Rockets rally for two second half goals to defeat QND in regional title game

Published 11:11 pm Friday, May 22, 2026

QUINCY — After a scoreless first half, Quincy Notre Dame was hoping they would be able to break through when play resumed in the second half of Friday’s Class 1A Quincy Notre Dame Regional championship game.

Rochester ended up being the team seizing momentum in the second half with a pair of goals, giving the Rockets a 2-0 win and the regional championship.

“(Rochester is) a good team,” said QND head coach Mark Thomas. “We knew that it was going to be tight. We talked about at halftime that (Mary Jane Keller) is a very good player and created that really nice first goal. (Keller) on the corner kick just ran through the ball and had a good finish.”

Similar to the first half, the Raiders were unable to get it going offensively.

“We made some adjustments the last 25 to 30 minutes and we really couldn’t get any good looks,” said Thomas. “You’ve got to hand it to Rochester, they outplayed us and outworked us. They worked hard. We worked hard, but we just couldn’t get anything going and their keeper made a couple of good saves.”

QND goalkeeper Tessa Porter made several saves in a losing effort.

“Tessa played well,” said Thomas. “She can’t do anything about the goals. The first one was a ball played across and it was a good finish. Nothing any keeper can do about that. The second one was a good corner kick and No. 10 walked right through and finished that one. I was hoping we could keep them at one, but they did a good job of finishing their chances.”

QND finishes the 2026 season with a 7-8-4 record.

The Raiders will graduate Alena Thomas, Bayley Weisenberger, Addie Flesch, Jamen Tchapda, Ellison Barnes and Brooklyn Peters.