LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's soccer team finally allowed a goal. The good thing was it only took the Knights about three minutes to make up for it.
On Sunday at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium, junior midfielder
Lauren Holder scored with less than four minutes left in regulation as No. 18 Bellarmine posted a 2-1 win over Illinois Springfield in its Great Lakes Valley Conference home opener.
Bellarmine (5-0, 2-0 GLVC) emerged undefeated from a taxing stretch where it played five matches in 10 days, the latter two of which were conference contests. Junior forward
Mary Beth Gorham tallied the first goal against the Prairie Stars (0-4, 0-2) and added an assist on Holder's game-winner.
"We found a way to win and finish off a grueling stretch," BU Coach
Chris Tinius said.
Illinois Springfield managed to tie the game at 1-1 in the 84th minute as Karisa Rogers headed in a free kick by Nikki Auble. The goal marked the first in five matches that Bellarmine had yielded.
"We've been living on the edge with set pieces," Tinius said. "That's something we knew was a strength for UIS, so it wasn't a huge surprise to give up that goal. I was proud of our quick answer, though."
The answer came in the form of a Gorham to Holder connection. From the right side of the box, Gorham drew the defense and dropped a pass off to Holder, who made a shifty move to elude charging goalkeeper Paige Polonus. The dance carried her toward the right end line, but she was able to gather the ball, dribble left and poke it into the open net for a 2-1 lead in the 87th minute.
The tiebreaking score capped a sensational week of play for Holder, who scored two game-winning goals and assisted on another game-winner in the Knights' three matches. Holder's successful attempt helped BU amass 13 shots after halftime to three for Illinois Springfield.
"I thought our possession was very good in the second half, but we just played slowly both physically and with our decision-making," Tinius said. "Of course, that's easy for me to say as I've been sitting on my butt watching them run around for a week and a half straight in matches."
Overall, Bellarmine racked up 20 shots to eight for UIS. The Knights put 10 shots on frame to two for the Prairie Stars, as senior goalkeeper
Erin Ottman notched the win.
Neither team scored in the first half. Bellarmine got on the board in the 63rd minute as Gorham corralled a loose ball and drilled a shot from the left wing from approximately 25 yards out that cleared Polonus and whizzed inside the far post. It was Gorham's fifth goal of the season and 28th of her career.
"I thought our depth paid off, especially the last 10 minutes of the first half when we started taking ahold of the game," Tinius said. "That also allowed us to steal some extra rest for people like Mary Beth and Lauren, and then they put us on their back again. (Junior midfielder)
Sydney Kraus also did a great job of shoring up the middle of the field in the second half."
Bellarmine will host Drury at 3:55 p.m. (ET) on Friday.
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BOX SCORE (HTM)
