Bruins open with 5-0 thrashing of DWU

PAPILLION, Neb. -- Ximena Jauregui a goal and two assists and Sami Reding found the back of the net twice for the Bellevue University women's soccer team as the Bruins opened the season with a 5-0 victory over Dakota Wesleyan University.

Records:

Bellevue 1-0-0
Dakota Wesleyan 0-1-0

BU 5, DWU 0

Bellevue started seven newcomers along with two other players who made a combined one start last season. Sinai Bernal and Morgan McIlnay, both of whom started all 19 games a year ago, were the only returning starters in the Opening XI. Despite this, BU dominated possession from the opening kickoff and wasted no time getting on the score sheet.

Ella Pelletier scored in the 11^th minute, picking up a loose ball outside the six and slotting home her first goal as a Bruin to get the season off and running.

Later in the first half, Ximena Jauregui carried the ball down the far sideline and sent a cross in that got hung up in the wind and carried into the back of the net to double the Bruin advantage.

BU took that 2-0 lead into half time where they dominated the stat sheet, outshooting DWU 14-1 in the opening 45 minutes.

The second half proceeded similarly smoothly for the home side with Bellevue outshooting the Tigers 16-0 for a 30-1 advantage in the game.

Sami Reding scored twice less than three minutes apart. She tallied her first in the 61^st minute, settling a cross from Jauregui and ripping a shot to the middle of the goal. Her second came in the 64^th minute where she unleashed a volley off a bounce near the penalty spot that screamed into the back of the net.

Britney Nolte closed the scoring in the 69^th minute, slotting home yet another cross from Jauregui.

Dakota Wesleyan's one shot went wide of goal and Jenn Amaro recorded a shutout without having to face a shot on target.

Isabella Gregg and Taylor Stermon combined on 13 saves for the DWU in the loss.

Players of the Match:

Ximena Jauregui and Ketlyn Rota

Coach Tom White:

"We felt confident going into the game with the preseason that we had. It's good that we overcame some frustrations today defensively and learned from them. We were happy with how we worked off the ball to retain possession throughout."

Up Next:

Bellevue hosts William Penn on Wednesday, Aug. 24 with a scheduled 4:30 p.m. kick-off from Papillion Landing.

Notes:

• Bellevue improves to 19-8-2 all-time in season-openers and remain perfect, improving to 4-0-0 under the direction of head coach Tom White.
• The Bruins are now 34-14-4 against teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference dating to the start of the 2011 season.
• The five goals scored by BU, represent the most in a game since a 5-0 win over Doane to open the 2020 season.