by will pembroke, multimedia show manager

On Tuesday, Xavier women’s soccer traveled to Bellarmine to take on the Knights at Owsley B. Frazier stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. 

After dropping their season opener against St. Louis and having their second match against Western Kentucky canceled, the Musketeers got back to action. They took home the win when Xavier’s freshman forward Mackenzie Tucker scored her first collegiate goal, a game-winner in the 38th minute to edge out Bellarmine 1-0.

Xavier played well throughout the game, especially early on, tallying six corner kicks in the first half alone. 

More impressive than that was the Xavier defense, as they limited the Knights to a meager one shot on goal the entire game, shutting them out. 

In the 38th minute, Xavier freshman Grace Blumfeldt found Tucker, who evaded the defender and netted the eventual game-winning goal from 20 yards out. 

The shot differential favored Xavier 18-5, and Xavier had 10 more shots on goal than Bellarmine, who are in their first year as a Division I program. Junior midfielder Molly McLaughlin paced the Musketeers with four shots, two of which were on goal. 

Junior defender Hayley Jakovich and freshman midfielder Olivia Lawson also finished with two shots on goal. 

Most impressive from an offensive standpoint is that 12 Musketeers earned a shot for the game.

Xavier recorded 11 corner kicks on the day to Bellarmine’s two. Junior goalkeeper Olivia Jenkins played all 90 minutes at goalie, earning the seventh shutout of her collegiate career. 

Coming up on the schedule, Xavier has an exhibition game against Ohio University today  on Xavier’s Corcoran Field. 

Following that, the Musketeers will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to take on the Volunteers in a road contest on Sunday, before returning home to play Findlay next Wednesday.