HILLSBORO -- The Sikeston soccer team posted its fourth straight victory with a 1-0 shutout of Hillsboro on the road on Wednesday.
Sikeston out-shot Hillsboro 15-9 in the contest.
Sikeston's Timmy Hart scored the Bulldogs' lone goal on a penalty kick at the 7:00 mark.
The Bulldogs, however, faced a little adversity.
At the 20:00 mark, Adam Gillean was hit with a red card and was ejected from the match after being whistled for an intentional handball, forcing the Bulldogs to play the remaining 60 minutes with 10 players.
Sikeston coach Derrick Long protested the call.
"I've never seen that called against us," said Long. "It was just a crazy call. I thought it hit his shoulder."
But the Bulldogs fought through it and were able to post the shutout. Hillsboro was rewarded with a penalty kick after the red card, but Droddy got the save.
Long said it was a team effort as the team not only battled being short-
handed, but had to go against inclement weather as well.
"Droddy came up with a big save on that penalty kick," said Long. "I thought that was big by our defense. You don't want to ever have to play with a man short. I challenged them at halftime to play with as much effort as they could. The wind was ferocious. We just tried to kick it out and just retreat on defense. It was pretty bad weather with rain storms and 30 mph winds. We scored the goal with the wind at our back. They got all nine of their shots in the second half. We missed a lot of opportunities with the wind at our backs and we didn't take advantage."
Sikeston improves to 9-11-1 and will host Kennett today with junior varsity action starting at 5 p.m.
The Sikeston junior varsity finished in a 0-0 tie with Hillsboro to see their record go to 3-7-2. Goalie Jason Isaacs recorded the shutout.
The Notre Dame volleyball team swept Sikeston 25-17, 25-15 on Wednesday night.
Ashley Nenninger led the Bulldogs with nine kills and four blocks. Meridith Medlin had five kills and 10 assists, and Claire Goodsen added eight service points for the Bulldogs (13-9).
Notre Dame's aspirations of a third straight trip to the state final four in softball came to a crashing halt Wednesday in a Class 3 sectional at home.
The Bulldogs spotted De Soto seven unearned runs and could not bridge the gap in a 7-6 loss.
The Bulldogs, Class 3 runner-up last year and a third-place finisher in 2004, finished their season 26-3.
De Soto won its 25th straight game and improved to 27-2. The Dragons will play Affton on Saturday in the quarterfinals at the Ballwin Athletic Association.
"You've got to give them credit," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "We gave them opportunities early and they took advantage. I told the girls after I've never been more proud of a team in a losing effort. It would have been so easy to pack it in, but they battled until the last out. If you would have told me we'd score six runs, I'd say we'd have won."
The trouble started early for Notre Dame. Dragons leadoff hitter Callie Dennis was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the first. Melissa Lombardo popped up a sacrifice bunt but third baseman Allison Peters overran the ball and both runners were safe. Marilyn Oquendo followed with a bunt to the pitcher, but Beth Schnurbusch looked to third before her throw to first got away to load the bases.
"To give up an out there you'd like to have that back," Graviett said. "I honestly would have walked the next one."
That next one, team RBI leader Carolyn Oquendo, smashed a grand slam off Schnurbusch for a 4-0 lead.
"They had a couple of boo-boo's and Carolyn hit one," De Soto coach Dave Guemmer said. "That was a big hit for us."
De Soto was not finished in the first. Two singles and an error brought in another run. In all, De Soto scored five runs on three hits, three errors and brought nine hitters to the plate.
SEMO News Service's Jeremy Joffray contributed to this report.