HAMILTON —The Notre Dame girls soccer side now knows exactly how the players on the Arsenal Football Club felt following the completion of the last EPL season. Just like the Gunners from North London, Notre Dame put together a tremendous stretch drive in which it secured every point possible, only to frustratingly come up a tad bit short in its bid to capture a Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division title. On the last day of Colonial Division play on Tuesday, Notre Dame (10-4-1) made it nine wins in a row with a 2-1 victory over scrappy Steinert. In nearly every other year, a streak like that would have been enough to win a league title. The only problem for the Irish was Hopewell Valley put together a 13-game unbeaten streak of its own, including  a 2-1 overtime victory on Tuesday against Robbinsville that allowed the Valley Girls to clinch the division title outright. “I would say our love for playing with each other,” replied  Notre Dame senior Isabella Lynch when asked what turned the season around after a 1-4-1 start. “We just weren’t getting the results we wanted and we didn’t want our season to end that way. The Robbinsville game (a 3-0 win) really motivated us and got us going.” Headed to Gettysburg College to play soccer, Lynch has played a commanding midfield role for a team that has outscored the opposition, 28-8, during the current nine-game unbeaten run. Knowing it could still win a league title if it won and Hopewell lost, Notre Dame came out strong against Steinert and took the lead in the first half when Reagan O’Mara took a pass from Riley Cunningham and scored from point-blank range. That lead grew to 2-0 early in the second half when a well-placed Cunningham cross struck the hip of Anna Guido and bounced into the net. Although it is not having a great season by its high standards, there’s a lot of pride in the Steinert program and the Spartans (5-8-2) responded to the two-goal deficit with their best soccer of the game. As a result, Steinert cut the lead in half when Reilly Klein right-footed a blast into the far upper corner of the net following a pass by Ella Tamango. There was no more scoring, but there was some excitement as the Spartans remained on the attack and had several good chances. The best came when a header in front of the Notre Dame goal was just a few inches high in the final minute. “We had a lot of players back, but we asked a lot of them to play in different spots,” said Notre Dame coach Lauren Diaz. “Once they got used to doing something different they really jelled. One key was moving Ashton (Robbins) to midfield from central back.” While its near league title miss was disappointing, the Irish can still look forward to the Colonial Valley Conference and state tournaments. Obviously, no one should take this team lightly. Notre Dame (10-4-1) 1 1 – 2 Steinert (5-8-2) 0 1 – 1 Goals: ND-O’Mara, Guido. S-Klein. Assists: ND-Cunningham 2. S-Tamagno. Shots: ND-7. S-5. Saves: ND-Zeidman 3. S-Petracca 3.