PREVIEW: Truman Women Set To Clash With Knights In GLVC Quarterfinals

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Arguably one of the hottest teams in the GLVC will begin the conference's postseason tournament with a home game on Sunday at 1p.m. The Truman women, winners of eight of their last nine, will host Bellarmine University for the right to go to the GLVC Final Four.

Truman was 2-4 in the league following an October 4 loss at Lewis 2-0 but has since picked up wins in eight of their last nine games to vault to fourth in the seeding for the league tournament. Their only blemish was a 1-0 overtime loss to Maryville University on October 20 on the road.

Bellarmine dropped to the number five seed after finishing with four games at home and posting a 1-1-2 record during that stretch. The Knights have gone scoreless in three straight matches with 0-0 ties to both Missouri S&T and William Jewell and a 1-0 loss to Rockhurst in their regular season finale.

The two teams played in Kirksvillle, on turf at Stokes Stadium due to rain, on September 29 with the Knights' Samantha Ferry scoring in double overtime for the 1-0 win. Bellarmine outshot Truman 19-4 with eight shots on goal to the Bulldogs' two.

Bellarmine dropped to ninth in the latest NCAA Midwest Regional rankings that were released by the national committee on Wednesday. Eight teams from the region make the field of 56 teams for the national tournament. Three teams from the region earn their conference's automatic bid by winning the conference postseason tournament. The other five are selected as at-large. Truman is outside the top 10 in the regional poll.

With goals in three straight, Hanna Burke has joined Chance Douglass with double-digit points this season. Douglass has five goals and three assists for 13 points with Burke scoring four times with three helpers for 11 points. Paige Peterson in on the cusp with three goals and three assists for nine points. Truman has scored 22 goals this year while allowing 14.

Beth Hopwood has made 84 stops this year for an 85% save percentage and has six shutouts. Hopwood has played all 1591 in net this season and 1765 last year in goal for Truman with 15 career shutouts.

Bellarmine has also scored 22 goals this year and allowed only seven. Isabella Zamorini and Samantha Ferry lead the team with four each and Brielle Heuglin, Annabel Moore and Kenzi Gooley have three apiece.

Elyssa Francis has started all 18 in net and made 55 saves for an 88.7% save percentage. Francis has nine shutouts on the year and a 0.37 goals-against average.

The winner will move on to the GLVC Final Four in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Both men's and women's semifinal matches will be played on Friday, November 15 at the Woehrle Athletic Complex. The Bulldogs advanced to the finals site for the fifth time since 2013 last year but were eliminated by Bellarmine 3-0. Truman won the 2015 GLVC Tournament.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Hanna Burke: M; 5' 7"; Redshirt Junior

#12 Chance Douglass: F; 5' 6"; Junior

#0 Beth Hopwood: GK; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#15 Paige Peterson: M; 5' 7"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#22 Hanna Burke
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Junior
: M

#12 Chance Douglass
: 5' 6"; Junior
: F

#0 Beth Hopwood
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: GK

#15 Paige Peterson
: 5' 7"; Junior
: M