HARROGATE, Tenn. — Our house.
 
The Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team came into Saturday's highly-anticipated matchup versus the undefeated, No. 11-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne Bears unbeaten at home and that's the exact way the Lady Railsplitters left.
 
All it took was a goal in the 21st minute when Thenia Zervas roped a corner ball to a prepared Mariana Diaz, who pushed through the game-winning shot into the left corner for the junior's first score of the season to secure the 1-0 South Atlantic Conference victory.
 
"This is our facility," Diaz said. "No one comes in here and disrespects us in terms of taking a win from us and taking points from us, and we'll do anything to make sure we get a win here and any facility we are at.
 
"We were just hungry for the win. We prepared really well this week and it wasn't about what they've accomplished; it was that we wanted to win and that was the main focus coming into this game."
 
The win improved LMU (7-2, 2-2 SAC) to 4-0 at the LMU Soccer Complex while handing LR (9-1, 4-1) its first loss of the season. It was also the Lady Railsplitters' first victory over a ranked team on their home field since 2007 when LMU took down then No. 7-ranked Tusculum, 3-1.
 
The Lady Railsplitters' preparation for the Bears was apparent as was the energy flowing with forward Itzel Ballesteros and defender Daisy Drake back on the pitch.
 
"We had four training sessions. Obviously, it helps having Itzel back because she is one of the best players in the conference," LMU head coach Sean Fraser said, "but we were able to look at ourselves, look at them and prepare a game plan.
 
"Daisy Drake shouts at people and gets everyone going. She's the real blue-collar player on our team. We've got a team of match winners and she's a match winner. Her, Mariana, Lauren (Wood), people like who drag that extra fight out of people. We've missed Daisy Drake."
 
The addition of the duo put the Lady Railsplitters back at full strength, allowing all the pieces to work off each other and it showed. The Bears had more opportunities from corners (14) to LMU's four, but every single one was cleared out by the leadership of Ermelinda Pantaleao.
 
On top of Pantaleao heading out nearly every corner and the rest of her teammates chiming in to help, goalkeeper Emanuely Costa was extraordinary in the net and shutout the nation's No. 6 scoring offense with 3.75 goals per game. The junior transfer hauled in six saves including several that could have made a scoreless outing a knotted matchup in a heartbeat.
 
"It's not just the goal that we scored on the corner, but how many times did they put a really good delivery on 11 corners? Ermelinda headed every one of them away — amazing. That's a big part of the game. Manu was brilliant and the girls managed the game better than we've managing it.
 
"The way we defended in the lower block was superb. They were playing the ball side-to-side and we gave up some possession, but that was vintage LMU soccer right there. Last year when we were in the championship rounds and happy to give away possession and let them play side-to-side and not hurt us, that was vintage LMU soccer. That's what that is. We bought it back — retro."
 
It was the definition of a team win, reverting to what the Lady Railsplitters embody and bouncing back from a tough road loss at Wingate a week ago that put a lot riding on the matchup against the first-place Bears.
 
The Lady Railsplitters were more than up for the task while proving they haven't gone anywhere, despite a pair of tough road SAC losses.
 
"People are looking at us and saying, 'Oh, they've lost two games,'" Fraser said. "Yeah, we've lost two games on the road. Here we are 4-0. It's a long season. Today, we had to dig in and fight and we knew we were going to have to do that.
 
"We are good, too. It's fine margins in this league. We are obviously a game back from the top at the moment or whatever it is, but there's still a lot of soccer left to be played. That's a big win; a massive win."
 
Up Next: The Lady Railsplitters will face Lees-McRae for a midweek, non-conference matchup at 1 p.m. Wednesday back at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter soccer through the 2019 season.
 
-LMU-