Notre Dame advanced past Regina in a battle of top-10 ranked girls soccer teams in the opening round of the MHSAA playoffs by a score of 3-1. The teams had played a combined 180 scoreless minutes during their first two meetings this season and much of the first half seemed to mirror the previous matchups. With 5:56 left to play in the first half the Irish finally found the back of the net when Rosella LoChirco scored on a re-direct off of a chip from Olivia Mears. Notre Dame increased its lead just over 5 minutes later as Celia Gaynor scored off of a corner kick by Cassidy Wiest. Early in the second half Mears would add the final Notre Dame goal of the evening to give the Irish a 3-0 lead and put the game out of reach. “That’s been us all year though. We’ve been scoring in bunches. It takes us a little while to get going, but we get the first one and then they put the pedal to the metal and get the second one,” Notre Dame head coach Jim Stachura said. “We’re a streaky team like that”. Stachura also praised the play of center backs Nadia Burbank and Payton Williams, as the Irish backline kept the Saddlelites off the board until Notre Dame offense could get going. Notre Dame, now 15-1-3, will host Cranbrook-Kingswood on Thursday.
