Nashville, Tenn. – A strong effort on both sides of the ball saw the Belmont women’s soccer team (7-1-4, 2-0-1 A-Sun) suffocated their down the block rival Lipscomb (1-11-0, 0-3-0 A-Sun) on its home turf Saturday night. The Bruins blanked the Bisons, 1-0, for their fourth consecutive win of the all-time series.

BU dominated from the opening whistle, picking up a corner kick in the first 18 seconds of play. The defensive effort did not even allow Lipscomb to cross the midfield line until nearly three minutes had ticked off the clock. The Bruins fired the ball hard and often towards Bisons goalkeeper Katie Shelton, including two missiles from senior Abi Markham (Brentwood, Tenn.) and freshman Annie Musacchio (Nashville, Tenn.). With just under 10 minutes on the clock, rookie Jennifer St. Clair (Brentwood, Tenn.), with the assists going to junior Lauren Uremovich (Plano, Texas) and Emily Buckner (Tullahoma, Tenn., found the back of the net for her first career goal. Eager to score again, St. Clair attempted two more shots on goal but was high on both tries. The Bruins collected eight shots in the first stanza alone while holding to Bisons to none.

In the second half, Lipscomb attempted to come out more aggressively but could not get the ball from out of their half of the field. At the 51:47 mark, Musacchio dribbled a cross from junior Kari Lennon (Hoover, Ala.) to the middle of the box but put too much foot on the ball and it skimmed the crossbar. Less than four minutes later, Lennon attempted to angle the ball into the far left corner of the net but it sailed just wide. The Bruins continued to fire shot after shot at the Lipscomb goal but were unable to increase their score.

Belmont dominated in shots, 23-2, and corner kicks, 6-1. Junior Micaela Crowley (Hoover, Ala.) played the full 90 minutes in goal and finished with one save, while Shelton collected 11 saves.

“Lipscomb didn’t make it easy for us out there tonight,” said Head Coach Lisa Howe. “In the last five minutes, they kept up the pressure.

“I was really pleased with our goal. It’s been something we have been working on in practice. Jen [St. Clair] did a great job with the passes coming from Lauren [Uremovich] and Emily [Buckner.

“We did not play a good game against Lipscomb last year so today’s match was a big focus this year. We really wanted to play well against our rival.”

The Bruins return to action next weekend as they battle Atlantic Sun foes Mercer (October 6) and Stetson (October 8) on the road.