WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Virginia State dropped their first match in almost a month as they fell to West Liberty University, 2-1, in a cross-divisional Mountain East Conference matchup.

The Yellow Jackets (7-3-1, 6-2-1 MEC) outshot the Hilltoppers (6-3-2, 5-2-2 MEC) overall (13-9) and on-target (7-6) but West Liberty netminder, Olivia Montgomery, was able to make some difficult saves during the match to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay.

In the first 25 minutes, the Yellow Jackets were whistled for eight fouls to West Liberty's two and that set up some dangerous free kick opportunities for the Hilltoppers, often just outside the WVSU penalty area, but the touted Yellow Jacket defense was up to the task each time.

In the 16^th minute, WVSU got on the scoreboard when Karem Rodrigues penetrated the West Liberty defense, then dropped it back to a wide open Montserrat Alsina who took the 25 yard shot and scored her second of the season.

That lead would last only 12 minutes. West Liberty's Alyssa Rhinaman put one past Galindo from just outside the penalty area and tied it up at one-all.

Yellow Jacket assistant coach Dominic Gillespie was dismissed from the match by the referee after being issued a direct red card in the 33^rd minute, Maria Barbosa was cautioned by the referee in the 34^th minute for dissent, and WVSU Head Coach Lisa Mann was cautioned for dissent in the 35^th minute.

The teams would go into the break with the score remaining at one-all.

The two teams would come out with offense on their mind as each team took a shot on goal within the first three minutes. In the 54^th minute, West Liberty would break the tie when Rileigh Gualtiere snuck one past Galindo. The Yellow Jacket offense would continue to fire on Montgomery, but she kept the Yellow Jackets from putting one past and send the Jackets back to Institute with the loss.

Delaney Day was cautioned for dissent in the 74^th minute.

Brooklyn Pritt took six shots for the Yellow Jackets and put three on goal. Alsina took one shot and scored. Rodrigues had no shots, but did have an assist. Leading scorer Fran Soares-Cupertino was held off the scoreboard with four shots, two on goal. Goalkeeper Laura Galindo faced six shots on goal and made four saves.

For West Liberty, Rhinaman and Gualtiere scored on their only shot of the match. Montgomery made six saves.

The Yellow Jackets will regroup and head to Philippi to take on Alderson Broaddus at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 17^th. All matches can be watched live and on demand at mountaineast.tv.