No. 22 Frostburg upsets No. 17 West Virginia State, 1-0
Oct. 27—FROSTBURG — In a top-25 matchup between the top two teams in the Mountain East Conference, No. 22 Frostburg State defeated No. 17 West Virginia State 1-0 on Wednesday at Bobcat Stadium.
"We love the fact that we played a very good team today," Frostburg head coach Brian Parker said. "Probably the best, one of the best team's we've played this year. Everyone spends the season preparing to play the best teams at the end of the season when it really matters. I'm so proud of our players and how we performed tonight."
The Bobcats (15-1-1, 13-1-1 Mountain East Conference) are now atop the MEC standings with the win and secured the most wins in a season for the program since 2011. The Yellow Jackets (14-1-2, 12-1-2 MEC) now trail Frostburg by two points in the MEC standings.
"It might be one of the most impressive wins we've had against a national-level team," Parker said. "We don't get national-level teams very much and we did tonight. I'm certainly happy with the result."
Less than two minutes into the game, Lela Clark took a pass from Carolyn DeSena and found the high right section of the net for a goal. It was the only goal scored in the game.
"When I saw the ball, it bounced off my teammate Carly's (Gillette) foot," Clark said. "It came to my foot, I looked up and saw the open goal and I put it in there."
Frostburg had several good looks on goal in the first half and were the more aggressive team in taking shots. It had an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal in the first half.
"We've got plenty of ways to improve our team," Parker said. "I think certainly that's one of them. You're not gonna get a lot of chances against a quality team like this. The fact that we capitalized on an early one, sometimes that doesn't happen. We've had plenty of games where that didn't happen."
West Virginia State did not record a shot in the first 10 minutes of the game. It also only had one shot in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Another theme of the first half was corner kicks. Frostburg had an 8-1 advantage at halftime.
"We have great pace and great athletes, so we're gonna force a lot of end-line action and a lot of corners," Parker said. "Honestly, we should capitalize more on them when we get that many. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get a few more chances from them."
While the Bobcats controlled the shots in the first half, the Yellow Jackets held the edge in the second half. They out-shot Frostburg 9-4 in the second half. They also generated more corner kicks with a 3-2 edge.
"They packed it in more," Clark said. "Every time we'd get it out wide, we'd look to cross it in. They had their goal packed, they were really looking to not let us score anymore."
Ashley Bilger saved two shots in the first half. She stepped up in the second half and made several key saves for the Bobcats. Midway through the half, Bilger made a highlight save where she reached up and knocked away a would-be goal. She saved six shots in the game. It was her 11th clean sheet of the season which leads the MEC.
"Big players play in big games at the important times of the year," Parker said of Bilger. "That's exactly what happened tonight, she was great."
Laura Galindo started in goal for the Yellow Jackets and saved seven shots.
West Virginia State travels to face the University of Charleston on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Frostburg travels to play Fairmont State on Sunday at 1 p.m. If the Bobcats win, they clinch the top overall seed in the MEC tournament.
"Playing out wide, working around them again kinda like we did tonight," Clark said on beating Fairmont State. "Being aware of their fast forward, she gets the ball a lot."
Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.
