CHATTANOOGA -- Greeneville's run in the TSSAA Class A/AA State Soccer Tournament came to an end on Thursday when the Lady Devils fell 3-0 to a talented Notre Dame team in the semifinals.

The Lady Irish hit Greeneville for a goal in just the second minute. Although behind early, Greeneville didn't get down. The Lady Devils continued to push, but a second Notre Dame goal just before halftime was a bad blow.

"That's the one that broke our backs," said Greeneville coach John Eiskamp. "(Assistant coach Jerry Graham) and I talked right before halftime and thought if we could keep it to just 1-0 at the half, we'd be OK. That second goal kind of pushed us back deeper into a hole. The third goal put it away for them. We didn't have much of an offensive opportunity tonight."

Greeneville didn't have many offensive opportunities because Notre Dame was so good at possessing the ball. The Lady Irish could maintain control on both ends of the field and rarely let the Lady Devils have a clean touch on the ball.

The Lady Devils managed only six shots on goal.

"I think their possession game stymied us," Eiskamp said. "We started attacking with two strikers and decided we needed to push another one up top. We got some better combinations in, but still nothing came as far as decent shots on goal."

Notre Dame scored its first goal in just the second minute when Carey Leiper found herself alone in the box and worked her way clear for a look at an empty net.

The Lady Irish were denied a second in the 19th minute on a corner kick when Allison McKee saved Greeneville by clearing the ball off the line.

Taylor Leng had one of Greeneville's best chances of the game in the 21st minute when she put a 30-yard free kick on target that Notre Dame keeper Grace Courter had trouble handling. Unfortunately for the Lady Devils, no one followed up the shot, and Courter recovered.

Notre Dame didn't make the same mistake in the 33rd. A ball into the box set up a goal mouth scramble with bodies flying everywhere only to see Danielle Ciabattone shoot through a crowd to make it 2-0.

Marie Scott came close for Greeneville with a bending shot just before halftime, and McKee put a long range strike on target that Courter had to punch over the bar right after the break.

From that point on, the match was played end to end. Scott continued to attack well for the Lady Devils, and Katey Anderson carried much of the load defensively to limit Notre Dame's attack from getting close to goal.

When that approach didn't work, the Lady Irish got the job done from distance when Ciabattone scored her second of the match to put the game out of reach.

Notre Dame (16-2-3) advances to Saturday's state title match against defending champion CAK (23-0-1), who defeated CPA 2-1 in the other semifinal.

Greeneville ends its season with an appearance in the state semifinals in the Lady Devils' first ever trip to the state tournament. They finished with an 18-6-1 record. Greeneville was the last standing public school among the state's Final Four.

Almost the entire team will be back next year. Of the Lady Devils' 11 starters, Anderson was the lone senior. Claire Holladay and Katie Lamons are the team's other two seniors but have missed time because of sickness and injury.

Eiskamp said what the team accomplished and knowing it will return almost intact is a good sign for the future.

"It's been an astounding year for the girls and the coaches as well," he said. "The challenges we had ahead of us... this was one of our goals to get here. We obtained all the goals. Winning the district, winning the region, getting to the state semifinals, what more could you ask for other than to play on Saturday? Now that we've got a taste of it, I think it's going to be motivation for us next year."