INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State women's soccer team defeated the Glenville State College Pioneers 2-0 in the final match to be played on the turf at the Shawnee Sports Complex on Wednesday, and in their first match as a regionally ranked team in program history. The defensive unit showcased their ability in holding off opponents tonight, not allowing a shot through 82 minutes of the 90-minute match.

The victory improves the Yellow Jackets to 6-2-1 on the season, 5-1-1 in the Mountain East Conference. Glenville State falls to 1-8 and winless through eight conference matches.

Reserve goalkeeper Ashley Craigo, Maria Paulina Maiguel, Zoey McCutcheon, Colby Agnor, Laura Gil, and Macey LeVasseur all saw minutes for the first time this season.

WVSU placed starters Brooklyn Pritt and Paula Murcia on injury reserve tonight and looked to April Contreras and Ingrid Barbosa de Castro to fill those voids in the starting lineup.

The Yellow Jackets dominated the time of possession stat in the first half, holding a 2-1 advantage through 45 minutes. The Yellow Jackets took six shots through 17 minutes. Then Glenville State was called for a foul about 25 yards from goal. Naomi Waithira took the free kick, crossed it into the penalty area and found Fran Soares-Cupertino who headed it past Glenville State Goalkeeper Morgan Smailes for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

Later in the first half with just two minutes until halftime, Cierra Savin penetrated the Glenville State defense, taking along the left side of the penalty area and found Soares-Cupertino who had snuck in behind the defense. She headed a second shot past Smailes for her seventh of the season giving the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead going into the halftime break.

At the start of the second half, both teams made multiple substitutions. Head coach Lisa Mann sent McCutcheon, Lauren Johnson and Chelsea Black in for Lainey Armistead, Soares-Cupertino and Waithira. Johnson made multiple runs down the left side of the field, looking for WVSU attackers and Montserrat Alsina took a couple shots early in the half, but none were able to find their mark. Glenville State got their first and only shot off in the 82^nd minute when Craigo was forced to make a right side save. WVSU took seven shots, but only got two on target in the second stanza. Nonetheless, the Yellow Jacket defense held the Pioneers in check and walked off the field with the 2-0 victory.

The Yellow Jackets dominated both sides of the ball tonight, holding a 61%-39% possession lead and spent a whopping 31% of their possession time in the attacking zone. WVSU took 20 shots, eight on target to Glenville State's one shot which was on goal.

Montserrat Alsina took four shots but all of them were wide of goal. Soares-Cupertino also took four shots, three of which were on target and pocketed both Yellow Jacket goals. Starting goalkeeper Laura Galindo played 80:06 of the match and did not face a shot. Craigo entered at the 9:54 mark of the second half and made one save. Glenville State's Merel Smets took the only shot for the Pioneers.

The Yellow Jackets return to the pitch on Sunday, October 10^th for a 3 pm clash against the Wheeling University Cardinals. That match has been moved from the Shawnee Sports Complex to Crawford Field in St. Albans, and will be the first ever meeting between the two squads.