RICHMOND, Ind. - Saint Mary's College Soccer got back into the win column with a dominating win over Earlham College on Saturday, 5-1. The Belles improve to 2-1 on the year while the Quakers fall to 0-2.
Saint Mary's offense continued to control possession similar to their first two games of the season as they added three early corner kick opportunities and controlled the ball in the Earlham defense half. In the 19th minute, freshman Lily Larimer () played a beautiful throw in to the edge of the box to help sophomore Mia Johnson (Mission Viejo, CA) find some space and rocket a ball right past the keeper to take an early lead.
Three minutes later in the 22nd minute, junior Kayla O'Neal (Carlsbad, CA) crossed a ball towards the net from a corner kick and found the head of freshman Isabella Knese (St. Louis, MO) who headed it home to double the Belles lead. The Quakers would tack on a goal in the 34th minute to cut the deficit in half as the two teams went into the halftime break with Saint Mary's leading, 2-1.
The Belles offense continued to dominate in the second half, in the 57th minute, Larimer found herself with lots of space in the middle of the field and played a strong through ball as Johnson was flying past the Quakers defense and slotted home an easy goal for her second of the day.
Saint Mary's continued to pepper the Earlham goalkeeper with shots all afternoon. After a mix up in the middle of the Belles attacking half, graduate Ava Slater (Fort Wayne, IN) took a big opportunity with the goalkeeper playing off her line and slotted it perfectly into the net just above an outstretched arm for a beautiful goal.Â
They never slowed down as a minute and a half later, junior Kalle Damian () found herself with the ball in the middle of the box and turned to hand it to freshman Ainsley Johnson (Cincinnati, OH) at the top of the box to place a ball perfectly towards the top left corner of the net to finish off the scoring for the Belles offense.
Mia Johnson led the way with two goals on the afternoon, her second brace in three games in the early season. Knese and Ainsley Johnson added their second goals of the season while Slater tallied the first goal of her collegiate career. Larimer tacked on two assists to lead the Belles while O'Neal added one as did Damian, the first goal involvement of her career.
In goal, sophomore Meghan Krayer (Hinsdale, IL) tallied one save and one goal allowed while seeing the Quakers take four total shots on the day.
As a team, Saint Mary's outshot Earlham 23-4 including 14-2 in shots on goal. The Belles also won the corner kick battle, 10-2.
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's returns home for back-to-back games starting on Wednesday as they host Anderson University at 6pm. The Belles will then welcome in Franklin College on Saturday, September 12 at 12:30pm.
