Soccer eliminated by Irish in second round
SOUTH BEND, IND — It took two minutes and 29 seconds for Notre Dame to show the CMU soccer team how dangerous its offense could be.
Sophomore Melissa Henderson headed in a shot after junior Taylor Knaack’s initial shot hit off the crossbar to give it a 1-0 lead. The Fighting Irish never looked back.
No. 5 Notre Dame beat CMU 6-1 on Sunday in South Bend in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, eliminating the Chippewas from tournament play.
“We didn’t match them in any phase of the game,” said coach Tom Anagnost. “Athletically, they were a little quicker, a little faster and a little stronger.”
Henderson followed up her first goal with another, when she broke through the CMU defense and fired the ball into the lower right corner 18.5 minutes later.
With a little less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Henderson again found the back of the net when a Michele Weissenhofer shot bounced back to her and, after an initial save by Shay Mannino, she scored for the third time.
“I think we may have been intimidated in that first half,” said senior forward Molly Gerst. “We needed Tom to get us riled up at halftime.”
On the board
After Central was outshot 15-3 in the first half, it was Gerst who managed to get the Chippewas on the scoreboard when senior Amanda Waugh found her near the penalty spot area a little more than 10 minutes into the second half.
Gerst said in the first part of the second half was when CMU showed Notre Dame the peak of its abilities.
“There was a good 20 minutes where we actually played our game,” she said. “We gave them a run for their money and we finally played the way we have all year.”
However, five minutes later, junior Rose Augustin gave Notre Dame its fourth goal off a direct kick from 22 yards out, and Henderson added her fourth goal of the game about four minutes later.
Anagnost said CMU’s defenders played well, but Henderson is one of those special players that any team would find tough to defend.
“She was really aggressive,” he said. “She was more athletic than all our backs. She just got in spaces and behind us and she really hurt us. She is one of the best players in the nation.”
Senior Rachel VanderGenugten scored from 35 yards out into the top right corner of the net with a little more than a minute remaining to finish the scoring for Notre Dame.
Central, which beat Purdue 2-0 on Friday, became the first MAC school to advance out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 2003, when Western Michigan advanced.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Gerst said. “Not having a goal scored on us in 17 games, from the backline to our forwards, we have played so strong.”
