Poor second-half performances and an inability to score goals doomed Saint Mary's as it dropped both matches at the season-opening Case Western Reserve tournament this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Belles struggled to find their offense against host Case Western falling 4-1 on Saturday. Sunday's match against Hiram proved to be more of the same as the Belles once again failed to find their offensive rhythm in a 3-1 defeat.
Against Case Western, Saint Mary's fell behind early but tied it up shortly after when senior forward Lauren Hinton connected with junior forward Micki Hedinger in the 15th minute for the Belles' first goal of the season. This success was short-lived, however, as Case Western would dominate the rest of the game putting two more goals in before half-time and adding a fourth shortly into the second half.
Senior Nicole Beier started at goalkeeper for the Belles, recording four saves, but was replaced at half-time by Junior Patty Duffy who finished with six saves.
In their second game, the Belles got out to a better start getting an early goal from freshman midfielder Taylor Paton to take a 1-0 lead. Once again, however, the Belles could not maintain their momentum and Hiram scored an equalizer in the 30th minute.
In the second half, the Belles could not find the net and gave up two late goals in the final seven minutes that sealed their fate.
Duffy played all 90 minutes in goal for the Belles and recorded 10 saves.
Saint Mary's will look to get their first victory of the season as they take on Manchester College this Wednesday at North Manchester, Ind.
