INSTITUTE, W.Va – The West Virginia State Women's Soccer team defeated the Davis & Elkins Senators by a score of 3-2, despite a late second half surge that included a saved penalty kick and seven additional shots in the last 11 minutes.

The victory puts the Yellow Jackets at 3-2 for the season, the first time in program history that they've posted a record above .500 and advance to 2-1 in the Mountain East Conference. The Senators fall to 0-4 on the season, 0-3 in the MEC.

The match was a tale of two halves as the Yellow Jackets held the possession advantage in the first half, possessing the ball for 55% of the 45-minute half. Senator goalkeeper Katie Clarke was forced to make four saves in the first 25 minutes of the half and watched another sail over her head while Yellow Jackets keeper Laura Galindo only faced one shot during the same time span. In the 29^th minute, a foul was called on the Yellow Jackets Naomi Waithira to set up a rare indirect free kick inside the Yellow Jacket's penalty area for Nicole Olaya of the Senators. She touch-passed the ball to Lisa Miliken, who slipped it past Galindo for the match's opening tally. The Senators' lead would be short-lived, however, when a similar situation happened in the 33^rd minute, except this time it was D&E's Azalea Ayala who was whistled for the foul. Delaney Day was the beneficiary. Day booted it to Fran Soares-Cupertino, who was waiting just inside the Senator's penalty area, and she tickled the twine in the bottom right corner of the goal for her second goal of the season to lock it up at one goal apiece. That tie would only last seven minutes as a Paula Murcia shot went wide and was tracked down by Karem Rodrigues. She crossed it from the right side of the penalty area across to a waiting Soares-Cupertino who snuck it past Clark. It was Soares-Cupertino's third goal of the season and second of the game. Just one additional shot would be faced by Galindo before the halftime whistle.

The second half started off similarly to how the first half ended, just one shot recorded by either team and five fouls whistled between the two. In the 63^rd minute, Soares-Cupertino fired a shot into the outstretched arms of Clarke, but the rebound was collected by Rodrigues who put away her first goal of the season into the bottom right corner and gave the Yellow Jackets a two-goal cushion. For the next 27 minutes, the Yellow Jackets recorded zero shots as the Senators went into overdrive trying to get the match to within one and give themselves the opportunity to tie or take the lead. The best chance for the Senators came with 12:45 remaining on the clock as Day was whistled for a foul inside the penalty area and set Milliken up with a penalty kick. Galindo was equal to the task, however, as she pushed aside the spot kick. That set-up a corner kick and a set-piece for the Senators and Alexa Karsel would capitalize on the chance to bring the Senators to within one goal with exactly 10:59 remaining in regulation. The Senators gave the Yellow Jackets defense all they could handle for those last minutes. Galindo faced six shots over the last minutes of the match, two of them on target, but the Yellow Jackets defense remained firm and didn't allow the tying goal to cross the goal line to come away with the hard-fought victory.

The Yellow Jackets were outshot in the second half 13-2, 17-11 for the game. West Virginia State was whistled for 17 fouls, to Davis & Elkins's 10 and were out-possessed for the game, 49%-51%. Soares-Cupertino scored two goals on six shots on goal, a career high in goals scored. Galindo again played all 90 minutes, although an injury at the 10:52 mark of the first half threatened to see her night end prematurely. She faced 10 shots on goal and made eight saves, a season and career high for the freshman. Davis & Elkins's Milliken took five shots, two on target and scored once.

The Yellow Jackets travel to Buckhannon on Sunday, September 26^th to face the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats. That match is scheduled to kick-off at 7:00 pm.