Box Score

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - In front of a raucious home crowd that packed the Friends of Coal Fields at Trace Fork the University of Charleston used a dominant offensive effort to capture their third-straight victory 2-0 over West Liberty, Saturday evening.

Charleston (3-5) controlled the opening touch and never looked back as the Golden Eagles maintained possession for the majority of the contest, while registering shots at will.

A wonderful performance by Hilltopper goalkeeper Rachel Coles kept UC off the board in the opening half as the Hilltopper defense allowed 16 shots by Charleston forcing Coles to make 10 first half saves to keep the contest scoreless.

The offensive onslaught could only be held off for so long though as the number of quality shots for UC only continued to increase as the night wore on and it was Brittany Akers (Roanoke, VA) who was the first beneficiary to find the net. Elyse Surbaugh (Virginia Beach, VA) slammed a long shot off the crossbar narrowly missing the goal herself, but it was Akers who was ready in front to put the rebound in between the posts to light up the scoreboard for the first time in the evening.

UC kept its pace up throughout the second half when Surbaugh eventually got on the board herself in the 72nd minute. Surbaugh came sprinting through the middle of the defense to catch up to a long cross in front of the net by Akers where she nailed a perfect header past a diving Coles for the 2-0 lead.

For the evening the University of Charleston dominated the stat line with a 27-7 advantage in shot attempts, but Courtney Budd (Egg Harbor, NJ) put on a solid performance in goal for the home squad as she managed six saves to preserve the shutout.

The Golden Eagles take their winning streak on the road this Tuesday for a conference matchup against Concord at 2:00 pm.