CHARLOTTE, N.C.—"Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina" is a popular song lyric, but it could also describe the Bellarmine field hockey team's recent road trip.
After knocking off Converse 4-1 in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Friday night, the Knights traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina for a neutral site game against the University of Mount Olive on Saturday afternoon, and Bellarmine rolled to 7-1 victory. The win was the third in a row for the Knights and raised their season record to 4-2.
Against the Trojans, Bellarmine was a bit slow to start, but put four goals on the board in the second quarter to take control of the game.
Teresa Schmidt tallied the first score with her first collegiate goal when she deflected in a ball off the stick of
Amber Hofenk Jerembo on a penalty corner about five and half minutes into the second period.
After UMO evened the score about a minute later, back to back goals by Bellarmine's
Merit Harris gave the Knights a 3-1 lead. Just before the halftime buzzer,
Lindsay Reynolds scored on a penalty corner as
Cassidy Sweeney picked up her second assist of the day.
The Knights dominated the second half, outshooting the Trojans 29-2 with Hofenk Jerembo finding the back of the cage twice and Reynolds adding another goal to close out the scoring.
"Saturday was a better showing for our squad against a challenging, young program," said Bellarmine Coach
Devanny Boisvert. "Mount Olive is well coached and were successful in beating our press down the middle, but we did a great job at adjusting quickly to the fast-pace playing surface and utilizing our sweeps and pushes."
Final statistics show big advantages for the Knights in practically every phase of the game. The Trojans earned just one penalty corner on the day while Bellarmine drew 13, and the Knights enjoyed a 45-shot advantage (50-5).
The duo of Harris and Sweeney helped the Knights control the action according to Boisvert. "Merit and Cass have been a perfect duo for us in the middle of the field," she said. "Cassidy had a solid performance. She was smart and competitive on the ball which resulted in two assists."
Boisvert added, "Our freshman continue to impress me," she said. "They work hard and bring a positive energy to our program. We hope to continue this momentum into some tough games next weekend against Belmont Abbey and Queens."
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