The Hillcrest Academy Raven boys soccer team dropped their season opener 1-0 Friday to Burlington Notre Dame in Kalona. Defenses dominated the first half, with the game in a scoreless stalemate after 40 minutes. Things continued the same way in the early stages of the second half until the Nikes got the lone goal of the match from Alessandro Markomichelakis. Notre Dame keeper Taylor Lundgren made that tally stand up with a three save clean sheet. Following the match, Raven head coach Marcus Miller talked with KCII Sports about his takeaways, “Our back line played for us all last year and they were just really strong and consistent tonight. Mason Helmuth and Bryce Bailey in the middle and Lincoln Miller and Isaac Birkey on the sides. Kyle (Neuschwander) was there to grab anything at the end. Second half they got a few more shots than we did. We just had a hard time creating offense. We need to get a little bit quicker on our touches.”

Notre Dame won shots on goal 8-0 and corners 8-4. Raven keeper Kyle Neuschwander had five saves. Hillcrest is now 0-1 on the year and hosts Washington Tuesday. Notre Dame is 1-1 and goes to Burlington tonight.