Bruins fall to reigning NAIA Champs in opener
Bellevue battled the Racers into halftime but couldn’t mount a comeback
LIMA, Ohio -- Bogca Horvath scored the eventual game-winner in the seventh minute and the Bellevue University soccer team was stymied by defending NAIA National Champion Northwestern Ohio at Racer Stadium in the Bruins' 2017 season-opener.
Northwestern Ohio improves to 2-0-0 on the young season while Bellevue will look to bounce back and level their record at .500 on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. against Avila.
Horvath opened the scoring off a pass from Laura Condon in the game's seventh minute. From there, BU kept the game tight until Camilla Anderson scored the first of her two goals in the 41st minute with a short shot from the left side of the goal with assists credited to Evdokia Popadinova and Rikke Sevecke.
The Racers took a 2-0 advantage into halftime.
Popadinova started the Racers out quickly in the second half as her 49th minute deflected goal stretched the UNOH lead to 3-0. Andersen made it 4-0 in the 67th minute with a direct shot off a pass from the left side. Both Popadinova and Andersen's goals were assisted by Julie Cazanave.
Anna Fisker capped the scoring for UNOH in the 77th minute with her finish coming off a corner kick. Sevecke and Horvath were each credited with assists.
Despite conceding five goals, keeper Laurence Rodier made four saves in 77 minutes of work before ceding the pipes to Sabrina Staufenbiel who stopped a pair of shots in her BU debut.
Northwestern Ohio's Romane Salvador stopped the only shot on target she faced in the second half to pick up her second win in as many appearances.
UNOH held a substantial 22-5 advantage in shots on the afternoon, including putting 11 shots on target to Bellevue's one.
Laura Cook had the lone shot on goal for BU in the game. Kylee Mastromonaco and Maiwut Dar each got off two shots but none found their way on target.