By MATT SCHUCKMAN
Herald-Whig Sports Writer
Megan Rabe can say she's seen worse weather than the downpours, gusting winds and dropping temperatures that delayed Friday's start of the Quincy High School girls soccer tournament for nearly an hour.
"We've played in just about everything," Quincy Notre Dame's sophomore keeper said. "We've had worse, but this was pretty bad."
No wonder a shutout made the Lady Raiders feel pretty good.
Looking to regain the title it lost last season on goal differential, QND limited Rochester to three shots on goal and Rabe made a crucial diving save in the second half of a 2-0 victory at Flinn Stadium.
QND won the title in 2005 and '06, but tied Peoria Richwoods with 2-0-1 records last year. However, the Knights allowed one less goal and took home the championship.
It will be difficult for Richwoods to make it two in a row. QHS keeper Brittany Senator made nine saves, including stonewalling Division I signee Courtney Holtz on a 18-yard blast with 16 minutes to play, to help the Blue Devils hold off Richwoods 3-2.
"It adds some difficulty when you're playing in wind and playing in rain," Senator said. "We had a little bit of both today. It's one of those things you have to adjust to. You have to be that much more focused on every shot."
QND coach Mark Longo altered his lineup in an attempt to find focus in a team that had allowed eight goals in its previous five games and hadn't enjoyed a shutout since a 1-0 victory over Jefferson City on April 5.
It seemed to work as Rochester was limited to one shot in the first and three in the second half, only one of which tested Rabe..
"What I liked about the effort was, defensively, we didn't allow them to threaten us," said Longo, who played seven different players on defense. "We did a nice job, for the most part, preventing opportunities."
And the Lady Raiders (8-2-2) did a better job of finishing, too.
Less than four minutes into the second, midfielder Jennifer Adam took a feed from Erin Thomas and hit a low liner for a 1-0 lead. Thomas then finished off Rochester by beating the sweeper on a run up the left side and scoring for a 2-0 advantage with 5 minutes to play.
"Erin's made those runs all year, but she tends to pull up before beating the sweeper," Longo said. "She finally beat the sweeper and finished it with a nice shot. That was good to see."
QHS (11-2-1) had little trouble finishing, especially with the wind at its back in the first half.
Less than a minute into the game, freshman forward Hayley Womack hit a diagonal pass right at the foot of Katie Runyon filling from the left wing. Runyon got inside her defender and finished with a low shot into the far side of the net for the 1-0 edge.
Taylor Nell made it 2-0 when she redirected a loose ball on net with three minutes to play in the first half.
"At times, you can look up at the scoreboard and see we've got a one-goal or two-goal lead and you feel a little bit better," Senator said. "But then you have to remember a game can change with any play."
It did with 20 minutes left in the second half.
Holtz sidestepped a QHS defender going to her right and hit a shot out of Senator's reach that caromed off the inside of the post and rolled along the goal line. In the scramble for the loose ball, Richwoods' Nikki Smith reached it first and tapped it in to cut the deficit to 2-1.
"So jumping out 2-0 was huge," QHS coach Bill Sanders said. "Obviously, if you look at the end, it was huge."
Quincy pushed the lead back to two goals when Runyon led a three-player charge at the Richwoods goal with 8 minutes to play. Although Runyon's shot was stuffed, Womack pounced on the rebound and scored.
The Knights answered four minutes later when Malorie Fehl headed in a cross from Smith, but the Blue Devils were able to smother Richwoods' final two scoring chances to preserve the victory.
"We dodged a lot of bullets," Sanders said.
-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366
