By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Notre Dame girls soccer coach Suli Kayed felt responsible for his team’s 3-0 loss to South Oldham on Monday. After losing two starting players with season-ending knee injuries, he made some changes that didn’t go well and the Pandas were outplayed by the team they defeated in last year’s state championship game.
“We always have a clear plan coming into a game and I felt like we didn’t tonight,” Kayed said after a long talk with his players. “We went through some injuries and tried to twist our plan a little bit. We need to stick to what we’re really good at and talked about our identity. We need to stick to our identity, so I told them I take full blame for that and the result tonight.”
It was Notre Dame’s first loss since the 2020 9th Region playoffs. The Pandas finished last year’s state championship season with a 28-0-1 record and got off to a 4-0 start this season despite injuries that sidelined senior midfielder Abby Unkraut and senior forward Sunny Richesson.
Those injuries forced the Pandas to make some adjustments before Monday’s game and they ended up getting shut out while giving up three goals.
“I thought South Oldham looked like the old Notre Dame tonight,” Kayed said. “That’s how we usually play. They possessed the ball more than us. They were braver up top (on the attack) and they caused us issues that we have to think about.”
South Oldham’s took a 1-0 lead early in the first half when Kate Hallin scored off a corner kick by Breanna Dardano.
Notre Dame didn’t get any shots on goal over the next 25 minutes and the score remained 1-0 at the halftime break.
The Pandas had a chance to tie the score early in the second half. A ball chipped into a swarm of players in front of the goal was poked around a couple of times before South Oldham goalkeeper Katie Feeney pounced on it.
The same thing happened about 12 minutes later and the ball came out to Notre Dame sophomore Kate Lenihan. She arched a shot over a pack of players in front of the goal, but Feeney snagged the ball before any of the Pandas could get to it.
In the final 13 minutes, South Oldham senior Ava Roberson scored goals off a free kick and crossing pass to give the Dragons a 3-0 lead.
They went on to post their sixth consecutive shutout victory of the new season and now have a 27-0 scoring advantage over opponents.
“We’ve been really doing well this year defensively,” said South Oldham coach Ken Burke. “They’re showing a lot of true grit back there,” he added. “As far as the shutouts we’ve had against the competition we’ve had, it’s been tough to keep people out (of the net). I’m very proud of their efforts.”
Notre Dame will take a 4-1 record into Wednesday’s home game against West Jessamine (1-4) and the Pandas will visit Louisville Assumption (6-0) on Saturday. Kayed and his coaching staff hope to put the team back on a winning track in those games.
“It’s just identifying what our identity is again,” Kayed said. “We played a little bit on our heels tonight and played safe, but I think we’re talented enough not to have to play safe against anybody.”