Oct. 12, 2008

Final Stats

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After battling to a double overtime tie on Friday night, the Belmont women's soccer team (8-5-1, 3-2-1 A-Sun) was unable to hold off the strong and consistent attack of visiting Mercer (7-4-3, 4-1-1 A-Sun). The Bears scored late in the second half and were able to hold on for a 1-0 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Mercer was able to notch a shot in the first two minutes after the opening whistle but stayed strong defensively and kept the Bruins from putting up their first shot until the xx minute. The Bruins were finally able to penetrate the Bears' half of the field consistently around the ninth minute. Freshman Gretchen Sutch (Knoxville, Tenn.) fired a long ball toward MU goalkeeper Jean Worts, who barely managed to keep her gloves on it. A play inside the Belmont box was broken up by sophomore Jessica Rix (Carmel, Ind.) in the 19th minute and BU stayed defensively tough as Mercer was awarded a corner kick on the next play, coming away with a block inside the box. Mercer kept the pressure strong on either side of the field, breaking up several Belmont pass sequences. With just two minutes left in the half, the Bruins made one of their strong attempts for a goal. The team was awarded a corner kick which saw sophomore Patience Whitten (Germantown, Tenn.) try to score on back-to-back headers but to no avail.

Belmont opened the second half with much more aggressive play, immediately looking to set up opportunities to score. In the 54th minute, Emerald Phillips penetrated into the BU box but was unable to get a shot off and the Bruins quickly forced the ball back down the field. The teams played a back and forth match into the middle of the half, with a great deal of the action in the air. A pass from sophomore Madison Porter (Marietta, Ga.) to rookie Alex Morgado (Suwanee, Ga.) nearly gave the Bruins the first goal of the match but it sailed over the crossbar in the 67th minute of play. BU netminder freshman Sari Lin (Carefree, Ariz.) notched her third save of the match from a shot right in front of the net by Meghan Castaldo three minutes later.

As time ticked into the 75th minute of regulation, the Bruins did a good job of keeping the ball in the middle of the field and moving the ball but a couple of unlucky passes kept them from getting into scoring position. Mercer nearly came away with a goal if it were not for the quick hands of Lin, stopping a shot by Erin Theobald just one minute later. A series of long passes around the midfield saw Lin step to the top of the box, allowing Castaldo to shoot the ball over her head and into the net for the first goal of the match with just nine minutes left in the contest. A free kick by Rix in the final two minutes was not enough to help BU find the equalizer goal and the Bears were able to take the match 1-0.

"I felt like we were defending Mercer's strengths well," said Head Coach Lisa Howe. "We won lots of serves in the box and handled their aerial attacks but they were able to step up and get that goal. That was a tough (for us) but was a credit to their team.

"We're missing a touch here or a run there and that did not allow us to get into good scoring positions. We will work on that this week and hopefully, we will score more goals as we continue to develop."

Mercer held the advantage in shots, 16-6, and in corner kicks, 3-0.

Five different Bruins recorded shots, including junior Elizabeth Bublis (Norman, Okla.), sophomores Rix and Whitten and freshmen Sutch and Morgado. Lin went the distance inside the net, logging 90 minutes and five saves.

Belmont returns to action on October 17th. The Bruins travel to Florida for a match at Stetson beginning at 4 p.m. CT.