ATHENS, Ohio – Coming off their first win of the season, and the first win of Toby Platt's head coaching career, the Bellarmine field hockey team will look to build on their momentum this weekend with a pair of games at Pruitt Field.
 
Bellarmine (1-8) first faces host Ohio in a true road game on Friday at 1 p.m. ET and then returns to the same site to face Queens in a neutral site game Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
 
About Ohio
Ohio enters at 2–8 overall and 1–2 in the MAC. Like Bellarmine, the Bobcats have suffered a few blowout losses, including to ACC opponents Louisville (5-0) and California (9-0). Ohio and Bellarmine have also shared a few nonconference opponents in UC Davis (OU won 2-1 in OT on the road, BU lost 2-1 at home), Saint Louis (OU lost 3-1 on the road, BU lost 2-1 at home), Michigan State (OU lost 5-0 at a neutral site, BU lost 2-1 on the road) and Davidson (OU lost 4-2 on the road, BU lost 5-1 at home). In their most recent match Sunday, the Bobcats fell 5-4 in overtime at Central Michigan.
 
Still, perhaps shockingly, Ohio took down No. 11 Massachusetts 1-0 two days before their loss to CMU. The Bobcats hosted the defending national semifinalists in their home opener after eight games away from Pruitt Field to start the season and promptly handed the Minutewomen their first loss of the season after nine wins. Senior back Anouk Plaehn netted the game winner off a penalty corner with 11:29 left in the game and sophomore keeper Ash Stephenson stopped all three UMass shots on goal for her first career shutout.
 
On offense, Sasha Dikotla leads OU with seven points on three goals and one helper. The senior forward has posted an impressive .375 shot percentage (3-for-8). Four of her teammates are tied for second on the team with two goals apiece, including Plaehn. Freshman middie Katie Cole and senior back Emily Risser have each handed out a pair of assists. In the cage, Stephenson (408 minutes) has split time with senior Gwen Hershberger (190 minutes), though OU has gone with Stephenson exclusively the past four games. Stephenson owns a .564 save percentage, among the lowest in the country.
 
Bellarmine is 0-6 all-time against Ohio. The Bobcats won 3-1 at Trager Stadium last October 11 as Dikotla and Risser each scored for the visitors.
 
Ohio features one Louisville connection in Ava Florence, a freshman back out of Christian Academy.
 
About Queens
Queens, competing as an independent, sits at 1–7 and has scored just five goals in seven games against Division I opponents. Their one win, a 7-0 victory over Division II Coker, came in their most recent outing on Sunday while they have endured blowout losses at No. 15 Iowa (8-1) and at home to Appalachian State (6-0). The Royals fell 3-1 in their season opener against Longwood, who Bellarmine earned their first win of the season against on Sunday, 2-1.
 
Like the Knights, the Royals have struggled to keep opposition pressure in check. Their shots against (164) far exceed their shots for (75), and they've also been out produced on penalty corners 79-41.
 
Senior middies/forwards Jarmilla Richter and Enya Kemp share the team lead with three goals apiece, though Richter has been much more efficient with a .750 shot percentage (3-for-4). Sophomore Madison Destefano guards the cage for the Royals and has played every minute against D1 opponents, posting a .681 save percentage, ranking 52nd nationally.
 
Bellarmine is 5-3 all-time against Queens, who the Knights compete with in most other sports in the ASUN. The teams last met two seasons ago when Bellarmine earned a 7-1 win in Charlotte. Then senior Peyton Hobson registered a hat trick in that 2023 contest, the only hat trick by a Knight during their D1 era.
 
Knights Knotes

• Luna Tuncay's goal Sunday was her team-leading second of the season and the third of her career. Two of her three career goals have been game winners.
• Madison Patton on Sunday joined fellow freshman Cami Paris as Knights to register their first career goals this season (Paris doing so vs. Davidson). Last year, five Knights netted career goal No. 1.
• Brooke Buchanan leads the team with three assists, all on penalty corner insertions.
• Kailey Workman enters this weekend with 306 career saves, two shy of Breanna McWhorter's 308 for second place on the Knights' all-time list. Kristina Thomas is the program's all-time leader with 443, though Workman is the program's all-time leader during the Division I era.
• Two Knights, Skylar Sokal and Annie Malloy, have recorded defensive saves this season. Sokal led the team last season with three.

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