Notre Dame shines in opening win over Hopewell
HOPEWELL TWP. » When a freshman scores the first goal of the season, it’s a good indication the team is young.
But when those you expect to lead come through, too, it means Notre Dame has a good mix of youth and experience and a pretty fair amount of talent.
The new-look Irish resembled many teams of the past four years on the scoreboard as they eased to a 15-3 opening day win over Hopewell Valley in a Colonial Valley Conference game at Ackerson Field.
When freshman Gabby Skowronski, who along with sister Angelina are one of the four sets of twins in the ND program, made a spin move to get the Irish up 1-0, it was just the beginning.
The Irish (1-0) built an 8-2 lead at the half and then by getting the first six draw controls of the second half continued to impress.
“Everybody has to do their part and do what they are good at and the pieces come together,” said ND coach Bryan Fisher. “We can be as young as we want to be, but we are pretty darn talented, too.”
Jessica Pisani, one of the veterans, led the way equaling her career high with four goals and added an assist. One of the four seniors, Maddie Rizzuto, who now has 60 career goals, chipped in with three.
Danielle Losier, a junior, had three goals and Ava Scudillo added two. The freshmen twins, saw Gabby score a pair with an assist and Angelina get a pair of assists and one goal.
“Every year there is going to be change and be pressure,” said Rizzuto. “I had really great leaders my three years on varsity so it’s no big deal stepping into that role. I enjoy the role.”
Rizzuto appears ready for the role.
It’s a young Hopewell Valley team, but the Irish are a good measuring stick as they strive for improvement.
The Bulldogs (0-1) saw Richmond-bound Lauren Kingsbury score two and Maddie Schrader have a goal and an assist.
“Notre Dame is a good team and I like they we never gave up and kept fighting,” said Hopewell Valley coach Pam Edwards. “We are a younger team. We’ll take this as a learning experience. Now, we’ll start our growth.”
After Skowronski got the Irish started, Pisani made it 3-0, caging a pair of goals. The first came on a beautiful cross in front of the goal and the second was one Pisani bounced into the net.
“This game meant a lot because we have so many new people on the team,” said Pisani. “The younger ones really stepped up to the plate. We all played a good game and we played with a lot of positive attitude.”
Getting up early helped and it was a key as Pisani was just following orders.
“Coach (Fisher) wanted us to push the goal and get a good start,” said Pisani. “If it was open he wanted us to take it and when an opportunity came I wanted to take it to the goal for the team.”