By DANIEL MAKAREWICZ

Special to the H-W

NORMAL, Ill. -- For some unexplained reason, the Quincy Notre Dame soccer team appeared one step slow Wednesday afternoon, causing it to twice allow go-ahead goals.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Despite putting themselves in hole in each half, the Lady Raiders managed to bounce back both times to salvage a 2-2 tie against Normal U-High.

"It wasn't our prettiest effort," said QND assistant coach Randy Struck, who was coaching in place of an absent Mark Longo. "It was probably the worst we played in quite some time, to be honest."

A sub-par effort almost cost QND the game. With the score knotted at one in the 68th minute, U-High forward Sadie Somers was able to chip a rebound into the goal to break the tie. It was the fourth shot U-High had on the scoring sequence.

"I think we lost track of our marks," QND defender Genevieve Niemann said.

Later, so did the Pioneers. Stacking five defenders near the goal on a corner kick in the 76th minute, U-High left the middle open for a redirect.

After initially clearing the kick, the Pioneers deflected the ball toward the middle.

Playing 20 yards out, Jennifer Adam beat a defender to the ball and lofted a shot to the far post that narrowly beat the goalie to tie the game.

"I just one-timed it," Adam said. "You got to hit it to the far post."

The clutch goal saved the QND defense. On a day that had wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour, the Pioneers were constantly peppering shots on goal in the first half.

Facing heavy pressure, the Lady Raider defense allowed the ball to stay inside their box. Eventually, the inability to clear hindered QND (5-0-2) as Emily Allen scored through traffic in the 28th minute to give the Pioneers the lead.

"We had plenty of opportunities to clear the ball," said Struck, whose team received a goal from Hilary Obert in the 47th minute to tie the game. "We didn't do it."

The Pioneers made clearing a challenge.

"They couldn't clear because we were pressuring them," U-High coach Hayley Sefton said. "That meant that we didn't have to start the ball all the way from the backfield. We could start from midfield up."

Playing in windy conditions for the second straight game, the Pioneers (7-2-2) were able to dictate play. U-High held a 13-8 advantage on shots and took six corner kicks, three more than the Lady Raiders.

"We just didn't go to the ball as much as normal," Adam said. "The wind just really threw us off. We didn't know where (the ball) was going to go."

Still, QND was able to shows its mettle in earning the tie.

"To come from behind was good for us," Adam said. "We were down twice and we came back both times. Finishing with a tie in this situation was good for us."