CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  A packed house was at the Welch Athletic Complex to watch tonight's Kanawha River Derby, and they were treated to an excellent match between cross-county rivals as a capacity crowd of over 400 watched the West Virginia State University Yellow Jackets come away with the 1-0 victory over the University of Charleston Golden Eagles. It was the first victory over the Golden Eagles in program history. The win extends the WVSU winning streak to four straight.

The Yellow Jackets improve to 5-2 on the season, 4-1 in the Mountain East Conference. UC falls to 4-3, 3-2 in the MEC.

"We've been preparing the girls, don't let anything affect you, referee calls, the crowd, nothing affects you. Stay on task and they did, they didn't let it influence them at all," head coach Lisa Mann said. "We came here with a game plan, we know UC is a very, very good site. They're difficult to score on, we took our opportunity when we got it and we managed the game from then on out."

Just five minutes into the match, Brooklyn Pritt was called for a handball about 20 yards from goal, giving the Golden Eagles a great chance, but UC's Katie O'Reilly's cross was too far and the ensuing header went wide right of goal. A UC corner kick just a couple of minutes later was crossed into Sydney Wheeler for the Golden Eagles. Her shot went right into Yellow Jackets goalkeeper Laura Galindo's waiting hands. Fran Soares-Cupertino fired a knuckleball at UC goalkeeper Kaylee Hensley, but she managed to save the ball that was destined for the top left corner from entering the goal.
Halfway through the half, UC's Lotte Bovy took a shot that was saved by Galindo, but the rebound squirted loose from her and Wheeler attempted the clean-up, but Delaney Day was there and kicked it back into Wheeler to save the goal and keep from giving up a third corner kick. In the 37^th minute, Pritt sent a shot from the right side that looked like it was heading into the top right corner but got punched away by Hensley and the rebound went out of danger.

In the 40^th minute, that opportunity that Mann alluded to would come when Fran Soares-Cupertino was fouled by Bovy about 25 yards from goal. On the ensuing free kick, Naomi Waithira took a shot and curled it in the top right corner for her second goal of the season, and put the Yellow Jackets on top 1-0. That would be the score at the halftime whistle.

The Golden Eagles had a couple of great looks to start the second half, but nothing to show for them. A great opportunity from the Yellow Jackets came when a cross came to Soares-Cupertino just outside the goal area and she headed the ball toward goal, but she was flagged for being offside. The Golden Eagles and the Yellow Jackets continued to trade counter-attacks during the first 20 minutes of the second half. UC finally registered their first shot on target of the second half at the 21 minute mark. Soares-Cupertino had a great charge into the penalty area, but a slide tackle by UC's Kate Eddy ended the attacking opportunity.

With eight minutes to go, UC's Katie O'Reilly took a hard angle shot from the left side and hit the net that set the fans in Charleston roaring, but it was the outside of the net and the score remained 1-0. The Golden Eagles continued to attack the Yellow Jackets goal, taking four shots on goal in the final minutes, but the combination of the Yellow Jackets counter-attacking ability and the deadly front line of the Yellow Jackets kept UC from pressing too high into the attacking zone and the clock ran out before the Golden Eagles were able to put one in the back of the net.

Galindo made six saves on the evening and recorded her second consecutive clean sheet, third shutout in the last four matches. The Yellow Jackets took 11 shots, seven on target. Brooklyn Pritt took three shots, two of them on target. Waithira took two shots, and scored on her only shot on frame. Bovy took five shots, three on target for the Golden Eagles.

"It means a lot, obviously, the local rivalry. Another first in program history, beating UC for the first time, but to come here and do it, for me it's about the growth that it showed from the spring to now," Mann said after the match.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to Concord to matchup with the Mountain Lions for the second time this season on Sunday. The Yellow Jackets lost their previous match by a score of 4-1 on September 15th in Institute. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 5:30 pm in Athens.