MOREHEAD – Morehead State's start to the 2024 soccer season keeps improving as the Eagles went on the road to defeat Bellarmine 1-0 on Thursday night in blistering heat at the Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

It was a momentous victory in many respects.

MSU (3-1-1) raised its winning streak to three, continued the best start to a season since 2014, improved its road record to 5-2-1 in the last eight games, marked the program's first win in Louisville in six tries, extended its run of holding opponent scoreless to 265 minutes and 50 seconds, and defeated Bellarmine for the first time in history.

However, the victory did not come easily. First-year coach Paul Cox was thankful to get out of town with the win.

"We rode our luck at times. We had opportunities to extend our lead and didn't take them," he admitted. "It was a gritty performance from us. We were fortunate to win, we know that, but we will take all wins we get. We can learn from this, take this weekend off (from playing) a game and build into Wright State next week."

The night's lone goal came in the 37th minute as sophomore forward Hedda Ornberg converted a pass from freshman BB Bonzheim and scored from the left side just inside the box.

"The goal was a ball played behind from BB Bonzheim which gave me a 1v1 with the goalkeeper. I had a lot of time and placed it in the right corner," Ornberg said.

It also was the second straight clean sheet for freshman goalkeeper Claire Cress, who ended the night with three saves.

Despite the MSU win, Bellarmine (0-2-1) had the edge in most statistical categories, including shots (16 to 11) and corner kicks (4 to 3). Eleven of the Knights' scoring attempts came in the second half. BU held possession of the ball for 54 percent of the game and kept it in the Eagles' defensive zone for 52 percent of the night.

Both teams committed eight fouls and were presented with three yellow cards. The Eagles were flagged for being offside three times to just two for the hosts. Morehead State won one category. It took four shots on goal to just three for BU.

Ornberg and freshman forward Carlie Thurmond led the squad in shots with three apiece. Junior midfielder Kennedy Baquero added two.

Rachel Skyberg paced her team with four shots, followed by reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week Emma Nicholson, who had three. Cambria Kingman went the distance in the Knights' net and finished with three saves.

"Overall, I think we (played) a good game," Ornberg said. "We stayed strong the whole game and fought for each other until the last minute."

Bellarmine suffered its sixth home defeat in its last seven outings.

Last year, in their only other meeting, the two teams tied 1-1 in Morehead.

After playing five games in 14 days, Morehead State will finally get a break in the schedule. Its next contest will be back on the road Thursday, Sept. 5, at Wright State. That game will kickoff at 7 p.m. Three days later, the Eagles will play their second home game of the season when they host Northern Kentucky at 1 p.m.