The Notre Dame Girls Varsity Soccer team made an early goal by Celia Gaynor stand up as the game-winner as the Irish defeated Marian 1-0 to advance to the MHSAA state finals. Just 6:26 into the match Eileen Haig found Gaynor on a cross in the box, who turned and hit it into the back of the net. “That situation was actually something that we watched what we did the first time we played them and we had some success with it, we just didn’t finish the ball,” Notre Dame head coach Jim Stachura said. “Celia finished that off. That’s a word class goal. That’s ridiculous, just turning and hitting.” Although the Mustangs would hold a shots on goal and possession advantage for the remainder of the game, the Notre Dame defense, led by Nadia Burbank, Haig, Cassidy Wiest and Payton Williams, would not break. “I can’t say enough about my back line negating chances at the goal for the other team and negating as many corners as we could. That’s a good team across the field, and we just did a great job defensively,” said Stachura. Goalkeeper Haley Williams finished with 6 saves, include several from in close. Notre Dame will now play for the Division II Championship at 4:00 Saturday at Michigan State University against Forest Hills Northern, which topped Dexter, 2-1, in the other semifinal Wednesday. It will be the first state final appearance for the Irish (20-1-3) since 2013.
