JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Unfortunately for the Bellarmine University women's soccer team, it was déjà vu all over again in the rematch against McKendree.

On Friday afternoon at the Woehrle Athletic Complex, the top-seeded Bearcats scored on a Bellarmine own goal a little over one minute into their Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament semifinal and held on for a 1-0 victory over the fifth-seeded Knights.

Oddly enough, it was a familiar result against McKendree (15-3-2) for Bellarmine (12-5-3) this season. The Knights also lost 1-0 to the Bearcats on an own goal during their regular-season match Sept. 20 at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.

The own goal occurred in the second minute. A Bellarmine defender had an errant clear attempt on a Kate Bixby shot and inadvertently redirected the ball inside the left post.

"Obviously it was a difficult way to start the game and go behind the 8-ball," Knights Coach Chris Tinius said. "I thought we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game and not letting it unravel us, but we had 88 minutes to find a goal and we didn't."

Bellarmine's best opportunities to deliver the equalizer occurred in the first half. Junior midfielder Samantha Ferry had a pair of strong strikes, the first one caroming off the crossbar and the second barely clearing the crossbar.

There were a combined 19 shots in the match but only two in the second half, both from Bellarmine. The Knights had a 9-8 shot advantage in the first half and 11-8 edge for the contest. The defenses allowed a minimum of really good looks — Bellarmine had only one shot on goal while McKendree had just two.

"Generally speaking it was another good effort, but those little moments we won in the second half last week (in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Truman State) weren't quite there for us today," Tinius said. "Credit to McKendree for making things extremely difficult. I don't think there's much separation between us, but they obviously have a little edge to their game that we lack. We've talked recently about how our consistency has been such a positive and allowed us a great season but that sometimes you have to find a spike to your game or consistency turns into predictability. That happened a bit recently."

Bellarmine is hoping for an NCAA Tournament bid, but Tinius said the Knights will need some things to fall into place.

"It's been a great year and we still have a shot at more," he said. "We need some help on Sunday, but we'll keep our fingers crossed and see how things work out. Either way, I'm extremely proud of this group and what they've gotten out of themselves."

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