Box Score Wheeling, W. Va. - Two teams fighting for their Mountain East Conference (MEC) playoff lives faced off on Wednesday afternoon when the Wheeling University Women's Soccer team (3-7-1, 2-6-1) took on The University of Charleston. It was a close contest throughout the night, but in the end, a second-half goal was enough to sink the Cardinals 1-0.

Early in the game, it was the Golden Eagles that had the ball for a majority of the time. They outshot Wheeling 12-1 over the first 45 minutes of play, but they weren't very accurate keeping Wheeling in the game. Of the 12 shots they took, only three of those shots landed on net, and all three were saved by senior goalkeeper Mikayla Yarwood. Thanks to Yarwood's efforts, the Cardinals went into halftime with the score sitting at 0-0 and a chance to get back into the game.

However, if they wanted to get back into the game, they were going to have to find a way to generate some offense. The only shot in the first half for the Cardinals came courtesy of Talynn DeBartolo, who sent the ball to the bottom left corner of the net. Unfortunately, Charleston's goalkeeper was able to make the save and keep Wheeling off the board. The Cardinals were looking for some quick-strike opportunities coming out of the second half as they tried to get on the board.

They got their chances early on as both Ana Molnar and Kenadee Burgoyne had the chance to get Wheeling on the board in the first five minutes of the half. However, neither girl could sneak it into the net, and the game rolled on sitting at 0-0. The game would remain scoreless until the 69^th minute when the Golden Eagles were finally able to get on the board. Laura Vierhout took a pass from Kassandra Demps and shot it past a diving Yarwood to give Charleston a 1-0 lead.

Wheeling would get just three more shots off in the game, and nearly tied things up in the 84^th minute. Kenadee Burgoyne would send a shot that looked good off her foot, but it sailed just high over the crossbar. Wheeling was never able to get that breakthrough goal and fell 1-0, dropping their conference record to 2-6-1. It was a tough battle throughout the night, but the opportunities just weren't there in the loss.

Burgoyne was the offensive leader for the Cardinals, getting off a team-high two shots, putting one of those on goal. Six different Cardinals were able to get shots off in the game, with three of those shots landing on net. It was a good day for Yarwood, who allowed just one goal and made nine saves in the game. She fell just one short of her season-high of 10 in the loss.

The Wheeling University Women's Soccer team is back in action on Saturday when they head to Frostburg State to take on the Bobcats at 8 PM.