Trailing McMinn County by three goals at halftime, the Notre Dame girls' soccer team picked up its intensity and would not go down without a fight Monday night. The Lady Irish got even, but McMinn pulled out a road victory after all, 4-3.
A go-to duo for the Lady Irish netted the equalizer in the 69th minute as junior Sarah Moore sped down the right sideline to the goal line and sent a perfectly placed cross to sophomore Kenzie Campbell, who scored her second goal in four minutes.
However, Lady Cherokees sophomore Allison Hansford could not be cooled. She sizzled her fourth goal from the top of the box into the left side of the goal with under a minute left in regulation to secure the nondistrict win.
"I am proud of our girls for bringing on adversity and overcoming it to score the winner," McMinn coach Jordan Jacob said after his team improved to 9-3 for the season. "Allison is doing her job and what she does well, which is score goals. But everybody was important tonight, particularly my goalkeeper. This is an important win for our confidence."
Senior keeper Jaliyah Miller covered up a dangerous cross in the second half and also snagged a close-range line-drive shot by Campbell that she trapped with her left hand against her hip. Miller's key saves went a long way against a strong charge.
Notre Dame (7-5-1) sprinted to the ball and dominated possession for long stretches of time in the second half, in which it unleashed 13 shots.
Moore's speed was tough to handle as she broke away on the right sideline to break a scoreless drought off a deflected shot in the 52nd minute.
"We were getting beat to every ball in the first half, and that hurt," Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn said. "We stepped up the way we can play in the second half, but we have to bring that intensity out of the gate from now on. We used a ton of energy to get those three goals back and came one counterattack or strong run away from perhaps winning."
McMinn County's Paige Manney and Notre Dame's Kassidy Barta made heads-up plays to clear for-sure goals in the second half, while players all around the field battled for the ball.
As the postseason looms, both teams were able to answer adversity, but Hansford provided the finishing statement.
"You are happy with part of it and unhappy with the other part," Schermerhorn said. "You can't just play 40 minutes. Hansford is a super good player. We had a lot of shots go right at them, and one time the ball bounced in the 6-yard box several times and we couldn't put it away. But that's how it goes sometimes."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.