Box Score (St. Louis, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners snapped a three matching losing streak by defeating Missouri-St. Louis 1-0 at Don Dallas Field in St. Louis, Mo., on Sunday. With the win S&T won its third straight meeting over the Tritons and second in a row in St. Louis.
The Lady Miners (3-5-1, 3-5 GLVC) got on the board first scoring in the 12^th minute. A foul on UMSL (4-5, 3-4 GLVC) from about 40 yards out gave S&T a free kick. Paige Smothers (Marion, Ill./Marion) hit a perfect ball into the box which Kimberly Ekholm (Houston, Texas/Cy-Springs ) headed to Leah Williams (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) feet. Williams took one dribble and hit a low liner past the diving keeper from 10 yards out.
Melissa Young (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) nearly gave the Lady Miners a 2-0 lead in the 20^th minute but was unable to get it past a diving Kaitlyn Smugala.
The Tritons began to pick up the tempo on the offensive end recording six shots in the final 25 minutes of the half. Kaitlyn Deister (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy) turned away two of those shots including a penalty kick in the 40^th minute. Kaylee Neutzling was taken down at the top of the penalty box setting up the PK. Bridget Belli took the kick and tried to slide inside the left post but Deister read it perfectly and was able to punch it away.
S&T went into the intermission with the lead despite being outshot 8-3 in the stanza, but each side had two shots on goal.
Neutzling nearly tied it in the 54^th minute as she got in behind the Lady Miner defense but hit her shot from the top of the box off the outside of the left post. UMSL kept the pressure up as Belli tried to head one in the 59^th minute but Deister denied her again keeping her shutout intact.
The Tritons had one more opportunity in the 81^st minute. S&T committed a foul just outside the left edge of the box setting up a free kick from 19 yards out. Courtney Blake took the kick and fired it towards the goal but the ball hit off the right post and once again stayed it.
The Lady Miners were able to hold off UMSL's charge in the final nine minutes to preserve the victory.
The Tritons finished the contest outshooting S&T by a 14-7 margin, but had only a slight edge in shots on goal 3-2. UMSL finished the contest with seven corner kicks to just three for S&T.
Williams, Young and Ekholm each finished with two shots apiece. Neutzling and Kelly Muesenfechter had four shots apiece for the Tritons.
The Lady Miners return home on Friday night taking on Illinois Springfield beginning at 5 p.m., at the S&T Soccer Field.