HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team continued their unbeaten streak under head coach Matt Carr in 2021 regular season action, following Rachel Taylor's dramatic put-back finish in the final 15 minutes of Friday's victory over West Virginia State.
 
The Lady Railsplitter held their second clean sheet of the season Friday night against the Yellow Jackets of West Virginia State, thanks to the superb goalkeeping of Dutch native Bente Latenstein, who made her collegiate debut for LMU. Carr's squad will head into conference action against Tusculum unbeaten, as the Lady Railsplitters maintain an unbeaten road streak of seven matches since 2019, and are undefeated under their new manager in the 2021 regular season.
 
"Great performance against a defensively sound opponent. Pleased to get another positive result at home after a long road trip to Atlanta. A clean sheet for Bente and the team, happy to go into the conference now with some good games under our belt," head coach Matt Carr said. "A whole new season starts for us now. Tusculum will be very tough Wednesday."
 
The Yellow Jackets and Lady Railsplitters played a goalless first half in Friday's final non-conference matchup. Senior Jessica Cravero had the best effort of the first half, taking the ball off the bounce and flicking it over her head on to crossbar. Latenstein was a bright spot in the first half's stalemate, putting in a solid effort for her first collegiate clean sheet as a debutant.
 
Senior Rachel Taylor sparked up the contest immediately out of the gates in the second half, narrowly giving LMU the lead, if not for a spectacular save by the Yellow Jackets keeper. Cravero followed the superb effort of Taylor, hitting the side netting as the match remained level.
 
With 15 minutes remaining and yet another extra time period looming, the prolific Italian goal scorer finally hit the back of the net for LMU, however Cravero was flagged offside. The Lady Railsplitter pressure paid off just seconds later, as senior Rachel Taylor pounced off her own rebound, scoring her third goal in three matches to begin the season.
 
LMU fought off waves of Yellow Jacket attacks in the contest's dying minutes, including a West Virginia State free kick with two minutes on the clock, to secure the victory and an unbeaten record heading into conference action.
 
Up Next
 
The Lady Railsplitters remain in Harrogate on Wednesday Sept. 15, beginning SAC conference action against the Pioneers of Tusculum. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EST.

How to Follow
 
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 across the 2021 season.