Wheeling, W.Va. – In a historic 2023 season, the West Liberty University women's soccer team added yet another record to the list of accomplishments following a 5-1 win at Wheeling. The Hilltoppers notched their seventh win of the year in the regular season finale, the most in program history since the team's inception in 2012.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: West Liberty 5, Wheeling 1
Team Records: West Liberty 7-7-4 (5-6-3 MEC), Wheeling 5-11-2 (2-10-2 MEC)
Attendance: 100
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• West Liberty got the offense rolling with the first goal of the game coming in the 14^th minute as Amelia Compston fought off a Wheeling defender to control the ball off a goal kick and found Isabella Aperfine with a lane down the center of the field. Aperfine then proceeded to fire a shot from ten yards out into the bottom left corner of the net.
• The Hilltoppers later pushed the lead to 2-0 before the halftime break as Marisa Knouff attacked into the open space on the right side of the box before floating a pass over the heads of the Cardinal defenders to Mia Zecca who headed the ball into the left side of the net from only a few yards off the left post in the 26^th minute.
• The Black & Gold resumed the scoring early in the second half as Morgan Kost stole the ball away from a Wheeling midfielder and found Zecca with an open lane towards the goal just past midfield, Zecca then did the rest of the work as she fired a shot from the top of the 18 yard box into the bottom left corner of the net for her second goal of the match to extend the lead to 3-0 in the 53^rd minute.
• West Liberty continued their scoring in the 68^th minute as Maya Taggart sent a touch pass over to Kost off a deflection, leading to Kost finding the back left corner of the net from ten yards out on the right side of the box to make it a 4-0 game.
• Wheeling found their lone goal of the match in the 73^rd minute as Zayna Hampton found Mary DiFonzo cutting towards the goal on a free kick and connected with the ball from six yards out to push it into the back right corner of the net.
• WLU capped the scoring in the 84^th minute with Anne Williams first goal of the season, as she fired a shot directly off the pass from Rileigh Gualtiere and found the back left corner of the net from 15 yards out.
• West Liberty held the advantage in shots (17-16), corner kicks (6-2), and saves (9-5) while the teams were even with ten shots-on-goal apiece.

 WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
Mia Zecca: 3 shots, 3 shots-on-goal, 2 goals
Morgan Kost: 4 shots, 2 shots-on-goal, 1 goal
Anne Williams: 2 shots, 2 shots-on-goal, 1 goal
Isabella Aperfine: 2 shots, 1 shot-on-goal, 1 goal
Amelia Compston: 1 shot, 1 shot-on-goal, 1 assist
Marisa Knouff: 1 assist
Maya Taggart: 1 assist
Zara Wickert: 9 saves
 
UP NEXT
West Liberty has clinched a berth in the Mountain East Conference Women's Soccer Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the North Division. They Hilltoppers will face the South Division's No. 2 seed, Concord, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 5, at the Paul Cline Sports Complex in Beckley, West Virginia.