LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's soccer team will embark on its final road trip of the regular season as the Knights are set for Great Lakes Valley Conference contests at Missouri-St. Louis and Truman State.
Bellarmine (7-4-1, 5-2-1) will square off with UMSL (3-8, 2-6) at 6 p.m. (ET) Friday before traveling to Truman State (9-3, 5-3) for a 1 p.m. showdown Sunday. With five games left, the Knights are tied for third in the GLVC with Maryville.
Bellarmine has taken a four-segment approach to its GLVC slate, which began with four road games followed by four home contests. Those accounted for the first two segments. The Knights went 3-1 at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium, defeating Quincy, Illinois Springfield and Rockhurst while falling to Lewis. Bellarmine is staring down two road contests before concluding the regular season with three home outings.
"We wanted to get four results out of the second block, which was the last four home games. We got three and were 90 seconds away from a fourth," Bellarmine Coach
Chris Tinius said. "This weekend's road trip is the third segment, and it will be difficult going to two places that are historically hard places to play and what looks like our first encounter with some different weather conditions. We need to come back with a result and make sure we are in a spot where the three home games to finish the season can be of benefit."
Missouri-St. Louis is coming off matches with identical scores but vastly different outcomes. The Tritons defeated Missouri S&T 3-0 before falling 3-0 to Maryville. Lee Strande has a pair of goals for UMSL, which debuted this year with a 2-1 double-overtime win over current No. 12 Ferris State.
"UMSL is another one of those teams that if you just focus on the record, you will quickly find out it's not indicative of what they are capable of," Tinius said. "They have been very dynamic at times, and when they are clicking, they have dominated long stretches of play against some of the best teams in the league. They beat Ferris State to open the season, which is something we weren't able to do two days later and something nobody else has done all year. We expect what we have seen the last three times we've been there, which is a battle to the end."
Like Missouri-St. Louis, Truman State also came out on opposite ends of matches with identical scores. The Bulldogs defeated Drury 1-0 before dropping a 1-0 contest to Missouri S&T. Faith Branson is pacing a balanced attack with four goals while Hanna Burke and Hanna Liljegren have three apiece for Truman State, which stylistically shares many traits with the Knights.
"Truman State is a quality team and quality program," Tinius said. "They play good soccer and have good players that are well coached. They will be organized and hard to break down. It seems like the last three or four times we've played, the team that has won has led for about a total of five minutes combined. I always say it can be a lot like looking in the mirror at times, which lends itself to some very well-contested matches."
Bellarmine was on both sides of the emotional spectrum in its most recent two games. The Knights fell 2-1 in double overtime to Lewis but defeated Rockhurst 3-2 in overtime after knotting the match in the 89th minute.
It was an inventive way to reach three goals against the Hawks. Sophomore defender
Ellie Vandergriff, recognizing the goalkeeper came out on a corner kick, blistered a shot from 30 yards off a deflection into the net; triggered by an accurate throw-in, an
Erika Joldrichsen to
Annabel Moore to
Isabella Zamborini connection tied it at 2; and
Kenzi Gooley ended the match based largely on stuffing a clear attempt, which essentially teed up a shot that she easily drilled for the "golden goal."
"Hopefully we can continue to score more 'dirty goals,' " Tinius said. "We miss out on a lot of chances watching other people take a shot or waiting for something to fall perfectly at our foot or for a free header. Some of the most exciting goals in soccer are things like diving headers or sliding finishes. We talked a lot about quality over quantity before the Rockhurst match, so we certainly don't want to settle for things, but being ready for those moments off an opponent's mistake or a second chance after your teammate's shot is just as important as finding the perfect build-up. The reality is most goals aren't scored from perfect build-ups."
Coming off a historically shrewd season defensively, Tinius has been pleased with the team's progress in that area after losing several key cogs to graduation. The organization has been sound and the amount of shots the Knights have allowed is in line with past groups. The unit may not be as difficult to crack, but it continues to cause headaches.
"I think generally speaking our team defending and shape has still been very good and is something other team's don't like dealing with," Tinius said. "The difference has been the quality of some of those looks, which results in more finding the back of the net. That's not the end of the world. We knew with what we lost down the middle of the field that the dynamic and level of experience there would be different. I am very stingy and I certainly get frustrated giving up goals, but by and large I think we're doing a very respectable job. Each team is different and we knew with so many returning players in the attacking part of the field, we need to show some growth and poise there and be ready to pick up the slack at times when we give up goals — just like last year when we compensated for a lack of scoring with defense. I think (the win over Rockhurst on) Sunday was a great example of that."
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