Josh Martinez

Valley Preps

While the No. 16 Shadow Ridge girls soccer team was playing for school history, it was not enough to propel them past No. 1 Notre Dame Prep.

NDP (16–2–1) scored four second-half goals to defeat Shadow Ridge (11-9-1) 6–0 Tuesday night in a 5A first round game at Scott Bemis Field in Scottsdale.

Shadow Ridge was playing in its first playoff match in program history. This accomplishment capped off a consistent improvement during the past few years.

Shadow Ridge head coach John Gray said even though his team lost, he is proud of what it accomplished. He credited that improvement to a close-knit team that had grown significantly for each other.

“There are seniors over there crying and there’s freshmen over there crying because they care about the seniors,” he said. “That’s what they’re playing for when they get out here.”

NDP went ahead early with a 2–0 lead after quick goals in the opening four minutes of the match.

From then to halftime, Shadow Ridge’s freshman goalkeeper Hannah Redwood shined.

Notre Dame Prep did not ease off as the first half wore on and spent most of the period in its attacking third, many times firing off shots.

Redwood made more than 10 saves to keep the lead at 2–0 at the break. Gray said he was happy with what his defense showed him during the first half.

“We made a couple of mistakes early that gave them those two goals but then we settled in, in the first half,” Gray said. “I felt like we were frustrating them even early in the second half.”

On the other side, Notre Dame Prep head coach Tom White said he thought his team got too complacent being up 2–0, which contributed to them being out of rhythm.

He did, however, say he noticed an opportunity NDP could exploit that it wasn’t in the first half.

White said he saw Redwood giving up rebounds but the Saints did not take advantage of them. That was the message during halftime.

“That’s the difference in the playoffs,” he said. “You’re going to have bad games and good games, good minutes and bad minutes. In playoffs, it’s about taking advantage of opportunities and moving on.”

Forward Alexa Clatt scored back-to-back goals in the 59th and 66th minutes to balloon Notre Dame Prep’s lead to 4–0.

At this moment, Gray said Shadow Ridge’s efforts fell apart as NDP went on to score twice more in the final 10 minutes of play.

Shadow Ridge midfielder Jordan Lafferty said the Saints' offense took a mental toll on the team, especially in the second half.

“Once one goal went in, they just kept going in and we couldn’t get our heads back up,” Lafferty said.

Despite the rout, White said he was impressed with the way Shadow Ridge played and how they approached the match, both before and during it.

“They hung tough, which is the biggest thing,” White said. “You can’t teach that. They should take a lot of pride in the way they play soccer.”

Shadow Ridge forward Bayley Forbis (15) drives the ball up field against NDP forward Alexa Clatt during the Stallions 6-0 loss to the Saints during the first round of the 5A playoffs. [Josh Martinez/Valley Preps][/caption]