Women's Soccer | 9/10/2017 4:40:00 PM

Box Score     WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's soccer team evened its Mountain East Conference record in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 whitewash of Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit at the West Liberty Soccer Complex.
    Coach Barry Christmas's Hilltoppers (2-1-1, 1-1-1) found the net twice in the first half and tacked on an insurance tally midway through the final frame to hand the Cardinals (0-3-0, 0-2-0) their third loss in as many outings on the young season.
    "It's not an easy turnaround from a Friday night game to Sunday afternoon," Christmas said, noting that West Liberty was coming off a heartbreaking 1-0 double-overtime loss at Fairmont State just 36 hours earlier, "but the girls responded very well and came out with great energy.
    "With the short window, this was a good day to have a rivalry game on our schedule. If you can't get motivated for a game with your rival, you probably need to take a look at yourself."
    It didn't take the Black and Gold long to remove the zero from their side of the scoreboard. After peppering the WJU net with a couple of early shots, the Hilltoppers broke through in the 11^th minute when Layne Hartnell slipped a pass over to Maggie Simon on the right wing and Simon rifled a laser just under the crossbar from 25 yards out.
    West Liberty continued to dominate the run of play and pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 23^rd minute. Once again it was Hartnell helping set up the score. This time she controlled the ball inside the box and slid it back to an open Nikki Lolua, who ripped it past Cardinal keeper Hannah Thompson for her first goal of the season.
    The Hilltoppers put the game on ice in the 74^th minute when Kaylee Hilliard shook loose on a nice run down the left side and powered a hard shot toward the net that was deflected straight up into the air by Thompson, who had come off her line to challenge Hilliard.
    The ball came back down just in front of the goal line but never touched the grass as a streaking Makayla Gammon volleyed it home for a 3-0 lead.
    The only question remaining was whether WLU keeper Allie Warsaw would be able to finish off her third clean sheet in as many starts.
    The senior standout survived one test when she raced out to smother a shot by Allyson Evans in the 80^th minute but saved the best for last.
    Evans was awarded a penalty kick after being fouled in the box by Warsaw in the 90^th minute. Warsaw caught the shot cleanly for her fourth save of the game and the horn sounded a few seconds later.
    The West Liberty women make the long trek south to Athens on Thursday for a noon match against Concord.
  Wheeling Jesuit       0  0 – 0
West Liberty              2  1 – 3      WLU: Goal: Maggie Simon (Layne Hartnell), 10:12
     WLU: Goal: Nikki Lolua (Layne Hartnell), 22:47      WLU: Goal: Makayla Gammon (Kaylee Hilliard), 73:36
A: 140      Shots: Wheeling Jesuit 8, West Liberty 13
     Saves: Wheeling Jesuit 4 (Hannah Thompson 4, Megan Herter 0), West Liberty 4 (Allie Warsaw 4)
     Corners: Wheeling Jesuit 2, West Liberty 2