Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Belmont women's soccer team (2-3) was an unable to rally from an early two goal deficit on the road Friday night. The Bruins were held off at Evansville (4-2-1), 3-0.
UE struck first, notching its first goal of the night just 17 seconds into the first stanza. The Bruins were able to recoup and went on to record their first shot of the night four minutes later, courtesy of freshman Meg Howard (Brentwood, Tenn.). The teams then fell into a back and forth battle that would only be snapped by the Purple Aces' second goal of the half at the 14:38 mark.
BU continued to fight an uphill battle on the hunt for its first score of the night. One of the strongest efforts came at the 35:15 mark when junior Elise DeTrude (Carmel, Ind.) launched a shot on goal that was halted by UE goalkeeper Simone Busby. A shot by sophomore Sydney Omweg (Yorktown, Va.) that flew wide opened the door for a corner kick in the final two minutes. However, the Bruins were unable to connect in the box and trailed at halftime, 2-0.
In the second half, Evansville kept BU on its toes as it fired three shots to open action. The Bruins hoped to turn the tide behind shots by senior Katie Proud (Knoxville, Tenn.), sophomore Cassie Blase (Waukesha, Wisc.) and a corner kick booted by senior Emily Jones (Cleveland, Tenn.). Unfortunately, it would be the Purple Aces to find the back of the net in the 57th minute to take a commanding 3-0 lead.
Belmont continued to fight valiantly as the clock ticked toward 00:00 but could never find the right combination to get a ball into the back of the net. BU took its final shot of regulation in the 84th minute when an attempt by Blase flew high over the crossbar.
The Purple Aces outshot the Bruins, 29-9, and held the advantage in corner kicks, 8-2.
Blase, Proud and sophomore Emily Epley each tallied two shots.
Senior Nicole Berner (Randolph, N.J.) went the distance between the posts and recorded a season-high nine saves in the effort.
Belmont returns to action on Monday, September 16 for a Battle of the Boulevard matchup at Lipscomb. Match time is set for 7 p.m. The contest can be seen live on ASun.TV and live stats will be available. A live Twitter feed (@BelmontWSoccer) will also be available.
