INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Yellow Jackets took exactly one shot on goal against the Frostburg State University Bobcats, but that was all that was needed as the West Virginia State Women's Soccer team took three points in the 1-0 victory at Lakin-Ray Field at Dickerson Stadium on Wednesday.
Both teams are now 11-5-1 overall this season and 10-4-1 in the Mountain East Conference.
In the third minute of the match,
Delaney Day began a counter-attack from the Yellow Jacket defensive end of the field. Day passed it to
Montserrat Alsina in the midfield who found
Karem Rodrigues. Rodrigues passed to
Fran Soares-Cupertino who did a one, two pass back to Rodrigues, now on the left wing of the penalty area. Rodrigues took an awkward shot that fooled Bobcat goalkeeper Ashley Bilger and found the bottom right corner of the net.
Frostburg State's offense went into overdrive for the next 87 minutes, firing 23 shots at the Yellow Jacket net, 17 of which were on target.
Frostburg State had an excellent chance to tie the match in the 34
th minute, when the Bobcats were awarded a free kick off a
Juliana Campos Lima foul. Abbey Dennis's shot sailed right in the waiting arms of Galindo. Frostburg picked off the clear attempt and Caroline Burton took a shot that was out of the reach of Galindo but it hit the post and
Ingrid Barbosa de Castro cleared it away out of danger.
Frostburg State's Catherine Smith took a 30-yard shot in the 37
th minute that was safely caught by Galindo. The halftime whistle blew with the 1-0 lead intact, but the Bobcats had a 12-2 shot advantage over WVSU.
Frostburg State continued to take long range shots, hoping for a rebound to get cleaned up by the pressing attack, but none came. Barbosa de Castro was cautioned in the 65
th minute for a rough foul on FSU's Lela Clark and
Maria Barbosa also committed a hard foul that also earned her a place in the referee's book.
As the seconds ticked down in the second half, the Bobcats had one last chance with a corner kick as the clock ticked below 10 seconds. An awkward bicycle kick attempt by Frostburg State just before the horn blew sealed the one-goal victory and shocked the top ranked team in the North Division in the process.
Galindo made all 17 saves, shattering her previous career high of eight in the process, to preserve the clean sheet, her seventh of the season. Rodrigues took one shot and scored on it. Soares-Cupertino took three shots, none of which were on goal, and had an assist.
Frostburg State's Catherine Smith took seven shots, five on goal. Audra Curtin took four shots, all on goal. Bobcats goalkeeper Bilger did not make a save in the 90 minutes of action she saw.
The Yellow Jackets will face their cross-town rivals in a grudge match and the final home match of the season at Lakin-Ray Field at Dickerson Stadium on Saturday when they host the University of Charleston Golden Eagles. UC fell to the Yellow Jackets in another one-goal match on Sept. 29 at UC. Live streaming will be available at mountaineast.tv. Live stats will be available at wvsuyellowjackets.com.
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