SECTION 4 BOYS' SOCCER: MULLEN NETS HAT TRICK AS ND ADVANCES IN SECTIONALS (24 PHOTOS) (October 24, 2026)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
SOUTHPORT — Justin Mullen had a hat trick and the Notre Dame boys’ soccer team advanced in the Section IV, Class D playoffs with a 4-2 win over Odessa-Montour on Saturday.

“It’s pretty awesome scoring a hat trick and moving on,” Mullen said. “Last year we got knocked out after the second game. It feels great.”

The Crusaders struck first on a Mullen goal and then Mullen scored again with 6:34 left in the first half as Notre Dame went up 2-0 at the break.

“It’s always nice having a comfortable lead, scoring goals is what I have to do for us,” Mullen said. 

Notre Dame had a win over O-M earlier in the year, but getting off to the fast start helped to make sure they advanced on Saturday.

“We kind of knew what we were expecting since we played them early in the season, but you have to actually come out and do it,” Notre Dame coach Gavin Harrington said. “We are a young team this year and one of my points in the team talk was a lot of the guys haven’t played sectional soccer before. So, it’s a new experience, get used to it, get settled quickly and I think they did a really nice job of that.”

Odessa-Montour scored on a header at 36:43 of the second half by Ethan Nolan. 

The Crusaders had to refocus after O-M got within a goal.

“We kind of just came out a little slower because we thought we were going to win,” Mullen said. “After they scored we just had to pick it up and push forward and scored two more goals.

“We yelled at ourselves, and we told ourselves we had to keep working hard and not thinking the game was over.”

Notre Dame came back after the O-M goal and Mullen capped his hat trick at 28:05 and with 9:05 left in the game Matt Keough scored on a Jake Mullen assist. 

“I think a big thing is we have had problems this season of holding leads and struggling to finish games out,” Harrington said. “It’s something we have been stressing on the last few weeks and they did a great job of that today.”

After the O-M goal the Crusaders were aggressive offensively and it paid off in the two goals.

“One of my things is always press the ball in the attacking third, win it back in the attacking third,” Harrington said. “You don’t have to work as hard to score if you win right in front of their goal.”

Seeing a hat trick from Mullen was special for Notre Dame. 

“Justin is a very special player and I’m very happy to have him and excited to see what he does in his high school career,” Harrington said. 

O-M capped the scoring on an Ethan Dupauy goal with 1:24 left as he went one-on-one with the goalie. 

Keough had two assists for Notre Dame and Mike Sutryk had an assist. Notre Dame had 15 shots and eight corners and O-M had two shots and no corner kicks. 

Winning the game at home was special for the Crusaders players.

“I love home games and it was nice to have our seniors have a nice little win,” Mullen said. 

The Crusaders are playing in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday at top-seeded Marathon. 

“I’m focused on Marathon on Wednesday,” Harrington said. 
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PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:



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