Raiders shut out by undefeated Peoria Notre Dame, but Thomas pleased with performance

QUINCY — Losing still stinks, but Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer coach Mark Thomas was pleased with his team’s play Friday night in a 2-0 loss to undefeated Peoria Notre Dame.

“We worked hard,” Thomas said after the game, played at Advance Physical Therapy Field. “(Peoria Notre Dame has) got a good team, and that’ll help us down the road. Nobody wants to lose games or that type of thing, but I would much rather lose a game 1-0 or 2-0 to a good team like that than have a softer schedule and win against a team that’s not very good.

“A lot of times, you just look at the W and that type of thing. We scheduled good teams for a reason, to kind of see where we’re at. We did some nice things tonight.”

Ava LaFollette scored both goals for the Irish (13-0-1). The first one came with 5:35 remaining in the first half.

The Raiders (8-4-1) then hung with the Irish for the rest of the game.

“We played well in the second half,” Thomas said. “They probably had more chances and the better play overall, but we had a couple chances on corner kicks and a couple shots.”

Thomas switched formations with about 15 minutes to play, moving his daughter, Sierra, from defense to forward. As the clock ticked down, Thomas changed formations again, adding a fourth forward to the lineup.

However, the Irish scored a goal with less than two minutes to play to seal the victory.

“We fought and battled,” Thomas said. “I think it was good game overall.”