the second 5 minute overtime to win on a golden goal. The Irish were very fortunate to win this game as they looked like they were running out of gas. Credit to the girls for hanging in there and waiting for good things to happen. Go Irish!!

Bearden over Ravenswood Soddy over Houston Colliersville over Knox Catholic Franklin over Oakland Soddy over Bearden Franklin over Colliersville Soddy over Franklin

If my memory serves me correctly, yes. Nice goal by Laura (in sectional win)

Notre Dame 2 Bearden 2 This was a game of 2 halves. Bearden totally dominated the first half scoring 2 goals and leading 2-0 at half. ND came back and scored an early goal in the second half on a beautiful free kick by Gaby Gurrola. Kathryn Healy hit a laser shot with 2 minutes to go to tie the score. From the ND point of view it felt pretty good to tie considering the way it looked early. Kudos to the girls for working their butts off in the second half and not giving up! Go Irish!

The back line of Michelle Spangler, Sophie Mullin, Liz Kidwell and Ashley Henry all had a fantastic game for the Irish as well as the rest of the team. Gabby Gurrola's left footed rocket (from the 24) at the 33 minute mark in the second half put the Irish up 1-0 with Baylor tying it up at the 9 minute mark. Great game for the Irish. Certainly their best game of the season.

G, The player you refer to # 4 is Danielle Ciabattone. She has been solid as rock for 4 years for the Irish and has had an outstanding tournament so far. She and #18 Carey Leiper who also has been a team leader and a stalwart on offense (forward) played with Brittanny Hoffman last year on their club team so they are both well aware of the talent that CAK has. I think Carey has won 3 state titles (with FC Alliance) and Danielle (who moved from the Express '91 team) has won 1 title. The "firecracker" you refer to is soph Sophie Mullin who never quits on a ball. We have a very well balanced team that may not seem always flashy but the Irish girls have really been hitting their stride of late. If the Irish play up to their potential this could be another classic game. Notre Dame and CAK have had some epic battles (2006 and 2007) over the last 3 years. I am hoping for another one tomorrow and with a "little luck of the Irish" they can win their first state title in 21 years. Go Irish!!!

In a battle of unbeatens Baylor and St Agnes will square off Friday @ GPS for a 2:30 matchup. Both teams have yet to post a loss and todays game could be one of the classic matchups in recent memory. I have seen Baylor play and as always they will be very methodical in their style of play. St Agnes by all accounts in clicking on all cylinders. I see this as a game that could see OT and possibly PKs. It should be a dandy!

Baylor 2 Pope John Paul 1 Baylor vs St Agnes in the finals at GPS @ 2:30 Friday Nov 6

Notre Dame and CAK will meet in the finals Saturday at GPS at high noon. I just finished watching CAK beat CPA 2-1 and they have some incredible speed on their team. Certainly CAK is favored as they remain undefeated this year. Notre Dame is playing very well right now but do they have enough speed and firepower to stay with CAK?

Coach Shermerhorn plays his "horses" longer in the games that are tighter coming down the stretch. In a situation where you lose and you are out it makes a lot of sense to keep your best players on the field when it is crunch time. Where ND has a disadvantage is next week when there are games scheduled for Wed and Thursday games. Assuming that they win the Wed game they then have to go home do homework go to school Thurday then get ready for a game that afternoon or evening. All of the other schools (not sure about CCS) are travelling and thus have no school to contend with. This also allows them to focus at the task at hand which is trying to win the state championship for their respective school. This is where back to back games plus school can really sap the energy from the Lady Irish. It sure would be nice if the school recognized this as a severe disadvantage and do something to correct this. After winning the last 4 (years)quarterfinal games and losing the last 4 (years) semi- final games you would think that someone at the school would recognize this as a fixable situation.

Notre Dame 3 Silverdale 0 Goals Carey Leiper 2 Victoria Godwin 1

Goals by: Lacy Mahoney 2 Carey Leiper Kathryn Healy

Can anyone give a report on how well the fields are holding up with all of the rain?