Howard’s Christian Garcia tries to get around Notre Dame’s Conner Henry.
photo by M.A. Locke
Notre Dame’s Reeve Mullinax is pressured by Howard’s Neyder Gonzalez.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s Shovy Mendoza cuts back against Notre Dame’s Kevin Perez.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s Christian Garcia defends against Notre Dame’s Will Ingell.
photo by M.A. Locke
Notre Dame’s Tariq Griffin controls the ball.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard coaches celebrate a score.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s Neyder Gonzalez gives chase to Notre Dame’s Freddie Ellis.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s Moises Duenas and Notre Dame’s Andy McMeen chase the ball.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s Humberto DeLeon protects the ball from Notre Dame’s Andy McMeen.
photo by M.A. Locke
Howard’s soccer team overcame missing three players, a change of formation and post spring break fatigue to win 3-1 at Notre Dame High School on Tuesday.
“I like how they adapted quickly to their new formation.” Howard head coach Jose Otero said. “We just got back from spring break and we are a little bit out of shape. We need to work on conditioning, but I really like how they held it together.”
Spring break fatigue did not seem to affect senior forward Neyder Gonzalez - he wreaked havoc on the Notre Dame backline all night. Gonzalez opened the scoring midway through the first half when he calmly slotted his shot past the Notre Dame goalkeeper.
“He (Gonzalez) is a striker that whenever he feels he is not getting the ball, he comes back and helps the midfield and helps distribute," Otero said. “I think tonight that was key to our success.”
Senior forward Moises Duenas doubled Howard’s lead with a sweet volley from the right side of the box, less than five minutes after Gonzalez scored.
Notre Dame pulled one back when senior captain Conner Henry buried a free kick from distance.
Notre Dame began throwing numbers forward late in the game in an attempt to equalize. That is when Howard senior forward Yefri Baltazar scored to deflate Notre Dame’s hope of a comeback.
“Our effort was pretty good,” Notre Dame head coach Jim Schemerhorn said, “but we made a lot of mistakes and that cost us. We have a lot to work on.”
Notre Dame travels to East Hamilton on Thursday. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.