FROSTBURG, Md. - The 22nd-ranked Frostburg State Women's Soccer team earned a key MEC victory over No. 17 West Virginia State at Bobcat Stadium on Wednesday evening by a final score of 1-0.
The match-up pitted the Mountain Easts's two nationally ranked teams against one another, as both sides have also secured their respective conference division titles.
FSU wasted no time starting out the game, as sophomore Carolyn DeSena received the ball on the right wing and fizzed a ball into the box that found junior Lela Clark, where she had enough time to take a settling touch and fire into the roof of the net inside 90 seconds for a 1-0 lead. Just 30 seconds later, junior Ashley Bilger was forced into the first save of the match in a frantic start, thwarting a Yellow Jacket counterattack to preserve the lead.
For the next 10 minutes, each team played a back-and-forth possession game, creating few chances and the defenses holding each team's attack in check. Clark forced WVSU keeper Laura Galindo into a save on 12 minutes, then Bilger was equal to a Yellow Jacket shot just a minute later. DeSena and graduate Abbey Dennis fired off shots from distance later in the half, but neither troubled Galindo a great amount. Junior Toni Fiocco-Mizer and sophomore Cat Smith were the next to test Galindo, who made a pair of routine saves on each effort to take the game into the half at 1-0 Bobcats.
FSU carried their momentum into the second half, where sophomore Mackenzie Alonso worked a shot on goal, but was again saved by Galindo, followed up by another save on DeSena four minutes later. From that point, WVSU kicked into another gear, generating attack after attack in an attempt to find an equalizer. Bilger made a flying save on a left-foot cannon by Cierra Savin on 54 minutes, then made another acrobatic save on Esther Dhiramo five minutes later to hold the Yellow Jackets off the board. Paula Herold and Brooklyn Pritt had the next WVSU shots at Bilger, who again stood firm to make her saves on 60 and 64 minutes.
Clark had a great effort on a half-volley from the top of the 18 to try and get to a two-goal lead, but the shot was high and wide in what turned out to be FSU's last real scoring opportunity. The Yellow Jackets threw everything they had at Frostburg's defense, but Bilger, Dennis, freshman Skylar Ehart, sophomore Mei Homman, and junior Hannah Thompson all protected the back line with aplomb and held WVSU to their only scoreless game this season in the 1-0 win.
Bilger made six saves in goal, as FSU earned their 11th clean sheet of the season, the most in the Mountain East this year.
With the victory, Frostburg improves to 15-1-1 overall, the most program wins since 2011, while WVSU falls to 14-1-2. The win also puts the Bobcats at the top of the MEC standings, as they now have 40 points to the Yellow Jackets' 38. A victory against Fairmont State on Sunday, October 30 would guarantee FSU the No. 1 overall seed for the MEC tournament, with kick-off for the game set at 1 p.m. information and updates will be posted at frostburgsports.com.
