Bulldog soccer blanked

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Bulldogs boys soccer team took on state ranked Notre Dame Bulldogs and fell 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Notre Dame (12-2-2) came in ranked 5th in the state and of their 16 games, only three opponents have scored against them.

Against Notre Dame, Sikeston did not have the services of Dakota Trevino and Justin Deere. Trevino sat out for precautionary reasons due to a concussion he suffered in Sikeston's last game against Fredericktown. Deere is still out due to a broken toe. He has missed three games due to the injury.

Sikeston had problems all game trying to penetrate the Notre Dame defense. While Sikeston only substituted one player, Notre Dame had numerous players to choose from and kept fresh most of the night.

"They can sub in eight players and that is big because their players had fresh legs the entire game," said Sikeston head coach Derrick Long. "We got tired and when you get tired mistakes happen."

One mistake cost Sikeston dearly as Andrew Buelow of Notre Dame got by the Sikeston defense and had a clear shot on goal until he was dragged down by a Sikeston defender. A penalty was called and Buelow was granted a penalty kick.

Buelow scored on the PK and Notre Dame led 1-0 in the first half. Notre Dame outshot Sikeston 7-3 in the first half and led 1-0 at the intermission.

In the second half, Notre Dame took control of the action as Jack Wedemeier scored a goal at 50:00 on an assist by Kyle Schade.

Three minutes later, Notre Dame scored again as Tyler Legrand put one in goal on an assist by Frankie Ellis. Notre Dame led 3-0 and that also was the final score of the game.

Notre Dame's goalie Nathan Kolda shutout Sikeston as he stopped all eight shots.

The entire defensive unit for Notre Dame needs to be complimented for stellar work against Sikeston's goal-scoring machine Blake Taylor.

In their last game against Fredericktown, Taylor scored five goals and against Notre Dame was a non-factor as he was hounded all game.

In goal for Sikeston was Scott Droddy who made 17 saves on the night.

Despite the loss, Long is still optimistic about Sikeston's season ahead.

"The last 20 minutes of the game we had some chances to score," said Long. "Against a team like Notre Dame you have to play mistake-free and we didn't tonight. But we still have the goal of winning districts and nothing has changed from that."

In junior varsity action, Notre Dame won 7-1. Ashton Cantrell scored the only goal for Sikeston.

Sikeston (7-8) will travel north to take on the Cape Central Tigers today. Varsity play will begin at 7 p.m.