MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - It took a while, but Notre Dame eventually matched the intensity level of Christian Academy of Knoxville in the quarterfinals of the Class A/AA state soccer tournament Tuesday night.
Unfortunately, it was a little too late.
The Warriors built a three-goal halftime lead. Notre Dame responded with a pair of goals by Michael Quatrano but couldn't produce the equalizer and fell 3-2 at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex.
Second-ranked CAK (20-2-1) advances to face the winner between Greeneville and White House in a semifinal today.
The Warriors built their lead in the first 25 minutes with goals by Daniel Martin, Jon Creel and Matt Zacyzk.
"In the first half, things opened up and the boys saw some spots where we could maybe penetrate their back line," CAK coach Jon Day said.
Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn said his piece at halftime, then turned it over to his captains - Jared Henry, Colin Sawyer and Quatrano - to finish the speech.
"We started out slow and they came out full speed. We never caught up, never adjusted; that's what happens when you start the game that way," Schermerhorn said. "It's so hard to turn that around when the other team runs that hard at you.
"We figured out that if we wanted to step on the field and try to win the game, that first 40 minutes wasn't the way to do it. If we don't do a 180, we'll never get in this game."
Schermerhorn said the work rate was a reason his team was getting beat so badly. The Irish were continually getting beat to the ball and getting pushed off the ball when they did have possession, which only gave the Warriors more opportunities on the attack.
CAK ripped off 10 shots in the first half to only two for Notre Dame (12-6-4). That number was nearly even in the second half (6-5, CAK), but the Irish wasted no time getting on the board in the final 40 minutes, with Quatrano scoring from the right side of the box.
He put his second goal in on a double assist by Alex Darras and Milan Card, which brought the Notre Dame fans to their collective feet.
"We said that unless we wanted our season to end in this game, we've got to turn something up and get something going," said Quatrano, who finished his senior season with 27 goals. "I think it dawned on the team that if we didn't get something going, it was going to be our last game.
"At least we got it together, but the first half killed us."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.