HARROGATE, Tenn. — What a thriller. It took a little more time than expected but every extra second was worth the wait.
 
In the 104th minute, the Lady Railsplitters broke through as Jessica Cravero took a pass from Thenia Zervas, bouncing it off her chest and down before sending it home for a double-overtime, 1-0, victory over South Atlantic Conference opponent Queens at the LMU Soccer Complex Saturday afternoon.
 
"She's a game changer. The more times Jessica gets the ball in the box, the more goals we score," LMU head coach Sean Fraser said, "and that's just a fact. It's important, especially when you have Thenia that can play that early ball in."
 
The game-winning score was Cravero's team-leading sixth while the assist was Zervas' team-high fifth to lead the No. 6-ranked Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team (5-1, 1-1 SAC) to its first conference win.
 
It was more than obvious that LMU showed up locked in and ready to bounce back from a tough SAC-opening loss at Carson-Newman Wednesday.

"We had to learn a lesson," Fraser said. "Last year, it took us 12 games to learn lessons but as of now we are learning lessons already. That's a great one for us today and hopefully we can build on it with a second one on Tuesday."

The Lady Railsplitters were dominate in every phase of the match, holding 60-percent of possession and having 28 shots (seven on goal) compared to the Royals' 12 and three on target. LMU also had 13 corners while Queens (5-2, 1-1) had just one.
 
"We did a little work in the week. We looked at their movements and what they were going to do," Fraser said," and I felt we were really prepared for the front three and what they were going to do. We were able at times to cut it out at the source in the midfield. I thought the midfield — the way they defended the first pass was amazing really and the energy they all showed was tremendous as well."
 
The defense and Emanuely Costa, who had three saves, set the tone the entire match, and then when the offense was finally able to break through, the focus and patience was given the ultimate gift.

"That's what you need to see if you are going to be a top team you have to do it for 90 minutes," said Fraser of his team's focus. "For me, it was just game management points at halftime. It's the hardest thing to come in when you've dominated the game and haven't scored.
 
"It's the hardest conversation to have with your team at halftime because you're sitting there saying, 'We are doing really well, just keep doing it.' The biggest thing is the kids put the information on board and they were persistent and ended up getting their reward later on."

Up Next: The Lady Railsplitters will jump outside of conference play for a day, hosting Shaw University for a 1 p.m. start Tuesday 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-