NDP CONTINUES HOT START WITH 4-1 WIN OVER TROY
PONTIAC >> In the early stages of this season, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep has shown that talent can overcome inexperience if you’ve got enough of it.
The Fighting Irish, whose starting lineup is mostly comprised of underclassmen just getting their feet wet on varsity, displayed plenty of ability in scoring three quick first-half goals against Troy on Thursday before letting their guard down a little while wrapping up a 4-1 victory.
“We start six or seven sophomores. We start a freshman. We only have three seniors on the roster,” Notre Dame Prep coach Jim Stachura said. “It’s been hard. We’re working toward getting better, but the potential is there. It’s one of those things where when things go right for us, they really go right. We just have to slow down when they’re not going right.
“The game tonight evened out in the middle part of the game. (Troy) could have scored a goal or two (more) on us when we just couldn’t get control again,
but that’s age for those girls who missed their first years.”
The Fighting Irish improved their record to 5-0, while the loss was Troy’s first of the young season (1-2-1).
The tone was ultimately set by Notre Dame Prep’s three goals in a span of just over eight minutes midway through the opening half.
The scoring outburst began
when an outlet pass by Emily Viviano sprang Noraa Silver for a clean run into the box. Drawing a defender and the goalkeeper to her side, Silver crossed a pass across the goal mouth for teammate Mary Timko to fire home for a 1-0 Fighting Irish advantage.
Moments later, the lead doubled when sophomore Mackenzie Scherle drilled a shot from the perimeter of the box that had enough force behind it to escape the keeper’s grasp. Sophomore Alexandra Williams drew the assist.
Notre Dame Prep’s lead was extended to 3-0 soon after when sophomore Taylor Myers uncorked a shot from 30 yards that slipped inside the near post.
“We’ve been really working on trying to get our spacing on the field. It’s a super young squad, so some of the things are still hard for us,” Stachura said. “We’ve been working on trying to put pressure on and making a team have to get comfortable. We did that tonight and scored some nice goals. We got all of the energy, but then the mojo went away in the middle of the game.”
Suddenly facing a huge deficit, Troy picked up its play heading into halftime. A corner kick and two shots on goal gave the
Colts their first offensive opportunities before they finally broke through. Junior Charlotte Sobotka’s centering pass into traffic set up senior Ali Armin for a one-timed sliding shot that ended the shutout.
“It was a great goal. We had planned to put the ball into the corners and fill the middle and that’s exactly how we scored,” Troy coach Dan Troccoli said.
The Colts continued to generate chances in the second half, earning a handful of corner kicks and threatening to make it a one-goal game until the Fighting Irish tallied a late one with less than 10 seconds to play. Timko returned the favor from earlier in the game by setting up Silver to conclude the scoring.
“We did respond really well after the first 10 minutes,” Troccoli said. “As I told them, I don’t care what the score is. I’m very proud of the way they played. It’s a very long season and this was an improvement. I don’t care if we lost. It’s still an improvement and they realize that. They know it and that’s the point.”
Up next for Troy, the Colts will host Rochester Adams at 1 p.m. Saturday. Notre Dame Prep returns to action Saturday at 10 a.m. at Rochester.