CONWAY, Ark. - Senior Mercy Darkoah (Sheffield, England) recorded her third hat trick of the season to lead the Bellevue University women's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over Central Baptist College on Saturday afternoon in Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
The victory for Bellevue (13-1-0, 5-0-0 MCAC) means that the Bruins have clinched at least a share of the 2014 MCAC Regular Season title as well as home field advantage throughout the entirety of the upcoming MCAC Tournament. For the Bruins it is their fourth MCAC Regular Season Championship since 2010 and their fifth overall.
The loss drops Central Baptist falls to 7-8-0 on the year and 1-4-0 in MCAC play.
Darkoah scored twice in the first half to put BU up 2-0 at the break and completed her hat trick in the 54th minute with assists from sophomore Lauren Clark (Portsmouth, England) and junior Betsy Fischenich (Omaha, Neb.). The goal was her team- and MCAC-leading 18th of the year which currently ranks in a tie for ninth place in the NAIA.
The Bruins opened the scoring in the 12th minute with Darkoah's first goal of the match with assists to junior Aubriana Batchelor (Bellevue, Neb.) and sophomore Michelle Dolder (Cali, Colombia). Darkoah would double the Bruins' advantage shortly before half-time with her third game-winning goal of the season in the 44th minute.
Central Baptist would get one goal back when Brandy Villasana took a Tarra Hendricks pass and scored to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Senior Yaritza Estrada (Omaha, Neb.) provided the Bruins insurance by scoring her eighth goal with just 10 seconds remaining in the match.
Freshman Laurence Rodier (Quebec, Canada) was credited with the victory in goal for Bellevue, her seventh of the season against no losses or draws. Fischenich worked the final 8:20 in net for the Bruins to become the third different BU player to see time in goal this season.
Bellevue held an incredible 34-2 lead in shots for the match, including a 21-1 edge in shots on goal while also gaining all 12 corner kicks in the match.
Bellevue will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 29 with a Senior Day match-up against MCAC foe Waldorf College at 3:00 p.m.
