INSTITUTE, W.Va. — The Kanawha River Derby heads to Institute on Wednesday as the WVSU women's soccer team hosts their cross-town rival Charleston on Wednesday. The two schools, separated by just 11.9 miles, will meet up in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 South Division matchup at 6:00 PM. The Yellow Jackets have never defeated the Golden Eagles on home turf and hope to change that.

PREGAME RECORDS
WVSU: 6-0 (4-0 MEC)
UC: 3-3 (3-1 MEC)

NEWS AND NOTES
The two squads met three times last year. Both teams lost on home turf during the regular season last year with Lisa Mann's squad shutting out UC 1-0 on Sept. 29, 2021 and Todd Diuguid's team knocking off WVSU at Dickerson Stadium 9-1 on Nov. 6, 2021. The two teams met three days later in the opening round of the MEC tournament on the UC campus with the Golden Eagles securing the 2-0 victory, ending the Yellow Jackets season.

THE BUZZ AT STATE
The Yellow Jackets are off to their best start in school history, winning six straight including wins over University of Indianapolis, then-No. 6 Concord, and a decisive victory over Davis & Elkins. State's last match was against West Virginia Wesleyan at Dickerson Stadium on Sunday, a 2-1 victory.
State has scored the most goals in the conference and are one of only seven teams in all of D-II that are still undefeated. State is nationally ranked in multiple stat categories including points per game (5th - 10.17), scoring offense (3rd - 4.00), total goals (6th - 24), and total points (8th - 61). In addition, graduate student and two-time MEC player of the week Fran Soares-Cupertino is nationally ranked in several categories including goals per game (T-1st - 1.5), points per game (1st - 1.50), total assists (17th - 4), total goals (4th - 9), and total points (2nd - 22). 
Sophomore goalie Laura Galindo has made five starts for WVSU and has allowed six goals, facing 22 shots on target and 25 shots off target. 

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Charleston has non-conference losses to Kutztown and Gannon, a 3-0 loss to Kutztown, and a 2-0 loss to Gannon. UC then started conference play and won three straight before falling to Concord at home on Sunday, 1-0.
UC has scored seven goals through six matches and allowed eight. They are ranked seventh or eighth in most conference stat categories. Graduate Student Sydney Cavender is the leading scorer for UC and is ranked 10th in the conference in goals scored with three. Sophomore Jordan Maynard will likely get the start in goal for the Golden Eagles. She has played all six matches, has a 1.333 goals against average, and has made 25 saves. That's good for fourth in the Mountain East in both stat categories. The Huntington, W.Va. native also has two clean-sheets, which tops the MEC.