After a weather delay of more than 90 minutes, the Belles suffered a 2-0 loss to Hope on Thursday night in a pivotal conference contest.
The Flying Dutch (12-4-2, 9-3-2 MIAA) found the back of the net twice in a span of less than two minutes in the first half. Senior midfielder Tricia Bajema scored unassisted at the 34:12 mark and junior forward RaisaYewah headed another goal 100 seconds later.
"We're definitely upset about this," Belles sophomore goalie ChanlerRosenbaum said. "It's always fun winning and this was a big game for us and we knew we could have won so it's definitely disappointing."
Ten minutes into the second half, the game was suspended due to lightning. When play eventually resumed, the Belles could not mount a comeback.
"[The delay was] definitely [tough]," Rosenbaum said. "We would have rather played it out in full ... We came out with the same intensity after the delay and we knew what we had to do but it didn't go in our favor."
The Belles (11-5-2, 8-5-1) entered the game one point behind a trio of teams tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the conference. With the loss, Saint Mary's fell to sixth place. The Belles, however, are just three points behind fourth-place Adrian with two games remaining.
Saint Mary's will look to get a vital conference victory when it squares off with Trine on Saturday. The Thunder (1-14-3, 0-12-2) are riding a 17-game winless streak, but Rosenbaum said the Belles will not look past any team.
"Records, standings, statistics don't matter when you go into the game," Rosenbaum said. "We can't go in thinking of those things ... They might not have the best record but you never know what can happen."
Saint Mary's defeated Trine 4-0 on Oct. 3. The Belles outshot the Thunder 16-4, including an 8-3 advantage on goal. The Belles also took a season-high nine corner kicks in the romp.
Saint Mary's and Trine square off Saturday at noon in Angola, Ind.
Contact Mike Monaco at jmonaco@nd.edu
