On paper, the girls’ high school soccer match played Tuesday night at Baylor wasn’t that important to either team.

The Lady Red Raiders’ 3-1 win won’t help their position for the postseason, and the loss won’t hurt Notre Dame’s, but the tears in some Lady Irish eyes after giving up two goals in the final six minutes proved just how meaningful the game actually was.

“I think it’s personal for our girls,” said Baylor assistant coach Curtis Blair, who filled in Tuesday while head coach Jimmy Weekley was home with an illness. “So many of them play with and against each other throughout the year that it’s become a big rivalry.”

The rivalry was intensified for this year’s match because both teams came in ranked at the top of their respective divisions. Baylor currently holds the top spot in the state’s Division II coaches’ poll, while the Lady Irish are the state’s No. 1 Class A/AA team.

“For us, it’s a rivalry game and it always will be,” Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn said. “This is one of those games you look for when you hand out schedules at the beginning of the season. It means a lot.”

The first real scoring opportunity of the match came in the 13th minute, when Notre Dame’s Danielle Ciabattone took a high shot that went off the hands of Baylor keeper Taylor Davidson and hit the far post. About 14 minutes later, the Lady Raiders (8-0-2) just missed a chance to follow a Carissa Sanchez corner for a goal, but with 8:05 on the clock, Caroline Scales gave them a 1-0 lead after another Sanchez restart.

Notre Dame’s Kris Cambron sent a hard shot off the crossbar 12 minutes into the second half, and the Lady Irish continued pressuring the goal for much of the period. Their work paid off in the 59th minute when Cambron found Carey Leiper just ahead of the Baylor defense, which couldn’t stop the junior forward from sending the ball past Davidson.

The Lady Irish (8-4) had a shot from Cambron go just wide minutes after scoring the equalizer, but Baylor increased its pressure over the final 10 minutes. A long free kick from Sanchez found the back of the net with just under six minutes remaining, and McKenzie Thomas sent in a cross from Sarah Gawthrop to give Baylor an insurance goal with 3:07 left on the clock.

“As hard as we played, that’s a tough way to lose,” Schermerhorn said. “We played really well. There were just a couple moments when we were unlucky, and that was the difference.”

Tuesday’s match was the latest challenge on a tough schedule for both teams, who share the goal of contending for a state title in November.

“I still feel like we’re not playing up to our potential,” Blair said. “I still feel like we can play better, but you also don’t want to peak too early. Our schedule is tough and we’ve been playing well, so hopefully we’ll peak at the right time, when we go into the region tournament.”

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