Signal Mountain’s Connor Athorp heads the ball while under pressure from Notre Dame’s Robert Kidwell (18) and Michael Quatrano (15) Thursday at Notre Dame.The Signal Mountain boys’ soccer team started Thursday evening’s match 80 minutes away from a potential first-ever District 7-A/AA regular-season championship. Less than a minute in, they had inched closer with a one-goal advantage.
Seventy-nine minutes later, it was time to celebrate.
The state-second-ranked Eagles scored two first-half goals off set pieces, and the defense shut down the Notre Dame attack for a 2-0 victory that spoiled the Irish’s senior-night activities. Signal (11-0-1, 4-0) will have the inside track on a spot in the region tournament when the district semifinals begin on May 6.
“I thought we played really hard,” Signal coach Richard Northcutt said. “We are more hustle and heart and skill — it was ugly, wasn’t it? — but our defense was really good and we didn’t give them many chances.”
Robert Schorr got Signal on the board with a rebound shot after a long Graham Eschmann throw-in that bounced around the box just long enough for Schorr to get a foot on. He had another opportunity moments later from the left wing that he pushed just high.