By MATT SCHUCKMAN
Herald-Whig Sports Writer
Erin Thomas pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, tugged at the drawstrings and tried to hide her frustration.
It was too tough to conceal.
The Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer team opened its season Tuesday night with a 1-1 double-overtime tie against Jefferson City (Mo.) Helias, but Thomas and the rest of the Lady Raiders felt they let one get away.
QND outshot Helias 22-5, but the Lady Raiders were stonewalled on three one-on-one chances, including Thomas' blast into goalkeeper Annie Struemph's chest with six minutes to play in the first overtime.
"I had the opportunities, I had everything," said Thomas, an all-state forward who led QND in scoring last season as a junior. "I have to get my head in the game, see those open shots and take them."
She wasn't the only one. QND put just eight of its 22 shots on goal, sending eight attempts over the crossbar and misfiring on its final 18 shots of the game.
"It's kind of like a snowball effect," QND coach Mark Longo said. "Erin missed one in the first half that everyone thought and I'm sure she thought she should have had. Then she misses another one and it's like, 'I have to score three goals with one shot.' It just keeps getting bigger."
He knows that can only last so long.
"What I like is we're getting shots," Longo said. "They'll fall eventually."
It took only 24 minutes for the first one to fall.
Helias, which lost 1-0 to QND last season in Jeff City, jumped ahead 1-0 when Danielle Baumgartner played a 30-yard restart into the box 12 minutes into the game. The ball deflected off the head of a player at the top of the penalty area and took a funny bounce as it squirted away from QND keeper Megan Rabe.
The sophomore still got her hands on the ball, but she couldn't push it wide.
"That's her effort," Longo said. "She doesn't want anything to go in."
QND erased the deficit 12 minutes later when Hannah Stroot flighted a restart into the box, only to have the defense redirect it. The ball wound up on Jennifer Adam's foot, and she hit a one-timer that went off the keeper's fingertips and into the left side of the net.
"I needed to one-time it since there was a girl coming on," Adam said.
It was the one lucky bounce QND got, although the unlucky ones didn't leave the Lady Raiders discouraged.
"I'm totally satisfied with our effort," Adam said. "We have new people down the middle of the field, and we talked. We had so many shots, but it was unlucky they just didn't go in. They'll come. It's just a matter of time."
That's where practice will help.
"Hopefully it's a shooting practice," Thomas said.
If that leads to goals, the frustration will dissipate.
"Of course," Thomas said.
-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366
