BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The West Virginia State Women's Soccer team defeated the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats by a score of 1-0 at Culpepper Stadium Sunday night to extend their winning streak to three. The match was an extremely physical one with 29 fouls and five yellow cards between the two teams.

The Yellow Jackets improve to 4-2 on the season and 3-1 in the Mountain East Conference. The Bobcats fall to 1-4-1 on the season, 1-3 in the MEC.

The first half was a midfield slugfest between the two teams with most of the half being played in the midfield area. Just three shots were recorded during the first thirty minutes of the match with the two teams being whistled for eight fouls in a 7-minute span, most of them against the Bobcats. The first shot recorded for the Yellow Jackets didn't occur until the 30^th minute when Naomi Waithira took a shot from about 35 yards out that rebounded off the Bobcat goalkeeper Ally Moore, but she quickly recovered and gobbled it up. The rest of the half would be a chess match by the two teams with just two more shots that went wide of target.

The second half started out as the physical chess match that the two teams finished off the first half with a few long balls played by both teams, until the best opportunity up to that point coming when Karem Rodrigues faced an empty net after a Bobcat defensive misplay brought Moore out of her net. The shot went wide, however, and left the match scoreless. Then with 25 minutes to go, Soares-Cupertino took a cross from the right side of the box then chested it to herself and attempted a bicycle kick that was tipped away by Moore, giving the Yellow Jackets a corner kick. The set-piece ended up being cleared away.

Soares-Cupertino would not be denied, however. With 13:27 remaining in the match, Brooklyn Pritt sent a beautiful cross from just outside the right side of the penalty area to Soares-Cupertino who pushed a header past Moore and into the bottom left corner of the goal for her fourth goal and Pritt's third assist of the season. The Bobcats wouldn't get another shot for the rest of the game.

Laura Galindo made three saves in the match. West Virginia Wesleyan was whistled for 22 fouls and three cautions. West Virginia State was called for just seven fouls and were cautioned twice. The Yellow Jackets took just two shots on goal, well below their season average of seven per game.

The Yellow Jackets will next face the University of Charleston Golden Eagles in a Kanawha Derby match at the Welch Athletic Complex on the UC campus on Wednesday. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 7:00 pm.