The Belles continued their successful season with a 1-0 shutout win over conference opponent Hope on Saturday.
Senior midfielder Ashley Morfin secured the only goal of the match for the Belles (9-2-1, 6-2 MIAA) in the 16th minute after she received a pass from junior midfielder Mollie Valencia. Morfin responded with a 12-yard shot past the Hope goalkeeper. Belles coach Michael Joyce said he admired the way Morfin handled herself under the pressure.
"Ashley had a great finish on her goal - chipped it past the sliding Hope goalie," Joyce said. "She was tremendously poised in an intense situation."
Joyce said the most challenging part about taking on Hope (8-4, 5-3) was matching its speed.
"They get some very fast players wide in some open spaces and try to take advantage of that," Joyce said. "Our outside backs did a tremendous job keeping them in check."
Belles sophomore goalkeeper ChanlerRosenbaum dominated in goal from beginning to end, completing her fifth shutout of the year and saving a season-high 11 shots.
"We've got a lot of confidence in our goalkeeper," Joyce said. "We're usually not too concerned with shots from outside the box."
Joyce said the Belles were a little too defensive in the second half, but acknowledged the safe play was necessary.
"That is how it can go when you're up by a goal and trying to preserve that lead," Joyce said. "They ended up with a lot of shots on goal, but only a couple were from dangerous spots. I think we did a nice job defensively not giving up anything easy."
Saint Mary's will look to continue its string of successful outings when it squares off against Olivet at home Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Contact Katie Heit at kheit@nd.edu
