Charleston, W. Va - The Golden Eagles and the Pioneers left everything they had on the field Sunday afternoon, but Charleston's Sydney Cavender would be the deciding factor with her heroic hat-trick. 
 
The Basics
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 3, GSU 2
Records: UC (4-4, 4-2 MEC), GSU (0-8, 0-6 MEC) 
 
How it Happened
Through their first seven games, Glenville State hadn't scored a goal. The Pioneers were very eager to change this statistic. In the 29^th minute, Tori Cutright utilized a gust of wind to her advantage and flew around Charleston's back line. After dribbling all the way to the six-yard box, Cutright crushed the ball underneath the crossbar over Jordan Maynard's gloves and gave the Pioneers their first advantage of the year. 
 
This goal was answered six minutes later by the Winfield, WV native herself. On a beautiful cross from Cassidy Collins near the touchline, Sydney Cavender lifted her leg high in the air and blasted it past the Pioneer keeper, knotting the score at 1-1 going into halftime. 
 
After the break, Katy O'Reilly found a chance to spark the offense from the midfield stripe on a free kick. Using her jumper cables, she blasted a ball to the 18-yard box and found a goal-hungry Cavender. After making a simple move around the keeper, Cavender tapped the ball in from five yards away to swing the advantage 2-1 for the Golden Eagles.
 
Cavender realized that tapping the ball in from short range is way easier than actually having to take a shot. On a heads-up play, Cavender stole a poor pass in the Pioneer defensive third and went around the keeper once more for the tap in hat-trick. 
 
Charleston would concede an own goal on a corner kick with three minutes remaining in the match, but they would hold on for the 3-2 victory. 
  
Up Next
The Golden Eagles will travel to Athens, WV to take on the Mountain Lions of Concord University on September 28^th at 7:00 PM.