'My everything': How the Notre Dame girls teamed up for a sectional soccer championship

DUNLAP — The Peoria Notre Dame girls soccer team knows exactly how long it can go in the IHSA Class 2A playoffs.

"You don't lose if you don't get scored on," Irish coach Ben Ralph said. "Now there's eight teams left, and we're one of them. Our defense has been phenomenal."

Notre Dame took out Geneseo, 4-0, in the Class 2A Dunlap Sectional title match Friday, building a 3-0 halftime lead and suffocating the opponent's best player, Monmouth College-bound high-scoring forward Danielle Beach.

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The Irish rode that defense and got goals from Claire Girard, Mya Wardle, Abigail Chaddock and Maddie Stickelmaier to a sectional championship at Dunlap Valley Middle School.

The 18-3-2 Notre Dame team has 18 shutouts, with all-state senior goalkeeper Addie Jennetten anchoring the show.

That defense will be tested next by powerful Lisle Benet, which beat Lemont, 4-0, Friday to advance to the Washington Supersectional against the Irish at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Benet is 19-4 with 15 shutouts.

"We have an all-state goalkeeper who directs it all for us, and she is terrific," Ralph said. "We knew (Beach) was really good, and we were looking to always have someone right on her. Our defense did a very good job of it.

"Our girls wanted this sectional title, it was a season-long goal. Now they have it."

Just for kicks

Notre Dame rolled quickly to a 1-0 lead when senior captain Claire Girard fired a penalty kick past goalkeeper Addison Smith with 32:15 still left in the opening half.

It stood up as the game-winner.

"We practice those penalty kicks all the time," Girard said, grinning. "I just picked a spot and let it go. We were pedal-to-the-metal after that, never let off the gas against them."

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Wardle's goal was next for 2-0, and Chaddock added on in the final 12:30 for 3-0 at the half. Sophomore midfielder Stickelmaier put the finishing touches on with a strike in the second half.

"The defense is so strong back there," said Jennetten, who now has 30 shutouts in two seasons. "We've been saying all year, 'We can't lose if they don't get a goal.' "

Jennetten was poised and steady in the net, and she pointed to her background as an accomplished golfer with the Notre Dame girls golf team as a contributor to her mental approach.

"Golf, I learned how to control my breathing and calm down and see everything," she said. "It translates well to soccer, when I see an (offensive challenge) coming in at me."

Notre Dame, meanwhile, wondered all season about Geneseo, after a regular-season matchup was wiped out by weather causing unplayable field conditions. They got their answers Friday after Geneseo reached the title match by beating Peoria-area teams Limestone, Richwoods and Morton.

"We didn't know really what might happen," Jennetten said. "But I know I just love playing with this team, they are my everything."

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Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA soccer: Notre Dame girls rode defense, closeness to sectional title