Saint Mary's heads to Illinois Wesleyan Saturday to take on the Titans in a non-conference match. The Titans (7-7-1) may have the home field advantage, but the Belles (7-3-4 overall) are coming off an 8-2 blowout of Tri-State Tuesday.
Sophomore midfielder Katy Durkin and junior forward Lauren Hinton each had a hat trick against Tri-State. The win was Saint Mary's highest scoring game of the season, raising its season goal total to 26.
Still, Saint Mary's has had trouble converting in front of the goal this season with veteran players sidelined with injuries. Hinton missed the beginning of the Belles' conference slate, but her absence gave the team a chance to find out who else could score and offered Saint Mary's an opportunity to move players around. The injuries also gave some of the freshmen playing time.
Improvement in front of the goal was obvious against Tri-State. The Belles are starting to show what coach Caryn MacKenzie saw in her team long before Tuesday's match.
"We are capable of more than we realize," MacKenzie said. "It's a matter of the entire team believing that, and not just a few of our players. It's coming."
And for the Belles it has. Besides increasing their amount of goals, Saint Mary's increased its shots on goal. The Belles had 29 shots on goal and had a new player score - freshman midfielder Lauren Eaton - in Tuesday's game.
The Belles will have to watch out for Titan forward Caroline Leighton, who leads Illinois Wesleyan with 12 goals on 40 shots.
