Lady Irish reach state soccer final

For the Notre Dame girls' soccer team, the "Semifinal Curse" is over.

The third-ranked Lady Irish advanced to Saturday's Class A/AA state championship game with a 3-0 win over Greeneville. Notre Dame had been knocked out of the state tournament in the semifinal round the past three seasons.

Seniors Danielle Ciabattone and Carey Leiper -- both four-year starters -- provided the offense, Ciabattone with two goals and Leiper with the other.

"I don't know. It just hit me that we made it over the peak of the dreaded semifinal game," Ciabattone said. "It's always such a hard game and so emotional, but we're happy to be going for the state title."

"I'm just so excited," Leiper said, "but we have so much more to do. We have to show up Saturday and play like we can."

Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn praised his defense, which shut out an opponent for the fourth consecutive game -- the Lady Irish defense has allowed only one goal in the last seven games.

"We defended well," he said. "We stayed organized on defense and did a very good job defending their attack."

The Lady Irish came out more aggressive. They were whistled for 18 fouls in the contest to the Lady Devils' seven.

"The girls just stepped up and played," Schermerhorn said. "I thought it was evenly physical, so I wasn't sure about the foul calls, but I was OK with the officiating."

Leiper scored less than two minutes in on an assist from Elizabeth Kidwell, and the Lady Irish (16-2-3) controlled possession for most of the half.

Ciabattone got the first of her two goals after an Alexis Pierce corner kick. The ball bounced around the box and the senior got a foot on it and knocked it through. She added a goal in the second half off a restart. Midfielder Gaby Gurrola fed the ball to Ciabattone, who fired off a shot from the top of the 18 that found the back of the net.

"We got the early goal that we hoped for," Schermerhorn said. "It got us up 1-0, and if there were any nerves, they went away and we gained some momentum.

"It's just a great feeling to be in the championship. I've been waiting for a long time to get past this game. We would get draws like Franklin Road Academy or CAK in the semis, and it would be a battle to get through. It's great to be moving on and we're looking forward to Saturday.

"I'm happy for the girls; they did a good job."