Despite new pressure and expectations, Notre Dame girls soccer will shoot for a second straight state title this week

The Notre Dame girls soccer team goes through pregame introductions ahead of a Class 2 sectional against Notre Dame (St. Louis) on May 19 in St. Louis. The Bulldogs are headed back to Kansas City this week to attempt to defend their state championship.

JOSH MLOT

Winning a state championship is a transcendent experience, but every team internalizes it differently.

A year ago, the Notre Dame girls soccer team captured its first state title in thrilling fashion, when it defeated Springfield Catholic 2-1 with a golden goal in extra time of the Class 2 state championship. But months later, when the dust settled, a group that returned nine of 11 starters had to figure out how to move on.

Somewhere along the way, the Bulldogs figured out how to process all of it, and the result is they are headed back to state for a semifinal clash with St. Pius X (Kansas City) on Wednesday at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

The journey hasn't always been easy for Notre Dame (22-3-1) though, as last year's glory in some ways proved to be a burden.

Notre Dame's Kristen Tarno holds off a challenge from Perryville's Kirstin Jannin during the the Class 2 District 1 championship game May 16 in Perryville, Missouri. Tarno has helped the Bulldogs earn a chance to win a second conseuctive state title.

Fred Lynch

"Pressure. You could sense it in the beginning," Notre Dame coach Ryan Schweain said. "The first practices, you could sense the girls were feeling pressure to perform."

The difference was evident to everyone in Bulldogs blue. With an experienced, talented group which had already proven it could do big things, Notre Dame felt the weight of expectations it had never experienced before.

"I don't think it was the same," Notre Dame junior Livia Wunderlich said. "I think we all felt that pressure at the beginning of the season: 'Oh, we have to go back to state again. We just won state.'"

But things didn't go according to plan out of the gate. Weather wreaked havoc on the early-season schedule, and the Bulldogs could barely blink before injuries took a toll, with Schweain saying the team was hit by an epidemic of quad issues. Two of the players affected were two of the team's most critical attacking players: senior midfielder Shelby Bauwens and talisman striker Megan Heisserer.

The first game of the season was a stunning loss to Poplar Bluff. It took penalty kicks for the Mules to take care of business, but it made the result no less of a shock to the Bulldogs' system. After losing just once in all of 2017, Notre Dame was staring at three losses less than three weeks into the season. (Hindsight shines slightly more kindly on the other two defeats -- Jackson and St. Vincent are both vying for state titles this week as well.)

"We lost a couple games at the beginning of the year and I honestly think that helped us [realize] we have to keep working hard, we have to have the same mentality as we had last year," Wunderlich said.

Her coach echoed that sentiment, saying the early lumps may have been the best thing that could happen to the team, all the while being forced to learn how to play -- and win -- without Heisserer and Bauwens.

"It may have been a blessing in disguise," Schweain said. "Who's going to score? Who's going to take over the middle? And I've felt like since they've come back, we've been stronger for it.

"It seemed to kind of click, one, from the standpoint of when Heisserer did come back, I think they were, 'OK. We've been fine without, but now we're ready to get back to it.' That was the point, on the field, we started to look sharper."

Once healthy, the Bulldogs began to find the form that allowed them to lift a trophy in the first place. The team graduated starting goalkeeper Abby Rollet and defender Courtney Schlosser, but plugged those holes and moved on. Grace Powderly -- an accomplished tennis player -- stepped in to take over goalkeeping duties and Emily Kellum has become a regular on the back line alongside Abby Wilson and Alaina Baumgart, who excel at cleaning up just about every mess that comes their way.

The team's defensive spine also got a major boost from the return of Wunderlich, who missed most of last season due to injury. Now she provides a versatile piece who can steel the defense or provide a steady presence in midfield.

"I think you've just got to stay positive through it all," Wunderlich said. "... I think it's been awesome. This whole state run is a new experience for me, and I think it's helped that it's been fresh."

The team's M.O. remains the same: be a tough defensive unit while putting up offensive numbers the program has rarely seen. A season after Heisserer broke Notre Dame's single-season goal-scoring record, she surpassed the career mark. And winger Kristen Tarno is one assist away from setting the school's single-season assists record.

When the Bulldogs defeated Rosati-Kain 2-0 in a sectional clash May 23, it was the team's lowest offensive output since April 26. During that stretch, Notre Dame managed a 5-2 win over Springfield Catholic, a result Tarno credits as proving to the players they were capable of making another run.

Now, as the team leaves today to head to Kansas City, it is clear that Notre Dame has steered clear of whatever rough seas it was adrift in.

"We definitely felt pressure. Like we had targets on our back," Tarno said. "We had such a good record last year and I felt like we had to have the same record -- not just me, my whole team. But we got that out of our minds.

"It's harder to get back. We started off kind of rocky at the beginning of the season, but we found our way and I think we're ready."

It is a fourth consecutive trip to state for St. Pius X (19-4-1), which finished fourth a year ago.

The other Class 2 semifinal will be contested between Christian (16-4) and Pleasant Hill on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The championship game will be Thursday at 4 p.m.