The Belles' two weekend matches could not have ended with more different results, as the Belles fell 3-0 to Wilmington on Saturday before rebounding with a 3-0 shutout Sunday over the College of Mt. St. Joseph to finish the non-conference season 2-2.
The Belles were only down 1-0 going into the half against Wilmington, but couldn't capitalize on the few opportunities they had early in the second half. The Quakers (2-1), however, threatened on the offensive end all game, finally scoring twice more in the middle of the second half to put the game out of reach.
"We played an inconsistent game against Wilmington," senior midfielder and captain Mollie Valencia said. "We had some really bad breakdowns on the defensive and offensive side of things and showed our youth and just dug ourselves a deeper and deeper hole."
The Belles rebounded in the best way possible on Sunday, as the offense came out firing against Mount St. Joseph (0-5). Freshman forward Rosie Biehl curled a corner kick into the back of the net in just the second minute, the first goal of her Saint Mary's career. Biehl added her second goal of the day ten minutes later, and the Belles went into the half up 2-0 having outshot the Lions 13-1.
"We possessed the ball better against Mount St. Joseph," Valencia said. "That's something we've done in both our wins this year. We also played more controlled and with better touches, which we didn't do at all against Wilmington."
The Belles didn't relent coming out of the half, getting off four shots in the first five minutes before junior forward Kelly Wilson gave the Belles an almost insurmountable lead when she booted in a rebound off the Lions' goalkeeper.
Biehl barely missed out on a hat trick when she pushed a potential third goal in the 85th minute wide, but the Belles were still able to coast to the win. Junior goalkeepers Natalie Warner and Nicole Papiernik combined for the shutout.
"We just went back to the basics," Valencia said. "You have to do that after that kind of loss, and it was great to rebound the way we did."
The Belles open up the MIAA season at 7 p.m. Thursday at Kalamazoo.
Contact A.J. Godeaux at agodeaux@nd.edu
