LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's the start of Great Lakes Valley Conference play and, for the No. 21 Bellarmine University women's soccer team, hopefully the continuation of its performance in nonconference play.

The Knights (3-0) will make their GLVC debut at noon (ET) Sunday at fellow undefeated Indianapolis (2-0). Bellarmine is 3-0 for the third time in Coach Chris Tinius' six seasons, a stretch that included a 1-0 win over then-No. 21 Carson-Newman, the 2017 national runner-up.

"Record-wise we obviously had a successful nonconference slate," Tinius said. "We played better at times than at others but the result was the same in all three games. I think we got a pretty good look at what we're good at and where we need a little more work, but the mentality required to come out with three wins was probably the best part."

Indianapolis opened its season with two convincing wins. The Greyhounds pounded former GLVC rival Parkside 4-0 in their debut and followed with a 4-1 romp over Purdue Northwest. Amanda Meyer and Taylor Peck have two goals each for UIndy.

In the teams' regular-season finale last year, Indianapolis prevented Bellarmine from owning a share of the GLVC title after the Greyhounds defeated the Knights 1-0 in double overtime. UIndy went 9-7-2 overall last season and 6-5-2 in league play.

"Indy is a very good group," Tinius said. "We saw at the end of the last year that even though they missed out on the conference tournament, they could on any given day be just as good as the eight of us that made it. I think they've improved even another step heading into this fall. They play extremely hard and have some dangerous personalities in the attack that will take any chance you give them, in addition to what they create on their own. They pressure the ball very well defensively. Everyone will tweak things as the season goes, but at least through the first few games we've played very similar systems with each of us probably being a little better at different things. It should make for a competitive match."

Bellarmine pushed through its potentially treacherous nonconference slate unscathed. After picking up the aforementioned win over a ranked Carson-Newman, the Knights also defeated Tusculum and Cedarville by scores of 1-0. In Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial, Tusculum beat both the South Atlantic Conference regular-season and tournament champions on the road last year. Prior to meeting Bellarmine, Cedarville took 2018 NCAA Tournament teams Lee and Rollins to overtime sessions before falling.

"Three games in six days is a lot of wear and tear on the body, especially early in the year as you work into fitness," Tinius said. "We had to rely on a little more depth in the Tusculum game and then a little more against Cedarville. A few people really took advantage of their opportunities. A lot of it goes back to the collective fitness of the returners when they showed up for preseason being the best it has been since my first year here. That helps physically, but it also showed their mentality over the summer, which has carried over so far."

Bellarmine definitely won't be easing into GLVC action. In addition to a UIndy squad that knocked them off last year, the Knights follow with matches against 2018 GLVC Tournament teams McKendree, Southern Indiana, Quincy and Truman State.

"The start of GLVC play is definitely a time to kind of refocus and start a new segment of the season," Tinius said. "This five-game stretch to open up GLVC play is going to be very difficult with respect to the teams that we play and the fact that three of the games are on the road. You have to take one game at a time and understand that you aren't going to play perfectly or even control the game for the entire stretch. What you have to do is give yourself a chance in each game, and in turn be in a position coming out of this stretch that gives you a chance for the rest of the schedule."

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