Saint Mary's College

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Saint Mary's College Soccer earned a dominating 11-0 win over Alverno College on Saturday afternoon. The Belles improve to 5-9-1 while the Inferno fall to 1-13.
 
The Belles celebrated Senior Day after the win as they honored seniors Brooke Baumann (Bartlett, IL), Claire Keely (Acworth, GA), and Layne Ridderman (Augusta, MI).
 
Saint Mary's dominated offensively early on and kept the pressure on the Alverno defense early. After five early shots, freshman Lily Larimer (Pittsford, NY) found the back of the net off of a great through ball past the Inferno defense from junior Kalle Damian (Barrigada, Guam) as Larimer slipped past the keeper and gave the Belles a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. The scoring gates would open right up as less than a minute later, Larimer would add her second goal of the day after the ball was knocked forward from Ridderman to double the Belles lead. Just 40 seconds later, Keely crashed down the right hand side of the field, dribbling into the box and sent the ball across, finding the foot of junior Danielle Escobedo (Yorba Linda, CA) who added onto the Belles tally.
 
In the 32nd minute, freshman Lily Houle (Mount Vernon, IL) chased a ball down into the southwest corner, pulled it back towards the box and found freshman Ainsley Johnson (Cincinnati, OH) standing at the top of the box who fired a ball into the top right corner. Just over a minute later, Houle would send another ball into the box, finding Johnson at the back post for her second goal of the game, giving Saint Mary's a 5-0 lead.
 
A few minutes later, freshman Maya Florendo (Oakwood, OH) found Houle crashing into the box as she was able to slot it past a diving keeper to continue to extend the lead. As the half came to a close, freshman Elizabeth Pranger (Fort Wayne, IN) found Houle racing down the right hand side as she took the ball and crossed it into the box to find the foot of freshman Piper Thomas (Osceola, IN) as she closed out the scoring for the Belles in the first half, giving them a 7-0 lead heading into the break.
 
After some more strong press from Saint Mary's to kick off the second half, after the ball found the foot of Escobedo, she rolled the ball back to the right hand side of the box where Ridderman finished it into the top right corner to get the scoring going. In the 65th minute, Keely raced down the left hand side with the ball into the box, slipped right past an Alverno defender and slotted the ball into the bottom of the net to extend the lead further.
 
In the 69th minute, Keely crossed a ball into the box as sophomore Mia Johnson (Mission Viejo, CA) controlled the ball and knocked it in for her first goal of the game. Just over a minute later, freshman Lura Libs (Noblesville, IN) played a through ball right through the Inferno defense and found the foot of Ridderman who slotted it home for her second goal of the day, securing the Belles 11-0 victory.
 
On the afternoon, Ridderman, Larimer, and Ainsley Johnson tallied a brace each while Keely, Escobedo, Houle, Thomas, and Mia Johnson all added a goal each. It was the first career goal for Keely, Houle, and Thomas.
 
Houle would also add a hat-trick of assists with three in total, Damian and Keely would add two each while Ridderman, Libs, Escobedo, Pranger, and Florendo each added one. It was the first collegiate assists for Houle, Libs, and Florendo.
 
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Keona Caraballo (Parma, OH) tallied her second win of the season and second shutout. Baumann, Damian, and Libs were the three Belles to play all 90 minutes on the day.
 
As a team, the Belles scored the second most goals in program history while being the most in a game since 2018. The team also set a program record for assists in a game with 12. They also tallied the third most shots in a game as they outshot Alverno, 36-1, and added the second most corner kicks in program history with 15.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's closes out the regular season on Wednesday as they host Albion College for a 5pm matchup at the Purcell Athletic Fields.