LIBERTY, Mo. — The 15th-ranked Bellarmine University women's soccer team scored twice in the first half and recorded its seventh shutout in eight matches in a 2-0 victory at William Jewell on Friday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
Junior midfielder
Lauren Holder and freshman midfielder
Polly Marino scored goals for the Knights (8-0, 5-0 GLVC), who remained undefeated and continued their best start in program history. BU has outscored its opponents 14-1 during the winning streak.
"This was a good road win for us," BU Coach
Chris Tinius said. "The girls did a very good job of taking the things we trained this week and applying them to the first part of the game."
It didn't take long for Bellarmine to build a comfortable lead against William Jewell (3-3-2, 1-3-1). Holder got the Knights on the board when she scored her third goal of the season in the 17th minute.
Marino tacked on Bellarmine's second score in the 34th minute, marking the first goal of her career. The Knights converted on two of their eight shots in the first half.
"We squandered a few early chances but kept working, and Lauren eventually put the first one away," Tinius said. "The second goal was a great job of (sophomore midfielder)
Sam Tilton keeping the play alive and then us taking advantage of a second opportunity."
Bellarmine's defense blanked its third straight opponent. Illinois Springfield stands as the only team thus far to score on the Knights, who began the season with four consecutive shutouts. Sophomore goalkeeper
Taylor Smith corralled three saves while moving to 3-0 and maintaining her perfect goals-against average.
Bellarmine attempted 14 shots to the 11 of William Jewell. The Knights had a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal.
Bellarmine plays at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday at Rockhurst.
"The second half once again showed that we need to work on that killer instinct. We could have made things a little easier on ourselves," Tinius said. "That being said, credit William Jewell. They really tried to bring the game at us at times and put us under some real pressure.
"In the end, it was another shutout, which is a testament to our collective effort and another W. Now we have to try and rest some heavy legs before facing a very tough matchup on Sunday."
BOX SCORE (HTM)
