WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty women's soccer team splashed its way to a 1-0 victory against Glenville State here Wednesday night at rainswept West Family Athletic Complex.
    Patience paid off for Coach Barry Christmas's Hilltoppers (3-8-4, 3-5-4) as they dominated play throughout against the visiting Pioneers (3-12-0, 1-10-0) and finally broke through on their 16th shot of the match.
    West Liberty had the better of the run of play from the opening kickoff, outshooting Glenville State by a whopping 13-1 margin in the first half but coming away with nothing to show for it. Pioneer keeper Morgan Smailes made several acrobatic stops to keep the hosts off the board and had 8 saves next to her name on the stat sheet at the end of a scoreless 45 minutes.
    The Hilltoppers picked up where they had left off when play resumed, forcing two corner kicks and getting off two more shots in the first two minutes of the second half only to be turned away again.
    West Liberty finally got a ball past Smailes in the 55th minute when freshman Alyssa Rhinaman ripped a drive from outside the 18 that curled into the bottom left corner of the cage for a 1-0 Hilltopper lead.
    The Hilltoppers focused on defense the rest of the way and didn't even attempt a shot over the final 30 minutes in a successful effort to keep Glenville from equalizing. West Liberty netminder Olivia Montgomery made three clutch saves down the stretch to preserve the shutout and the win.
    West Liberty outshot the Pioneers by a 19-6 margin on the night and held a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. Smailes finished with a dozen saves in the loss while Montgomery had four saves and a clean sheet.
    The Hilltoppers return to the West Family Athletic Complex on Sunday for a Senior Day match against West Virginia Wesleyan. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.
  Glenville State                      0  0 – 0
West Liberty                          0  1 – 1      WLU: Alyssa Rhinaman (unassisted), 54:21      Shots: Glenville State 6, West Liberty 19
     Saves: Glenville State 12 (Morgan Smailes 12), West Liberty 4 (Olivia Montgomery 4)
     Corners: Glenville State 2, West Liberty 7