HARROGATE, Tenn. – Mariana Diaz scored less than 10 minutes into the match and Brooke Taylor kept the Wolves off the board from there as the Lady Railsplitters (6-6, 1-5 SAC) picked up their first South Atlantic Conference win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Newberry (2-9, 1-6 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
Coming off of hard-fought losses to Wingate and Carson-Newman, Lincoln Memorial opened Saturday's match hungry to get that elusive first conference win of the season.
 
Diaz capped an energetic opening passage of play for the Lady Railsplitters when she finished off a cross from Patricia Roach in the 10th minute to give the home team a 1-0 lead on her third goal of the season.
 
While dealing with injuries abound, Lincoln Memorial mustered just one shot on goal for the remainder of the match, but that 1-0 lead was more than enough for Taylor, who pitched her second shutout of the season and matched a career-high mark with nine saves to assure the Lady Railsplitters' victory.
 
Taylor made four saves in the first half, including one from point-blank range in the 26th minute, and added five more in the second half to complete the shutout.
 
Newberry outshot the Lady Railsplitters 26-12, including a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal.
 
Diaz and Courtney Boyd led Lincoln Memorial with two shots apiece, while Courtney Velazquez and Alyssa Ortega combined for 11 of the team's 26 shots with six and five, respectively.
 
Quick Hits
 
- Diaz tallied her first goal since scoring twice against Tennessee Wesleyan on September 3, snapping a streak of nine straight games without a point.
 
- Taylor's nine saves matched her season- and career-high effort at Erskine in the opener on August 31. It was her first shutout since blanking Tennessee Wesleyan.
 
- The Lady Railsplitters improved to 7-6-2 in the all-time series against Newberry, beating the Wolves outright for the first time since September 2014. It also marked LMU's third home win in the series.
 
Up Next
 
The Lady Railsplitters will break from SAC play to host Glenville State at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.