C3D1 soccer: Notre Dame blanks Festus to reach semifinals

Notre Dame's Will Dodson attempts to drive past a defender in Saturday's Class 3 District 1 matchup at Cape Central High School.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

Notre Dame scored early and often in Saturday's Class 3 District 1 contest against Festus.

The Bulldogs found the back of the net less than two minutes into the game, and found it again just over a minute later en route to an 8-0 win at Cape Central High School.

"I think when it comes to playing districts, you've got to be ready to play," Notre Dame coach Matt Vollink said. "You've got to have that mentality going into districts that every game is important. You have to give your all and go 100%. We talked about that before the game, the boys did that really well and I was very proud of them."

Bulldogs senior Will Dodson added another hat trick to his impressive scoring resume, scoring twice in the first half and once in the second while classmate Cole Bruenderman added two goals of his own.

Although Dodson and Bruenderman contributed to a majority of the Bulldogs' scoring, Vollink gave credit elsewhere.

"Will Dodson and Cole Bruenderman are phenomenal players, but they have some great people that play in and allow them to have the freedom to do the things that they need to do," Vollink said. "That gives them the confidence that they can trust the backs, trust the mids and that things will happen off of that."

The remainder of Notre Dame's scoring came from juniors Bryce Sides and Eric Retz who combined for the Bulldogs' other three goals.

"The important part is that offense starts from the back and how you build forward and get numbers in on the attack," Vollink said.

The shutout marks the 10th of the season for the Bulldogs' defense.

"They bought into what we were trying to do and they've done phenomenal all season," Vollink said. "Once we got those guys firing on all cylinders and playing as a team in the back for us, they've done really, really well. I've been really impressed with all of them."

Top-seeded Notre Dame (15-6-1) will move on to the district semifinals where the Bulldogs will face fifth-seeded DeSoto on Tuesday at Cape Central High School.

"We talked about this with our guys, it's not so much the other team as it is us," Vollink said. "I think we do the things that we need to do and concentrate on what we need to do to win. If we do those things well, then you give yourself a chance and that's all we can do."