The Belles dropped four straight games against conference opponents Alma, Adrian, Kalamazoo and Calvin over fall break.
"It was a tough week and the results didn't go as well as we had hoped," Belles coach Michael Joyce said. "I think our shortfall was our play in the boxes — both offensively and defensively."
Saint Mary's (8-9, 4-9) lost to Alma on Oct. 15 in a 2-1 decision. Alma put up 18 shots in the first half to the Belles' two. Despite this shot differential, the Scots only managed one goal in the first half.
In the first five minutes of the second half, senior forward Katelyn Tondo-Steele had a header blocked by the Alma goalie. Not long after, the Scots scored their second goal.
Sophomore forward Kaitlin Teichman scored her first collegiate goal off a pass from Tondo-Steele to end the game.
"Against good teams that are probably going to be taking more shots than you, you really need to be sharp in back and make sure you don't give up anything too easy," Joyce said. "I think we fell short with that."
Adrian then blanked the Belles 3-0 Tuesday. The teams were tied 0-0 until just before halftime when the Bulldogs converted a corner-kick into the first goal of the game. Early in the second half, Adrian secured its second goal off a header. The third goal for the Bulldogs showed up in the last 20 minutes of play.
"We created some good opportunities and had some good looks at goal, but didn't finish," Joyce said.
Saint Mary's suffered a 2-0 loss Thursday against Kalamazoo. Freshman goalkeeper ChanlerRosenbaum performed well in the first half and saved five shots in the first 11 minutes. In the last five minutes of the half, the Hornets were finally able to overcome the Belles' defense in a long shot on goal, bringing the match to 1-0. The Hornets' second goal came off of a converted corner kick partially through the second half.
On Saturday, Calvin took an early lead and secured two goals in the first 20 minutes of their 5-0 win over Saint Mary's. The Belles were unable to stop the Knights' defense in the second half, as the Knights scored three straight goals without opposition.
"It is a hit on the morale to lose a few in a row," Joyce said. "Hopefully the sting of a few defeats will motivate the players as well. I think if we have the motivation, we'll come out with two victories this week."
The Belles will work to break their losing streak Wednesday at 4 p.m. when they play Albion at home.
Contact Katie Heit at
kheit@nd.edu
