A goal by Belles sophomore Katie Wehrli with less than two minutes into the game sparked Saint Mary's to a 4-3 victory Tuesday over Adrian.
After quickly gaining control of the ball following the opening kickoff, Belles freshman Julia Gragtmans dribbled toward the goal and took a shot that was blocked by the Bulldogs defense. Seconds later, Wehrli came back with the Belles' second shot on goal, and scored her second goal of the season.
"Katie's first goal really got us energized," Belles coach Caryn MacKenzie said. "We came out with good energy anyway, but today seemed to raise us to a whole new level."
Saint Mary's (6-2-4, 2-1-2 MIAA) continued to control the ball for most of the first half, constantly taking shots and keeping play on Adrian's end of the field.
Adrian had a chance to score on the Belles' net in the 27th minute of play, but the Saint Mary's defense cleared the ball out of the penalty area.
A minute later, Belles sophomore defender Bridget Ronayne put one in off a corner kick for her second goal of the season for the 2-0 lead.
A goal by Belles sophomore forward Samantha Smogor in the 37th minute of play gave the home team a commanding 3-0 lead. But the Belles did not have a chance to get comfortable with that margin as Adrian scored with three and a half minutes remaining in the half.
The Belles struck first in the second half with a goal by junior forward Lauren Hinton, her fourth of the season, to go up 4-1.
"We had more goals in this game than in any of our four other conference games," MacKenzie said. "It helps with Lauren [Hinton] almost 100 percent. We missed having her up top - she adds a whole other dimension out there and helps the team to relax having her out there. And today it was not only our forwards scoring. "
The Belles looked strong offensively, but MacKenzie said she was not completely satisfied with the result of the contest.
"We have certain tendencies we're still working on, but we're finding a better way to take care of business in front of our goal, but its coming," MacKenzie said. "I am overall pleased, but still have things to work on to get better, and we shouldn't have given up that many goals."
The Belles will be in action again this Saturday when they take on conference-leading Calvin.
