Olencheck leads three-peat for Lady Irish

photo Notre Dame's Sofia Olenchek kicks the ball to a teammate during the Region 4-A/AA championship match between CCS and Notre Dame at Notre Dame High School on Thursday.

Sofia Olenchek has been marking off bucket-list accomplishments that senior soccer players rarely scratch off.

On Tuesday, the Notre Dame junior soccer player recorded a hat trick.

On Thursday, against rival Chattanooga Christian, in the Region 4-A/AA championship match, she scored the tying goal. Crossing off another item in overtime, she scored the winning goal.

"It's not about me at all," she said. "It's just working out well for us."

Olenchek's goals created a 2-1 win and Notre Dame's third consecutive region championship.

The Lady Irish (9-5-1) will host a sectional game against Boyd-Buchanan on Saturday, likely in the afternoon, according to coach Jim Schermerhorn. The Lady Chargers (10-6-4) will play at Grace Academy, which also is likely to be an afternoon game.

The Lady Irish have not played Boyd-Buchanan this season. But the Lady Chargers defeated Grace 3-1 on the Lady Chargers' senior night.

That seems like weeks ago to CCS coach Cal Sneller, whose team played a tight 1-0 game at Central Magnet on Tuesday, which may have led to some fatigue late in the loss on Thursday.

"We had opportunities that the kids had been doing extremely well finishing," Sneller said. "Was there some exhaustion? Possibly.

"Notre Dame relies on the big ball and my kids slowed it down, and then maybe some tiredness crept in."

The Lady Chargers scored first. CCS took a corner kick from the right corner with about 14 minutes left in the first half. Sara Farlett sent a short pass to Hannah Henry, who blasted a right-footed shot past Taylor Green, who could barely move as it flew by.

"We had dangerous chances," Sneller said. "We had very nice opportunities."

Notre Dame leveled the score with about 34 minutes left in regulation. Olenchek was defended near the goal line beside the right post. She took two small dribbles away from her defender, spun and fired a left-footed shot into the far side of the net.

"She's been playing well all year long," Schermerhorn said of his forward who scored five goals in her last two games. "She's peaking at the right time."

Notre Dame's second-half chances included a shot off the right post by Olenchek that CCS keeper Avery Boulware bounced off the crossbar and an opportunity in front of the net for Olenchek before CCS defenders cleared the danger. CCS had a long shot sail just over the crossbar, and a turning shot from Addie Henry that also sailed high.

So the teams headed to overtime tied 1-1.

The first 10-minute period passed without a goal, but Olenchek opened the second 10-minute session with a left-footed floater from the left side of the field that bounded into the far side of the net.

"It came from midfield, I got control of it, I saw the shot being open, so I took it," Olenchek said. "It ended up being OK."

It ended up deciding the region championship.

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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