Box Score COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Belmont University women's soccer team picked up a huge road win over Tennessee Tech 1-0 on Tuesday night at the Tech Soccer Field.
Senior Haley Poynter scored her first career goal off a header, feeding off an assist from Julie Garst. Garst now has 46 career points, needing just two more to move into a tie for sixth with Kari Lennon (2004-07). Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Doyle recorded her first career shutout, marking the 16th time in the last 17 seasons where a Belmont goalkeeper has recorded at least one shutout in Belmont's first five matches in a season.
"We focused on enjoying the ability to play this sport we love with our family," head coach Heather Henson said. "Everyone impacted this game tonight in one way or the other and it created great energy for us to come out strong and maintain that for 90 minutes."
Once again controlling the possession, Belmont set up its attack in the first 10 minutes. On its first shot of the match, the Bruins capitalized off the opportunity in the 10th minute.
Garst beat her defender to set a ball up for a Poynter header, who put it in the back of the net to give the Bruins the go-ahead goal. Poynter, who moved into a starting XI role this season, snagged her first career goal off her 10th career shot attempt.
"Honestly, I wasn't thinking at all when the ball was coming to me. I just wanted to get something in," Poynter said. "I was excited, but knew we still had a good amount of the game left. Scoring (my first career goal) was a special moment and it was a great birthday gift to give to my dad."
With Belmont being the first goal to score against Tennessee Tech in 2021, the Bruins used that momentum for the remaining 80 minutes. Belmont forced Tennessee Tech to only two shot attempts in the first half to take the lead into halftime, outshooting the Golden Eagles 11-8 overall in the match.
Tennessee Tech opened the second half immediately with a shot on goal in the opening minute, but Doyle collected the save to keep Belmont out in front. Belmont's defense forced all of the Golden Eagles' second half shots to be off target except one, with Doyle snagging her second save of the game off Tennessee Tech's shot on goal with 20 seconds remaining in the match.
The victory over Tennessee Tech gives Belmont its second consecutive victory over the Golden Eagles and allowed Belmont to move into a tie for fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with six points, being only three points away from moving into fourth place. The OVC announced earlier this season that the top four teams in the conference would qualify for the OVC Tournament.
"We went into the game knowing that Tennessee Tech had a solid defense, so scoring early in the first half definitely gave us momentum and helped keep our energy high," Garst said. "We knew we could not allow ourselves to get comfortable with the score, so we challenged ourselves to stay motivated and give it our all every minute."
Belmont (2-3) returns to Rose Park on Friday to take on Eastern Illinois at 4 p.m.
