LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The seventh-seeded Bellarmine University women's soccer team will meet sixth-seeded Austin Peay in the first round of the ASUN Championship at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) Thursday at host Lipscomb.
Bellarmine (5-11-2, 4-6-1 ASUN) and Austin Peay (7-6-5, 5-3-3) met in an ASUN opener Sept. 19 in Owsley B. Frazier Stadium. The Governors captured a 1-0 win, but there was certainly more to the story — the Knights finished with a 16-4 advantage in shots, with the attempts at 7-1 and 9-3 in each half, and APSU converted its lone shot on goal while BU couldn't locate the net on six attempts on frame.
After that contest, Austin Peay solidified its positioning in the race for an ASUN Championship bid with a five-game unbeaten streak that included wins over North Alabama (2-0), Jacksonville (4-1) and Stetson (2-1) and draws against Central Arkansas (2-2) and North Florida (1-1). The Governors later added a 2-0 victory against West Georgia.
Austin Peay had strong representation in the ASUN postseason awards. Midfielder Ellie Dreas and defender Lindsey McMahon were second-team All-ASUN selections, forward Aniyah Mack and midfielder Alec Baumgardt were third-team honorees, and Kiley Reese was an ASUN All-Freshman Team recipient.
Baumgardt is Austin Peay's leading goal scorer with six and Dreas has five. Baumgardt's 67 total shots and 26 shots on goal both rank second in the ASUN. The Governors have scored 24 goals and conceded 23.
In
Callie McKinney's first season as head coach, Bellarmine's push to its first ASUN Championship bid since 2021 included wins over Stetson (2-1), North Alabama (1-0), Queens (4-0) and West Georgia (3-1) while the Knights collected another point with a scoreless draw against Lipscomb.
McKenzie Carle earned the program's first-ever ASUN superlative award after being named the conference's Freshman of the Year. The forward also garnered the team's first-ever first-team All-ASUN accolade and, additionally, was the league's lone unanimous ASUN All-Freshman Team selection. Carle has accounted for six goals, all in ASUN play.
Senior midfielder
Emma Nicholson and junior defender
Sidney Rigsby were both second-team All-ASUN recipients. Nicholson is tied for third in the league in points (20) and assists (six) while tying for fourth in goals (seven).
The Bellarmine-Austin Peay winner will take on host and three-seed Lipscomb in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
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