'Confident': Notre Dame soccer transfer's big game boosts Irish in latest IHSA playoff win

EAST PEORIA — The last thing Ben Ralph said to his Peoria Notre Dame girls soccer team Wednesday as they prepared to kick off against Normal U-High was loud and clear:

"Put your stamp on it."

Not long after that, sophomore forward Ava Lafollette notched a hat trick in the first half to put together a signature game and help Notre Dame write its name into the win column with a 4-0 decision in the IHSA Class 2A Washington Sectional girls soccer semifinal at EastSide Centre.

IHSA soccer: Postseason pairings, schedules, scores for Peoria area

Notre Dame (22-1-1) will head to a sectional title game against Richwoods (21-3-1) in an 11 a.m. start Saturday at Washington.

Lafollette, a newcomer on a team loaded with shining talent, was literally a shooting star Wednesday.

"We just all knew we had to come out swinging at them," Lafollette said. "We knew we had to create pressure and keep pressure on them. That (Notre Dame's) fourth goal (for her hat trick) I didn't know if it got in there in time, but it sure felt great to get it. So exciting, and we just never let up."

That goal came with 1 second left in the first half when Lafollette, 25 yards away and angled toward the right boundary, ran after the ball with her back to the goal, turned and sent a hooking shot that zipped far side into the top left corner of the goal.

"That was phenomenal," Ralph said. "She's a goal scorer. Tonight she had eyes for the goal."

Moving from Metamora to Notre Dame

She also kept an eye on Notre Dame as a freshman last season. Lafollette started playing soccer as a 7-year-old and grew up with classmates and teammates in the St. Philomena School in Peoria.

Lafollette lived in Metamora, so when she reached high school last season she played there for the Redbirds and scored 23 goals as a freshman, earning Journal Star all-area honors and the only freshman named all-sectional by the IHSSCA.

"I wanted to play with my friends from Metamora," she said. "Then I wanted to play with friends I grew up with going to St. Phil's my whole life, and so I transferred to Notre Dame."

Lafollette gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead just 3:23 into the match when the 5-foot-7 forward powered into the box and buried a shot into the left side. Her rip from the left side made the back of the net bulge for her second goal and a 2-0 lead with 31:56 still left in the opening half.

The Irish put U-High on the ropes with a free kick by Lafollette with 1:52 left in the half. She pounded the ball at the Normal wall from 30 yards away, and it deflected off a U-High defender and onto the foot of star forward Mya Wardle, who buried it from the doorstep into the left corner for 3-0.

Lafollette delivered the dagger with her phenomenal turnaround hooking drive from 25 yards out with 1 second left, and the Irish literally raced off the pitch to halftime.

"We're a very confident team right now," Ralph said. "We just have to keep taking these games one at a time, take care of our own business."

Richwoods won a thriller

Richwoods survived a determined, physical Morton team with a 2-1 victory that was less than two minutes from reaching penalty kicks.

The Knights ran a 1-1 battle with Morton down to 1:56 left in the second extra-time session.

A few minutes earlier, Richwoods coach Nate Eisfelder, trying to push his team across the finish line, told them on the sideline during play, "Sometimes you have to pay a sacrifice to get the big win."

They got the big win when midfielder Jackie Contreras set up for a corner kick.

"I sent it in there, and it was a play we had literally just practiced a few days ago," she said. "It was exactly what we were working on."

Little senior forward Zhi Yu Kolmer stood in front of the cage, stretched her 5-foot-4 body and the ball skidded off the back of her head and into the far side, tucking inside the left post.

The Knights sprinted to midfield in triumph with the game-winner in hand.

"That went in off the back of my head, sort of a backwards header," she said. "It was nerve-wracking. We did not want to go to penalty kicks. What a blessing, the biggest goal of my life.

"We've always been the underdogs. I feel like it's our time to shine. We have eight seniors on this team, we know we're leaving together, but we don't want to go out with a loss."

Sisters, opponents, and a rare title chance

• The Notre Dame battle with Richwoods in the Washington Sectional title game will include a family subplot Saturday. The Wardle sisters, Mya and Emy, of course, play together for Notre Dame.

But there is another set of siblings in the match.

The Richwoods roster includes junior midfielder/defender Addison Lefler, who will wear No. 4. The Notre Dame roster includes sophomore midfielder Baylie Lefler, who will wear No. 3.

Yes, they are sisters.

IHSA soccer: Here are 17 high school girls soccer players to know around Peoria for 2024

• Richwoods and Notre Dame have a long history against each other in the playoffs, and it isn't a very happy one for the Knights.

Richwoods has reached the sectional championship game for the first time since the 2005-06 season, where they beat Morton 1-0 in the semi and then lost 1-0 to Notre Dame in the sectional final. The state playoff format was two classes back then. Until this postseason, the Knights had never escaped the regionals since the state went to three classes in 2008-09.

They were knocked out of the playoffs in the regionals by Notre Dame six straight years through 2013-14.

• The Washington Sectional semifinals were held at EastSide Centre on Wednesday because of an event conflict. The soccer doubleheader was originally planned for Tuesday in Washington, but was postponed because of forecasts for severe weather in the Peoria area. The games were moved to Wednesday, but host site Washington already had a lacrosse playoff game booked. So EastSide Centre became an alternate site.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA girls soccer: Notre Dame, Richwoods, win sectional semifinals