As Todd Ackerman maneuvered his players on, off and around the soccer field, Luis Zamora could only watch.

Depth was a deciding factor Friday night between the Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville and Burlington High School girls soccer teams.

The Nikes had more of it and are moving on.

ND-WB/D beat Burlington 3-1 in a Class 2A regional quarterfinal that the Grayhounds finished without two of their starters and with a third hobbled.

McKenzie Speer started and finished the scoring by posting two goals for ND-WB/D. In between, the Nikes had either Anna Tillo or Kaelyn Hoambrecker following the Grayhounds' top scoring threat, Elyse Huber, around the field at all times.

"We try to rotate the whole team as much as we can (and) keep people fresh," Ackerman, the ND-WB/D coach, said. "Having the ability to put two people on Elyse helps out. It worked out pretty good for us."

Speer and Tillo represented the depth that helped beat Burlington in several ways.

Speer entered the match with six goals, which was the seventh-highest total on the team. Against Burlington, she performed like option number one.

Tillo began the game shadowing Huber, then played the final 26 minutes as goalkeeper. It was the first time she'd played the position for the Nikes, yet her coach felt the freshman, who plays goalkeeper for her club team, was most apt for the situation.

"(ND-WB/D starting goalkeeper) Jayla (Kreiss) made a couple really nice saves and kept us in it, but at the end of the day, when they're playing those longer balls, if we can get someone that can just come off the line quicker, that would help us a lot," Ackerman said. "I've always known in the back of my head it's available to me (and) if we need it, we can use it. I thought tonight was the right time to use it."

That kind of flexibility wasn't available to the Grayhounds. They could've used it.

Burlington's defense was shorthanded from the opening minute. Junior Lydia Eisenmann, who suffered a knee injury in a match nine days ago, reaggravated the injury during warm ups and never played.

Eisenmann also missed the teams' regular-season meeting, which ended in a similar two-goal advantage for the Nikes.

"I think it definitely affected (the match) quite a bit," Zamora, the Grayhounds' coach, said "She's such a leader back there, vocally. We definitely missed her the first time we played them and we missed her again today."

Burlington freshman Emily Murphy exited the game early with a concussion. Huber played relatively limited minutes because of injury.

"I think we made a game of it playing three starters down," Zamora said. "Notre Dame, they have a really good team. They're really deep on the bench and they've got the freedom of taking anybody out, bringing anybody on. We don't have that."

Huber scored Burlington's lone goal on a rebound effort with 27:47 to play. That led to a stretch of about 10 minutes that Speer described as "chaotic." The Nikes weren't nearly as sharp during that span, particularly with their passing.

"We were just getting a little tired and panicked and just started kicking the ball around," Speer said.

Speer eased her team's jitters with just over 10 minute left. She played a cross from Michaela Lillie on the right side of the field off her body in front of the goal and then scored quickly off one bounce.

"We always work in practice on touching it first in the air," Speer said. "I went to the ball and tried to control it the best I could and then went to the outside of the goal."

The Nikes advance to play Keokuk in the region semifinals Tuesday. ND-WB/D already beat Keokuk once this year in what was arguably the team's greatest display of depth. Ackerman's squad won that match, 4-3, despite missing several key players, including Tillo, Hoambrecker and leading goal scorer Kate Luers, who were at a track meet.

"If we play our game, pass the ball and move it quickly, I think we can do well," Ackerman said. "If we step up our physicality, I think we can play with (Keokuk) and have the opportunity to win."

Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville 3 Burlington 1

ND-WB/D 2 1 - 3

BHS 0 1 - 1

Scoring summary

Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville - 32:41 first half, McKenzie Speer from Alex Ackerman. Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville - 3:34 first half, Ackerman . Burlington - 27:47 second half, Elyse Huber. Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville - 10:45 second half, Speer from Michaela Lillie.

Match statistics


Shots 19 10

Saves 4 10

Fouls 4 6

Offsides 1 0

Free kicks 6 5

Corner kicks 6 2

Penalty kicks 0 0

Yellow cards 0 0

Red cards 0 0

Records: ND-WB/D 17-1, BHS 5-8.