By MATT SCHUCKMAN

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Mark Longo has seen every goal ever scored since the inception of the Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer program in 1990.

And even he was awed by Leigh McLaughlin's run Tuesday night.

"It's one of the prettiest goals in the history of our program," the QND coach said of McLaughlin's end-to-end charge that ignited a three-goal rally that led to QND's 3-2 victory over Quincy High School. "That was special."

Trailing 2-0 with 22 minutes to play in the first half, McLaughlin collected a free ball on a clearout following a QHS corner kick and turned upfield. The sophomore forward dribbled nearly two-thirds of the field, stepping through two defenders at one point and setting up a one-on-one with QHS keeper Brittany Senator.

McLaughlin tucked her shot to Senator's right and into the far corner of the net.

"That was an amazing goal," QND midfielder Hilary Obert said.

It isn't the first time McLaughlin has done something awe-inspiring against QHS.

In last year's 4-1 victory over the Blue Devils in the Class AA regional championship, McLaughlin became just the third player in the history of the QHS-QND series to record a hat trick. It was her first career hat trick, and she now has five career goals against QHS.

-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366