Raiders hold off late Blue Devil rally to sweep season series

QUINCY — The record will show that Quincy Notre Dame swept the girls soccer season series against crosstown rival Quincy High School.

But after shutting out the Blue Devils in the first meeting last month and holding them scoreless through the opening 72 minutes of the rematch Friday night, the Raiders had to sweat it out.

Staked to a 2-0 lead thanks to two Addie Flesch goals in the first half, QND had to stave off a furious QHS rally in the final eight minutes to hold on for a 2-1 victory at Advance Physical Therapy Field.

In fact, it wasn’t until freshman keeper Tessa Porter went high in the air over a crowd in front of her own goal to make a two-handed grab of an Avery Morrison free kick in the final half-minute that the Raiders could finally exhale.

“We talked at halftime about how two-goal leads are tough,” QND coach Mark Thomas said. “You let them hang around and you know Quincy High isn’t going to quit. It’s a rivalry game.

“We lost our way a little bit, committed some fouls in some bad areas and then didn’t clear a ball and they get a PK. There’s seven minutes left, it’s 2-1, anybody’s game. They started pressing and we didn’t handle it very well.”

The lead was cut in half after a QHS throw-in from the far sideline was flicked on to Cameran Byquist, who sprinted across the box, only to have her shot attemptblocked. But she was able to recover, turn and center a pass to Alexa Mosley, who was taken down.

Morrison drilled the penalty kick with 7:35 left, and suddenly it was a game.

“We said all game we wanted to put the pressure on and force them to make saves,” Blue Devils coach Travis Dinkheller said. “We didn’t do that in the first half. And then in the final 10 (minutes), we kind of tweaked our lineup a little bit to try to put more pressure on their backs.

“It created a goal, and it created a couple of more opportunities. We gave ourselves a chance. With 15, 20 seconds left, we were a fingertip away from having a tie ballgame.”

QHS, which came having scored just four goals in going 0-4-1 in its previous five games, appeared rejuvenated after the penalty kick and turned up the pressure, only for Porter to come up big.

She robbed Mosley of a goal in the waning minutes by batting away a low shot at the near post.

And then Morrison, who had a free kick from the right hashmark from 30 yards out carom off the top of the far post in the first half, hit another floater from the same distance – only this time from the left wing – into the box with time running out that Porter plucked out of the air.

“Avery can flight a great ball,” Dinkheller said. “We wanted to put their goalkeeper in a decision-making process. She made a couple of great saves, so pat on the back to her.”

“Tessa has come a long way the last two months,” Thomas said of the freshman keeper.

Just as it had in the first meeting, QND controlled play for most of the first half.

The Raiders got on the board with just 3:14 elapsed when Sierra Thomas boomed a goal kick to near midfield. Makayla Patton flicked it on and Flesch, making a diagonal run behind her, beat a defender to score with a low crossing shot from the right side of the box.

Patton hit the crossbar from 30 yards out 18 minutes into the contest, and QHS keeper Ashley Walbring went low to block her point-blank shot in the 34^thminute.

But Walbring wasn’t able to secure the loose ball and Flesch was there to hammer it home to make it 2-0. It was Flesch’s third goal of the season against the Blue Devils.

“I can’t really take credit for that one,” the junior forward said. “Makayla had a really good shot, and I was just there to finish.”

Patton was thwarted again midway through the second half when her bullet shot ricocheted off the left post after a scramble in the box following a corner kick.

Those missed opportunities allowed the Blue Devils to remain within striking distance.

“We did some nice things,” Thomas said. “We just didn’t handle the last 10 minutes of the game very well.”

QND (11-6-1) will close out the regular season at Pleasant Plains on Monday. It will then host Springfield Lutheran in the first round of the regional next Friday.

QHS (5-11-1) will host Jefferson City Helias Saturday afternoon before finishing its regular season Tuesday at Chatham Glenwood.

Dinkheller hopes the way his young team finished Friday night will carry over.

“We won the second half,” he said. “We dug ourselves a hole, got out of the hole and gave ourselves a chance. At the end, we had a couple of good chances to tie. I’m happy with that. I’m never satisfied, but I’m happy.”