Notre Dame Shows Off Some of Its Potential

Shedding the yoke of unfulfilled potential, at least momentarily, the Notre Dame High girls’ soccer team routed Westlake, 4-1, Wednesday to win the Simi Valley tournament at Simi Valley High.

The Knights (9-0-2) have been regarded as one of the area’s most talented teams for the past three seasons. But they have finished no higher than second in the Mission League and advanced no further than the first round of the Southern Section playoffs.

This season, Notre Dame has been on a tear. The Knights won their first four tournament games by a combined score of 11-0 and led Westlake, 4-0, Wednesday before giving up a late goal.

The team’s core is comprised of seniors Sarah Morgan, Melissa Rubey, Courtney Arrigo and Arlen Yudell. Juniors Tiffany Thompson and Lacey Nickerson are also standouts, and a number of freshmen have made contributions.

“[The seniors] came to me before the season and said, ‘This is it. We want to win and we can’t do it unless we’re a team,’ ” Coach Neezer McNab said.

Wednesday, a scoreless and evenly played first half served as a prelude to a Notre Dame fireworks display in the final 40 minutes.

Rubey began the onslaught 15 minutes after halftime when she scored from 10 yards.

Four minutes later, Lisa Mastrocinque volleyed a bouncing ball inside the right post from the top of the penalty area, catching Westlake goalkeeper Claire Connor flat-footed.

In the 62nd minute, Thompson fought through two defenders to tap the ball ahead into the box. She then smothered a clearing attempt by Kristina Von Krog with her chest and tipped the ball past a charging Connor.

With three minutes to play, Rubey muscled Von Krog aside as a loose ball rolled back toward the Westlake goal. As Connor came out, Rubey slid and chipped the ball past her from five yards.

Tasha Spangler scored for Westlake (7-2-1) with seconds remaining.

“We didn’t play in the second half,” said Westlake Coach Tahn Hyun, whose team is expected to contend for the Marmonte League title. “We had our chances in the first half and we missed some [defensive] assignments in the second half.”

Notre Dame finished second in league play in 1994-95, fourth and out of the playoffs in 1995-96 and third last season. But this week’s showing sets the stage for a Mission League opener against Chaminade (9-0-1) on Jan. 7 at Notre Dame.

Chaminade, the defending league and Southern Section Division III champion, defeated Westlake, 1-0, earlier this month.

“Chaminade should get the attention they get and our girls don’t begrudge them anything,” McNab said. “But we’ll wait and see what happens when they see us at our place.”

In other tournament games:

Crescenta Valley 1, Buena 1--Sonia Teymouri gave Crescenta Valley (7-1-3) a 1-0 first-half lead. The Falcons then won a shootout, 4-2, on goals by Shannon Clissold, Shannon Moffat, Julie Herrold and Jana Barbaro to claim third place.

St. Bonaventure 0, South Torrance 0--St. Bonaventure claimed fifth place with a 5-4 shootout victory. Erin Croasmun, Tyler Bruno, Jennifer and Jessica Griffiths and Libby Larsen scored for the Seraphs (9-1).

Chatsworth 1, Arroyo Grande 1--The Chancellors (6-1-1) got their goal from Jackie Fodor, then won a shootout, 5-3, and won the consolation bracket.