Charleston, W. Va – On Wednesday, the Golden Eagles would host their first-ever Mountain East Conference Semifinal at the Welch Athletic Complex, squaring off with the Senators of Davis & Elkins on the first day of May. Charleston had defeated Davis & Elkins in each meeting during the regular season, but the Senators had never shied away from putting up a fight. 
 
The Basics
Location: Elliott Field
Score: UC 13, D&E 8
Records: UC 10-7, D&E 12-6
 
How It Happened
The Golden Eagles were stunned in the opening stages of the match as Davis & Elkins had scored two astoundingly quick goals for the early 2-0 lead. Despite Charleston's first goal coming from Gianni Blundell at the 10:13 mark of the opening quarter, the Senators proceeded to score three more and add on to their lead on the road. Izzie Sevila's goals with just under three minutes left in the first quarter gave her squad the 5-1 victory heading into the second. Charleston had finally found their rhythm offensively as Blundell scored her second of the game at the 14:02 mark of the quarter, which would then be followed by four more Charleston goals in the quarter. With Rylee Anderson's goal in the second period, it would be a tied game at 6-6 going into the halftime break after Charleston's efforts in the second quarter. 
 
After both teams suffered a six-minute drought in the second half, it would be Charleston that struck first to take their first lead of the game with Darby Stolz's goal off the assist of Blundell for the 7-6 advantage. Freshman Hayden Slinkard extended the Golden Eagle lead five minutes with a goal assisted by Blundell once again. Madison Partridge would round off the third quarter scoring for Charleston with two minutes left in the period for the 9-6 lead. 
 
The Golden Eagles would fire off two more goals in the fourth period from Blundell and Tess Yuhas two take a five-score lead over the Senators. Zoe Mackey, the MEC Freshman of the Year, and Ari Hinton scored the final goals for Davis & Elkins in their final efforts to move the game into overtime, but Partridge and Stolz matched their scores to maintain their five-score lead. Charleston would hang on for the 13-8 victory to move on to the Mountain East Conference Championship for the first time in program history.
 
Up Next
The Frostburg State Bobcats will host Charleston for the 2024 Mountain East Conference Championship at Bobcat Stadium this Sunday on May 5^th at 2:00 PM. The Bobcats defeated the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats on Wednesday to advance to their fourth consecutive MEC Championship.