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By Robert Balajadia

Demi-Rae Shimizu is most dangerous when given the opportunity to kick an uncontested ball. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The Notre Dame Royals are off to a good start this 2013 soccer season by defeating the Harvest Eagles 3-1 to advance to 2-0, behind two goals from Demi-Rae Shimizu, at the Leo Palace soccer field Saturday morning.

Shimizu took over the second half scoring an early goal off a free-kick to give the Royals a slim 2-1 lead.  Harvest was unable to respond to the Royal’s defense, denying the Eagle’s offense to establish any form of rhythm.  Shimizu then put the cherry on top of ND’s win by scoring off a corner kick with less than a minute to go in the game for her second of the game.  It seems the further away Demi-Rae is away from the goal, the more dangerous.

“My team goes hard and we play with a lot of heart.  We communicate well and get each others back.  To be honest, I just kicked the ball and hoped! I also practice those shots a lot, it’s been my life’s work to practice those shots,” Shimizu stated on her two goals.

Eagles Tatyana Ungacta scored the lone goal for her team in a tough 3-1 loss. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Harvest shook off an early “own goal” to tie the game at one off a free kick from star player Tatyana Ungatca.  Both teams had identical first half stats attempting seven shots at goal each while scoring only one goal.  The second half also left both teams with similar stats with ND getting six shots at goal and Harvest with five.

Eagle’s Elisha Benavente was in prime position to tie the game in the second-half on a break-away but kicked the ball straight to the ND goalkeeper.  Harvest did not attempt a single shot in the final five minutes of the game with the ND forwards keeping the pressure on the Eagle defense.

The loss drops Harvest to 0-2.

The girls of ND have been the queens of high school soccer but a title drought since the 2010 season has left these queens without a crown.  A 2-0 record does nothing more than peg them as favorites to win it all but the Royals are keeping a leveled head as the season unwinds.

Shimizu has experienced all the ups and downs since their last championship and she will lead the Royals this season in attempt to get back the trophy that has slipped their grasp these past years.

She stated, “I know if we work harder than we are working now I know that we can get there again and win it back.”

OTHER GAMES

The Southern Dolphins keep up with the Royals with a 4-0 win over the Okkodo Bulldogs. Paige Surber and April Talledo get into the scoring action.

The Academy Cougars rebounded from a tough loss to the Dolphins with a big 7-1 win over St. Thomas. Gemilie Ilao led a balanced attacked with two goals for the Cougars.

And the JFK Islanders blanked the GW Geckos 4-0 as Thessly Reyes and Pim Limtiaco both scored two goals each.

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

ND’s Brittney Blau and Harvest’s Bella Aguon fight for control of the ball. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Harvest’s goalie Marantha Hennegan successfully blocked the incoming shot from ND’s Brittney Blau. (photo by Jesse Castro)

ND’s Paris Blas gets the ball downfield with Harvest’s Jane Baik defending her area. (photo by Jesse Castro)

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