LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Bellarmine Field Hockey team gets its 2018 season officially under way with a pair of home games against top 10 teams over the Labor Day weekend.
On Friday, the Knights welcome the seventh-ranked St. Anselm Hawks at 6:30 p.m. in Frazier Stadium, and on Monday, the No. 10 Bloomsburg Huskies visit for an 11 a.m. contest.
Bellarmine, which was 9-11 last season, got a chance to play outside competition this past weekend and knocked off intrastate rival Centre College 3-2 in an exhibition game. In that contest, juniors Lindsay Reynolds (2 goals) and Merit Harris (2 assists) were the offensive leaders while classmate Heather Gregory made six saves in goal for the Knights.
The top three scorers from last year's squad return for Bellarmine. Harris held the top spot a year ago with 11 goals and two assists while sophomores Mandi Isom and April Paulson ranked second and third.
Meanwhile, on defense, Gregory returns in goal after being the only player to patrol the cage for the Knights last season when she posted a goals-against average of just 1.98 while recording four shutouts.
Bellarmine's opening day opponent poses a stiff challenge. Saint Anselm is coming off a 17-3 season that saw the Hawks host a first round NCAA Tournament game for the second-straight year and win their second consecutive Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship with an 11-1 record against league opponents.
Although the Hawks lost four of their top top offensive threats from a year ago, top scorer Hanna Friend returns for her junior year after racking up 13 goals and seven assists a year ago. Defensively, St. Anselm returns the bulk of their 2017 unit, including all three goalies, that held opponents to just one goal a game.
This will be just the third meeting between Bellarmine and St. Anselm, and the first since 2012. The Knights own a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series.
On Monday, Bellarmine takes on a more frequent opponent, but one with which the Knights haven't had much success. Bellarmine is 0-6 all-time against Bloomsburg with their last meeting coming in 2016.
Last year the Huskies were 10-9 with a 6-4 mark in the always-competitive PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference). Like St. Anselm, Bloomsburg lost four of its top five scorers from last year, but returns a solid defensive unit.
Ali McKay led the Huskies in assists last season with six and added three goals and is top returning scorer for Bloomsburg. Defensively last season, two goalies shared time in the cage for Bloomsburg and both return for 2018. Dana Sheply and Hannah Barnard combined for a 1.61 goals-against average while stopping 75.2 percent of opponents' on-target shots last year.
In addition to the Knights' games, Frazier Stadium will be the site of more college field hockey action this weekend. On Saturday, Lindenwood comes to Louisville to take on Bloomsburg at noon with the Lions taking on St. Anselm at noon on Sunday.
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