DANVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's soccer team finished its preseason slate strong with a 2-0 victory Saturday at Centre College in an exhibition match.

Senior midfielder Lauren Holder and senior forward Mary Beth Gorham notched goals for Bellarmine, while senior defender Lexy Hazle and freshman forward Annabel Moore chipped in assists.

"It was a pretty good effort tonight in a good battle," Bellarmine Coach Chris Tinius said. "This game with Centre is always a great barometer for both of us."

Bellarmine capitalized twice on scoring chances, but there wasn't a large variance of those between the two teams. The Knights held a 14-12 advantage in shots but kept the Colonels out of the net.

"I was very pleased to get another shutout," Tinius said. "The athleticism on Centre's front line is as good as any we will see all year, so to contain those players took organization and courage."

Tinius said that Centre "was definitely the better team the first 15 minutes." Bellarmine escaped trouble a few times and got comfortable.

"Once we settled in, we knocked it around pretty well," Tinius said. "We definitely came out as the aggressor to start the second half. We dodged a couple bullets late but saw the game out."

Bellarmine scored both its goals in the first half. Hazle spotted Holder for the team's first goal, and Moore found Gorham for some cushion.

"Our ideas in the attack certainly looked better," Tinius said. "We need to keep getting pieces healthy so they can learn to play off each other, but we saw more of the pieces tonight."

Bellarmine's preseason consisted of two scrimmages and the Centre exhibition. The Knights open the regular season by playing Lincoln Memorial at noon (ET) Friday at neutral-site Columbus State.

"Maybe the best thing about all three preseason matches is we were better in the second half," Tinius said. "No doubt we want to learn to start better, but it's a good sign that we can identify problems and solve things within the game."

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