Bruins seal passage to Final with a pair of late of goals

OMAHA, Neb. -- The top-seeded Bellevue University women's soccer team protected a 1-0 lead into the final 10 minutes before adding a pair of late goals to defeat fourth-seeded Presentation College, 3-0, on Friday evening at Omaha South High School's Collin Field in a North Star Athletic Association semi-final game.

The Bruins improve their record to 11-5-1 on the season while the Saints conclude their campaign with an overall mark of 11-6-2.

Maiwut Dar put the Bruins on the board in the game's 26^th minute with her sixth goal of the season. Kristin Hanson sent in a corner that Madison Lambert headed on goal but Allison Johnston's save deflected to Dar's head and she beat Johnston high for the 1-0 lead.

The score remained 1-0 into halftime despite the Bruins holding a sizable 10-2 advantage in shots and a 6-2 edge in shots on goal.

Presentation had a chance to tie in the opening minute of the second half but Brittney Cusick's shot clanged off the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

Bellevue finally added a second goal in the game's 84^th minute. Dar sent a pass from the end line to the top of the box to Michelle Dolder. Dolder then sent a shot past the keeper for a 2-0 BU lead.

The Bruins added an insurance tally in the 87^th minute. Reyvin Hernandez played a ball from the midfield to Rylan Mahoney who toed a shot past the keeper to make it 3-0 in favor of the Bruins. The goal was the first of Mahoney's career.

Bellevue gained all eight of the corner kicks awarded in the contest and out-shot the Saints 19-5 which included a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.

The win sends Bellevue through to Sunday's championship match where they will face the winner of No. 2 seed Jamestown and No. 3 seed Viterbo at 1 p.m. at Collin Field. It will be the 12^th-straight year that the Bruins have appeared in a conference final. They have won seven of those previous 11 championship games during that stretch