By Michael Wojtychiw

CHICAGO — It was a case of deja vu for Notre Dame.

In 2019, the last season the IHSA held a state playoff series in boys soccer, the Dons made school history by winning the Speer Sectional.

Fast forward two years and the Dons (23-1-2) were back at the same spot, hoping to make it two in a row at Speer’s stadium. But in their way stood Fenwick, who made its first appearance in a sectional final since 2016.

Well the Friars, and a crazy, steady rain that had been falling all day.

What the crowd got was a fantastic one-goal game that was won on a shot from Notre Dame senior Trevor Johnson with a minute, 24 seconds remaining on a ball that even he didn’t think would cross the line.

“I wanted to put it on goal, but it didn’t look like it had a chance to go in,” Johnson said after Notre Dame’s 4-3 win. “Once it started to curl, you could see it was going to look in and luckily snuck past the keeper.

“It’s the last minute. It was a prayer.”