LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's soccer team's seniors are an accomplished crew. They were on the winningest team in program history, the one that advanced to the Sweet 16 and another that also made the DII NCAA Tournament.

But the veterans had never beaten Quincy.

That is, they hadn't until Friday.

Junior forward Kenzi Gooley and senior midfielder Audrey Van Der Elst scored before halftime as Bellarmine rallied from a first-half deficit, and the Knights held on for a 2-1 victory over the Hawks despite some tense moments down the stretch in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.

Sophomore midfielder Camryn Pictor chipped in an assist and sophomore goalkeeper Elyssa Francis collected six saves for Bellarmine (5-3-1, 3-1-1 GLVC), which knocked off the reigning GLVC regular-season champion in Quincy (5-4, 3-2) in its conference home opener.

"It goes without saying that is a huge result for our team," Bellarmine Coach Chris Tinius said. "Again, some of it was prettier than at other times. We held on at the end, but we got it done."

Bellarmine fans were undoubtedly holding their breath in the final 10 seconds of regulation. The Knights committed a foul and Quincy set up for a free kick from approximately 32 yards out. Cassidy Foley, Quincy's leading scorer, ripped a shot that was angling for just below the crossbar before Francis leaped to knock it away. The clock expired before the Hawks could set up for the corner kick.

All the goals were scored in the first half. Quincy took a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute as Maddie Bauer rebounded her own shot off a Francis save and pushed it into the net. Less than two minutes later, Gooley delivered the equalizer, taking a pass from Pictor inside the box and drilling a shot from 15 yards. It was Gooley's first goal of the season and marked the 10th player for Bellarmine to score in its first nine matches.

"I loved the way we answered after going down a goal. Not just because we scored, but we didn't back down," Tinius said. "The attitude was honestly more important than the results of it at that particular moment, but we scored two pretty good goals. I thought it was the first time all year we felt like we could make some purposeful decisions off the bench instead of just plugging holes." 

Van Der Elst accounted for the second goal, less than two minutes after the first score. Weaving her way by a pair of defenders straight up the middle of the field, the All-Region midfielder laced a shot from just inside the box that landed in the top right corner of the net. Van Der Elst's team-high third goal of the season proved to be the game-winner.

Quincy finished with a 13-10 advantage in shots, including 7-4 on goal.

Bellarmine hosts Illinois Springfield at noon (ET) Sunday.

"This was a great afternoon, but now we have to focus on Sunday," Tinius said. "One of the big differences for us the last year and a half is not being prepared to finish the back half of the weekend. Sunday results are something we took a lot of pride in a few years ago. We have to get back to that for this result to really carry the weight that it can."

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