VIENNA, W. Va. – Women's soccer ran its streak to five straight victories to open up the season with another win Wednesday afternoon at Ohio Valley College, 2-1. The win marks just the second time in program history (2011) that the Bears have won five straight to open a season. It is just the third five-game winning streak ever in program history. Four of these wins have come on the road which also matches the longest road winning streak in program streak.
Allison Nagle scored in the 11th minute to start the scoring and assisted on the second goal by Schuyler Jones in the 71st minute to lead the Bears with three points on the afternoon. Emily Kuehn stopped five shots on the day to pick up the win. The only blemish to her sheet was a penalty kick that was out of her reach in the 78th minute of play.
Ohio Valley started the game out strong as it took a pair of shots, including one that had to be stopped by Kuehn while also working two corner kicks in the opening six minutes.
The Bears would slowly turn the momentum in their favor shortly after a second off sides call against Ohio Valley as SSU earned its first corner chance of the game in the eighth minute and had a pair of shots off of that corner. However, it would not be much longer until Allison Nagle would break through in the 11th minute of play and finish the unassisted goal to put her team up 1-0.
The score would remain that way for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes as the squads played a fairly even opening half. The Bears finished the first half with seven shots to the host's four while also holding a slight 6-5 edge in corner kick chances.
Shawnee State would tally its second goal of the game just over 25 minutes into the second half during the 71st minute. On that play, Nagle found Jones and hit her on the through ball to where Jones found herself in a 1 v 1 situation before beating the keeper to stake SSU to a 2-0 lead.
Jones' goal would eventually turn into the game winner when the Bears were whistled for a foul in the box and Ohio Valley would knock home a penalty kick with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game, making the score 2-1.
Ohio Valley would have two more shots in the 81st and 82nd minutes but these attempts were blocked and sent wide to keep the game at a one goal difference. The final chance came in with under a minute to go when the hosts drew a corner kick but the Shawnee State defense would not concede a shot as it preserved the 2-1 victory.
The Bears finished the game with 10 shots as a team. Jessica Fair and Jones each took three of those shots while Nagle was the only other SSU player to record a multi-shot game.
After a pair of non-conference victories early in the week, women's soccer will turn its attention to Mid-South Conference Opener this Saturday against the University of the Cumberlands at 1 p.m. That game will be a part of a doubleheader with the men's team playing at 3 p.m. Those two games will be followed by the Alumni Game as a part of the University's Alumni Weekend.
Notes: The only time Shawnee State has won five straight games in a season came during the 2009 and 2011 seasons … Shawnee State has only won four straight road games at one other time in program history (10/16/06-8/29/07) … The Bears are now 5-0 all-time against Ohio Valley with today's contest being the closest in the series history … Allison Nagle has scored/assisted on two or more separate goals in four the team's five games this season … Nagle's assist today gave her a team-high four this season … Nagle now has 18 career goals and 17 career assists … Nagle's 18 goals tie her with Laura Schultz (2001-02) and Marseille Markham (2000-03) for the sixth-most in program history … Schuyler Jones' goal was her team-leading sixth of the season and 15th of her Shawnee State career … Emily Kuehn has now won 18 games during her SSU career in goal.
