Saint Mary's denied in first bid at consecutive wins

After a home win against the Illinois Tech on Saturday, Saint Mary’s came up short with a 16-10 loss against Hope in Tuesday night’s matchup.

The Belles (1-8, 0-2 MIAA) committed numerous fouls and turnovers in the opening minutes of the game as the Flying Dutch took a 1-0 lead. Freshman midfield Aubrey Golembieski responded with an unassisted goal only minutes later to put Saint Mary’s on the board.

Hope strung together a series of three goals before Golembieski would net another score. The Flying Dutch struck back and rallied with four more goals to take an 8-2 lead.

Golembieski combated Hope’s offensive strike throughout the first half, scoring three of the four goals for the Belles in the period. The remaining goal was scored by sophomore defenseman Sarah Neeser. The half ended with Hope establishing a 12-4 lead, taking 11 of 17 draw controls, 11 of 15 ground balls and unleashing 23 shots to the Belles’ 10.

The Flying Dutch scored two more goals within the first two minutes of play after the break. Saint Mary’s countered with two goals of its own, scored by Golembieski and freshman defenseman Jackie Loesch.

Hope responded with another pair of goals to secure a 16-6 lead. The Saint Mary's defense locked down the Flying Dutch offense and kept Hope off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game. In the final 20 minutes of play, the Belles’ offense did its best to close the deficit.

Neeser tallied her second score of the night before Loesch scored two goals assisted by a pair of passes from sophomore attack Tess Guerrero, while freshman midfield Emilie Vanneste scored the final goal in the last 10 seconds of the game.

Freshman goalie Stephanie Szymas ended the game with nine saves for Saint Mary’s.

The Belles return to conference action Saturday, when they will host Adrian at 1 p.m.