Box Score

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Elyse Surbaugh (Virginia Beach, VA) directed a new look offensive attack for the University of Charleston women's soccer team as they dropped WVIAC opponent WV Wesleyan 2-1, Wednesday evening.

Surbaugh paced the Golden Eagles attack with a goal and an assist on the night, but more importantly was the catalyst of the offense by consistenly controlling possession.

Charleston entered the contest seemingly as the underdog in the contest as the Bobcats were coming off a four-game unbeaten streak that included a defeat of then No. 4 ranked California (Pa.). Headed into the evening WVWC had allowed just one goal in their first five contests.

Despite what the numbers presented Renee Boudreau (Livonia, MI) got the game started on the right note for UC as she combined with Brittany Akers (Roanoke, VA) and Surbaugh to vault the Golden Eagles to a 1-0 advantage. Surbaugh played a perfect pass through the middle to Akers who sprinted along the left flank of the Bobcat defense. Akers split the defense for what looked like a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper who came charging off the backline. In a split-second decision Akers crossed the ball in front of a diving keeper to Boudreau who placed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal just six minutes into the contest.

The teams went to halftime with the University of Charleston leading 1-0, while owning a 6-1 advantage in shots. After the break WV Wesleyan turned up the heat with an aggressive offensive attack, which in a flip-flop of possession actaully worked against their comeback attempt.

In the 61st minute the University of Charleston pulled away with another goal by taking advantage of an overzealous offensive effort. The Bobcats were hit with a penalty just inside the midfield stripe after a hard-fought 50/50 ball. Holly Bigg (Limehouse, Canada) took advantage of the following free kick by blasting an attempt toward the right post of the goal that miraculously found a waiting Surbaugh who found the back of the net after the ball took a short hop just inches from the post.

Charleston sat back on what looked like a safe 2-0 lead as the Golden Eagles had dominated possession for the contest to that point. WVWC didn't stay quiet long as it took them just 14 second to sprint directly to the goal and pull within 2-1 at the 62:05 mark.

The single goal was all Courtney Budd allowed en route to booking three saves as UC secured its second conference victory of the young season. UC owned the shot advantage in the contest at 10-6.

UC returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 6:00 pm when they welcome for the first time new conference opponent West Liberty to the Fields at Trace Fork.