DALLAS – The Belles, after giving up three first-half goals to LSC rivals DBU, scored twice in quick succession to mount a comeback in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, ultimately unable to find the equalizer as the Belles' season ends with a 3-2 defeat to the Patriots.
The hosts scored off a corner kick only 60 seconds into the match, putting the Belles on the back foot right off the bat.
The Patriots would score twice in two minutes in the middle part of the first half to make the gap three goals.
"I thought that we were hoping that somebody else was gonna make a play," said head coach Travis McCorkle after the match. "We didn't play bad in the first half by any means, we just didn't put away some of the good chances that we had."
"Defensively in the first half, we weren't as strong as we've been for most of the year and unfortunately we ran out of time there at the end to come back."
The Belles didn't hit paydirt until the second half, with Reagan Urbany opening the scoring for the Belles in the 50th minute, finishing from a Mariah Griffin cross, Griffin's third assist of the season.
Urbany was one of a few Belles that were thrust into the more playing time in the postseason, along with the likes of Mia Czarnecki, Kiah Benham, Madison Maxey and Katie Detmer.
"They all played a huge role in our postseason, especially with some of them stepping into central midfield for Val [Valerie Solis], who missed most of the conference tournament with an injury," said McCorkle.
The goal for Urbany is her first for the Belles since October 3rd, 2019 when she scored twice versus Midwestern State. 235 of 299 minutes for the senior forward this season have come in postseason play, including starting the last four matches.
"Reagan demands respect from two center backs because she is so strong and so aggressive," said McCorkle. "We think that she's so strong and so powerful, maybe she can occupy the two center backs, which now leaves our wide players isolated 1v1 and Reagan did a great job at that and obviously she scored a great goal today, so great tip of the hat to her for her final game of her career."
The Belles quickly doubled their goal tally just a couple of minutes later through Valerie Solis. Receiving the ball off a throw-in, the midfielder turned and dribbled past a DBU defender, slotting the ball past DBU's goalkeeper.
In a role reversal of last week's match, the Belles had the most opportunities, creating 24 shots with 10 shots coming on target while the Patriots only took eight shots, with four coming on target.
"It's so hard to get into the NCAA tournament," said McCorkle. "It's so hard to get in and you have to have so many things go right. We had two penalties on Friday, and we barely had any penalties all year, let alone two in a match."
The Belles end the season with 16 wins, their most wins in a single season since 2014. They also leave with the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament victory with Friday's 3-2 win over Westminster.
"I think this season has been a success," said McCorkle. "I think that what we have to do is with younger players is to go back and say 'OK, where the parts that we could have changed?"
