Saint Mary's College

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Saint Mary's College Soccer fell in their regular season finale, 4-3, against Albion College on Wednesday evening. The Belles finish the year 5-10-1 (1-7 MIAA) while the Britons finish the regular season 9-6-1 (4-3-1 MIAA).
 
While the teams traded possession back and forth early, neither was able to get any strong offensive chances in the first ten minutes.After a long through ball found the foot of freshman Lily Houle (Mount Vernon, IL), she would dribble down the left hand side, go around an Albion defender, and fire the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. The Belles offense continued to press strongly as senior Claire Keely (Acworth, GA) sent a ball into the box but found the foot of a Briton, while the defender tried to guide the ball back to her goalkeeper, she slipped it right past into the net to give Saint Mary's a 2-0 lead in the 21st minute. Albion snuck a goal in the 36th minute to cut the Belles lead in half going into the halftime break, 2-1. 
 
The Britons would come out and tie the game right away after halftime, just 56 seconds in, knotting the game at two. As the second half came towards the final ten minutes, junior Danielle Escobedo (Yorba Linda, CA) sent the ball through the middle, finding the foot of sophomore MIa Johnson (Mission Viejo, CA). After Johnson turned past an Albion defender, she rocketed a ball into the top left corner of the goal to give the Belles a 3-2 lead in the 80th minute. While the Belles tried to control the ball to close out the game, the Britons would score two goals in the 87th and 89th minutes to close out the game and take a 4-3 win. 
 
Houle and Johnson both added goals on the match while Escobedo added the lone assist. Johnson would also lead the team with three shots while Houle and graduate Ava Slater (Fort Wayne, IN) added two. Houle, Johnson, senior Layne Ridderman (Augusta, GA) and freshman Lily Larimer (Pittsford, NY) each added a shot on goal each.
 
In goal, junior Keona Caraballo (Parma, OH) made four saves on the night while facing 15 total shots. In the field, Houle, Slater, senior Brooke Baumann (Bartlett, IL), junior Kayla O'Neal (Carlsbad, CA), and freshmen Chloe and Isabella Knese (St. Louis, MO) all played the complete 90 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's finishes the 2026 season with a 5-10-1 overall record and 1-7 MIAA record. The Belles outscored opponents 32-26 on the year while averaging two goals a game. On the 32 goals, the Belles totalled 27 assists.