TriCounty The bare facts are these: the Notre Dame boys shelled Norridge Ridgewood 8-0 to collect the Class 2A title in the most lopsided state championship soccer match in IHSA history.
That led to the 26-1 Irish’s No. 4 national ranking in the final fall poll conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), behind only unbeaten teams from Cleveland, Ohio; Carmichael, Calif.; and Hyattsville, Md.
In fourth-year Notre Dame coach Mike Bare’s opinion, those are among the factors that make the 2010 Irish "the greatest sports team ever to come out of the Peoria area."
Since Bare’s declaration at an assembly in November at the high school, Irish senior forward Vince Cicciarelli has been named to the NSCAA’s 77-player all-America team.
LEW WILLIAMS Lew Williams, a former standout Bradley and semi-pro baseball player who has served for 40 years as secretary-statistician of the Sunday Morning League, has won the 1984 Neve Harms Meritorious Service to Sports Award of the Peoria Ad Club. | ![]() |