LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After earning a critical home sweep, the Bellarmine University women's soccer team packs up for the first two of a three-game road stretch in Atlantic Sun Conference play to end the regular season.
Winner of three of its last four games, Bellarmine (5-8-2, 4-3-1 ASUN) will head to the Sunshine State for a 7 p.m. (ET) matchup Thursday at North Florida (6-3-7, 3-1-4) before a 1 p.m. clash Sunday at Jacksonville (3-9-2, 2-5-1).
Bellarmine and North Florida are tied for sixth in the ASUN standings with 13 points. There's a chance one or both clinch berths in the eight-team ASUN Tournament on match day. Central Arkansas, defending champion FGCU and Eastern Kentucky have secured bids.
ABOUT NORTH FLORIDA
North Florida's ASUN results have been draw-heavy. The Ospreys had four ties in a row before Sunday's 5-0 romp at North Alabama. UNF preceded that victory with a 1-1 deadlock at league leader Central Arkansas. The Ospreys had a 1-1 home stalemate before that against Lipscomb, the defending regular-season champion. Paige McSwigan is tied for third in the ASUN with six goals and Bella Pontieri has added five.
ABOUT JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville will host Eastern Kentucky on Thursday ahead of its contest with Bellarmine. The Dolphins are in eighth place in the ASUN with seven points — one ahead of Stetson and two ahead of Queens — so JU will certainly be looking to solidify its positioning in the race for one of the eight berths in the conference tournament. Last week, Jacksonville captured a 2-0 road win at North Alabama before falling 3-2 at Central Arkansas. Logan Gonzales and Manuela Restrepo have tallied five goals apiece.
LAST WEEK
Particularly with the impending three-game road stretch to end the regular season, Bellarmine's 4-0 and 3-1 ASUN home sweep last week of Queens and West Georgia, respectively, was of prime importance. The Knights pounced on the Royals for a 3-0 lead at halftime and cruised in the second half. BU then jumped on West Georgia for two goals inside the first 14 minutes. The Wolves cut the deficit in half with roughly 10 minutes left, but the Knights reimposed a two-goal lead less than two minutes later.
ROOKIE REWARD
McKenzie Carle was named ASUN Player of the Week on Tuesday after scoring the first two goals against Queens and adding another along with an assist against West Georgia. The freshman forward supplied the game-winning goal against the Royals and assisted on the game-winner against the Wolves. All five of Carle's goals have come in ASUN play.
KNACK FOR GAME-WINNERS
Campbell Tippey's goal against West Georgia represented the game-winner. In fact, all three of the freshman forward's goals this season have been game-winners — she was also responsible for the deciding goals against Stetson and North Alabama.
ASUN LEADERS
Emma Nicholson tied the overall and D1-era program record with three assists against Queens. That vaulted the senior forward/midfielder into a tie for first in the ASUN with six assists. Nicholson is second in the league in points (20), tied for second in goals (seven) and shots on goal (21), and tied for third in total shots (41). Her point, goal and assist totals are already all D1-era program records.
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