KIRKWOOD • The Ursuline field hockey team didn't let the chilly temperatures nor the Nerinx Hall defense slow it down Wednesday.
The Bears jumped on top of their archrival early and celebrated goalie Allie Moro's return with a 3-0 victory.
"Allie played the game of her life," Ursuline coach Roxann Naeger said. "We did everything we needed to tonight."
The win improved the Bears to 7-9 overall and 3-2 in Metro Women's Athletic Association play. The Markers dropped to 14-7 and 4-2.
"It was a good rivalry game," Nerinx Hall coach Nancy Milward said. "They came out firing hard."
Nerinx will take on Pembroke Hill on Saturday before closing out the regular season against University City. The postseason seed meeting is Oct. 24 and the tournament starts Oct. 27.
"This is a cohesive group," Milward said. "They work well together. We'll be fine."
The Bears set the tone when Sydney Slazinik scored about three minutes into the game. Near the midway point of the half, Emily Stephens cut through the Markers' defense and was upended as she passed to Maddie Friedmann, who tapped it in behind Markers' goalie Deni Kamper to make it 2-0 Urusline with 10:45 to play.
Nerinx Hall's Gabrielle Calandrio had a good look late in the first half, and the Markers had a penalty corner in the final seconds but came away empty thanks to good play from Moro.
In the second half, Nerinx Hall called a timeout with 18:34 left in the game. After the huddle, Meghan Grass had the ball in front of the Ursuline cage and had a nice poke, but was stuffed by Moro. The Markers had another penalty corner, but came up empty before the Bears put it away. Nerinx Hall finished with 14 shots on goal.
Stephens took a nice transition pass from Friedman and broke towards the goal. She drew out Kamper, who finished with five saves, and scored on a great move with 4:31 left in the game to make it 3-0.
Moro put the exclamation on her return when she made a terrific breakup on an open opportunity by Hayley Bokern.
