Lady Raiders go 3-0 during tourney to take back championship

By MATT SCHUCKMAN

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

As her teammates headed to collect their wares Saturday afternoon, Quincy Notre Dame midfielder Brooke Burgess wondered aloud why she didn't remember last year's trophy presentation.

The Lady Raiders weren't involved in it.

"It's not necessarily tradition, but it's something that we're always confident about when we come into this weekend," QND senior midfielder Janell Vermeire said of the annual Quincy High School girls soccer tournament. "Last year, when we didn't get first, it kind of hit us in a bad way."

It made regaining the title this year a priority.

QND posted a pair of shutouts Saturday, including a 3-0 victory over defending champion Peoria Richwoods that cemented the championship. The Lady Raiders also beat Rock Island 5-0, outscoring three weekend opponents 10-0 without two of the team's top three forwards playing a single minute.

"We've had a lot of kids step up, and luckily that's been a part of our program for years," QND coach Mark Longo said. "It's just going to help us even more down the road when we get our healthy players back."

QHS fought injuries as well, finishing 2-1 after losing all-sectional midfielder Jenny Dreasler to a knee injury.

The Blue Devils squandered a one-goal lead in a 2-1 loss to Fort Zumwalt North and rebounded to beat Rock Island 7-0.

"It was nice to come back and get a victory," QHS coach Bill Sanders said. "We did the things we need to do. The backs moving up, us containing all over the field, us getting in the passing lanes. Those are little things we need to do, and we have to do them against every team."

Sanders said Quincy (12-3-1) didn't do those against Fort Zumwalt North.

The Blue Devils jumped ahead 1-0 when Katie Runyon scored off a Hayley Womack assist 10 minutes into the game. However, FZN's Kelly Muesenfechter answered with unassisted goals at the 25- and 55-minute marks.

"A lot of it was diving it," Sanders said. "We weren't containing anywhere on the field. ... Mentally, we weren't into it."

That happened with the one-goal lead.

"It was kind of like we went into a daze," Sanders said. "We can't do that."

The Blue Devils didn't do that against Rock Island, getting two goals apiece from Katie Cannady and Hayley Ott and a goal and two assists from Womack. Sanders said it was encouraging sign that the Blue Devils learned from their mistakes.

"If we do learn, it's a positive," Sanders said. "If we don't, then it's just a blemish on your record."

QND (10-2-2) suffered no blemishes, punishing Rock Island with 25 shots. Vermeire scored twice in the first nine minutes, while Hilary Obert, Erin Thomas and Tia Long scored second-half goals.

"We had a different approach to the weekend," Vermeire said. "We were going to communicate. We were going to possess the ball. Sometimes we like to kick it and go. We had to make sure we played possessional soccer."

That worked wonders against Richwoods.

Thomas gave the Lady Raiders a 2-0 lead when she scored off an Alex Reis assist in the eighth minute and an unassisted goal in the 14th minute. Meanwhile, Richwoods attempted just one shot and found itself in an eerily similar position to last year when it trailed QND 2-0.

The Lady Knights rallied to tie the game at 2 and win the title.

"Coach asked us if we remembered what happened, and we all said yes," said Thomas, who leads QND with 11 goals. "He was like, 'You have to keep taking it at them and don't let them come back.' We took his word and we went for it."

And the Lady Raiders took back the title they won in 2005 and '06.

"We always like winning this tournament," Longo said. "Well, any tournament really, but this one especially. We have to get our act together and win ours next weekend."

-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366