‘THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT’
Three second-half goals lift Notre Dame Prep past Grosse Ile for first regional title since 2016
PONTIAC » The host Pontiac Notre Dame Prep Fighting Irish scored three times in the second half to defeat the Grosse Ile Red Devils, 3-0, and claim their first regional title since winning the state title in 2016.
“I think it just shows how our team is and how we work together and how this year is different and we really are focusing on making it all the way,” senior co-captain Michelle Pieper said.
Grosse Ile came out with a defend and counterattack approach that worked well for the first 50 minutes. But then the Fighting Irish took advantage of a high bounce and took the lead on a goal by Alexandra Williams with 29:12 left in the second half.
“Our center back Emily Viviano had a great clear out of the back, just to avoid them getting a chance on goal and luckily the goalie came out and it bounced over her head. I saw the bounce coming, so I just followed through and made sure it went in honestly,” Williams said.
“Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck like that. It’s unfortunate, but at the end of the day I thought we created a bunch of good chances and it was in some ways just a matter of time until we got one,” Notre Dame head coach Jim Stachura said. “But hats off to them (Grosse Ile) for the hard fight that they gave and the effort that they gave.”
Prior to that, the Red Devil defense, anchored by Alyssa Naso and Madelynn McNeil had largely held Notre Dame in check. The Grosse Ile defense had taken away much of Notre Dame’s flank play, and the Fighting Irish struggled to create quality chances to that point.
“They’ve been solid for us all year. I’m super proud of them. One of them (Naso) is a senior, so she won’t be back next year. The other one (McNeil) is a sophomore, so we’ll have her back. But our defense has been a rock all season, and they played their hearts out,” Red Devils head coach Kyle Lesperance said.
But once Notre Dame got on the board, the game started to open up. Grosse Ile pushed forward more trying to find a tying goal — and they nearly got it. The Red Devils were dangerous on a couple of crosses, narrowly missing a back post tap in with 18:00 minutes remaining.
“Coming out of our shell, we knew we were in trouble. We had a couple of chances to equalize off the crosses, a couple of crosses under that 26-minute mark. But once those don’t go in, and we had to stretch a little bit more, that caused us some problems,” Lesperance said.
Shortly after that, Notre Dame strung some passes together in an attack that culminated with Noraa Silver finding Bree Blakeslee in the box. Blakeslee’s shot hit the far post, caromed back in front, then went in off a player to make it 2-0 Notre Dame Prep with 16:49 remaining. The Fighting Irish would complete the scoring on a penalty kick goal from Adriana Lorenz with 4:55 left in the game.
Defensively, Notre Dame was largely solid from the start, generally forcing Grosse Ile into long shots — when the Red Devils could get shots. A handful of those long shots were screamers that tested the mettle of senior goalie Michelle Pieper, but Pieper read them all well and tipped each one over the bar.
“They didn’t have many great looks at our goal,” Stachura said. “We did a really good job defensively limiting their ability to build and score. They were really just collecting turnovers off of us and getting chances. And we have a really good goalkeeper in Michelle Pieper, I think an allstate level goalie, and she saved us in a couple of those especially when we really against the run of play gave them those chances.”
Notre Dame Prep (17-4-3) will now move on to the state semifinals next Wednesday where they will face the winner of Saturday’s regional final between Williamston and Flint Powers.
“I think we just need to dig deep and focus and make the most of the rest of this week, because it’s our last week no matter what,” Williams said. “So we’re just going to have a blast and keep doing what we do best.”
Grosse Ile finishes the year 15-5-1 overall after claiming its ninth straight Huron League title.