When the Belles take the field against Kalamazoo on Saturday, they will look for a strong performance to put the memory of Wednesday's late-game loss behind them — but so will the Hornets.
Kalamazoo (5-4, 4-2 MIAA) yielded a goal to league-leading Alma (9-1, 5-1) just 15 seconds into its match Wednesday, and spotted the Scots another goal in the 17th minute. The Hornets rallied in the second half when junior forward Jackie Short scored in the 74th and 78th minutes to tie the game at 2-2. But the Hornets' comeback was ruined when Alma scored twice in the last 10 minutes, earning a 4-2 win.
The Belles' loss was more demoralizing. After sticking with a tough Calvin squad for 89 minutes, Saint Mary's (5-3, 2-3) watched a dribbler from a scrum in front of the goal went into the net with 11 seconds left, giving the Knights (4-5, 4-1) a 2-1 win.
Although disappointed by the loss, Belles assistant coach Tony Rompola was impressed by how well his team played against the 2010 MIAA tournament champions, and said he wanted to see the same fight from his team Saturday against Kalamazoo.
"[Kalamazoo] will be another quality opponent," Rompola said. "It'll be a good opportunity for us to take the next step. In terms of how we performed [against Calving], if we have that kind of performance on Saturday, I think we'll do fine."
Kalamazoo sits in fourth place in the MIAA conference standings with 12 points, while the Belles rank sixth with six points.
The Belles look to defend their home turf at noon Saturday.
Contact Vicky Jacobsen at vjacobse@nd.edu
