ST. CHARLES, Mo.—As the game clock was winding down and it looked as if the Bellarmine Knights field hockey team would have to go overtime against Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Knights drew a penalty corner and made the most of their opportunity when senior defender Carly Anson drilled her second goal of the game to lift Bellarmine to a 3-2 victory at a game played in Lindenwood University's Harlen C. Hunter Stadium.
 
In the regular season debut for the Knights, Bellarmine wasn't as sharp as Coach Mark Blankenbaker would have liked in the first 35 minutes but halftime adjustments paid dividends as BU tallied all three of its goals in the second period.
 
"We started the game unorganized in our defensive and offensive circle, which resulted in giving up an early goal," Blankenbaker said, adding that his team failed to execute on several first half penalty corners. 
 
"During halftime we talked about improving the communication between each line, and the girls really stepped up and showed a lot of heart and desire," he said.
 
Trailing 1-0 at the break, the Knights were able to even the score when Elle Lichte finished on a Lillie Nitzken assist nearly 13 minutes into the second half. Then BU took a 2-1 lead when Anson converted on another penalty corner in the 56^th minute.
 
The Crimson Hawks evened the score with under eight minutes to play, but the Knights hung tough to set up Anson's heroics in the waning moments of the game.
 
"Once IUP tied it back up, I thought the team showed a lot of determination to maintain possession of the ball in our half of the field," Blankenbaker said.
 
The difference of the game could have been Bellarmine's second efficiency on penalty corners, as the Knights scored on three of their six second half opportunities.
 
Blankenbaker said Anson came up big for Bellarmine all day.  "(Carly) had a great day as a tough defender and scored two goals to lead us to victory," he said. "We had a lot of new players playing in big roles today, so we are happy with the win."
 
Heather Gregory worked all 70 minutes in goal and came up with seven saves to earn the victory for Bellarmine while senior defender Mary Ringwald registered a defensive save.
 
The Knights play Lindenwood tomorrow at 1 p.m. EDT (noon, CDT) in an ECAC battle featuring the teams ranked 1-2 in the preseason poll.
 
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