The Waynesburg University Women’s Soccer team shut out Allegheny College, 1-0 on Wednesday night, thanks to a late second half Reagan Mittendorf penalty kick.

“We like penalty shots, we want the free kicks,” Mittendorf said. “We knew going into the game that a lot of the goals Allegheny gave up were on penalty kicks, so that’s what we were trying to do.”

In the first minute, Mittendorf shot a corner kick after a collision between Waverly Lorne and Allegheny defender Catie Weiss. The corner kick was blocked by a swarm of defenders for the Gators.

At the end of the half, the Yellow Jackets defense limited the Gators to 6 shots, while Waynesburg had 12, four of which were shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Alexus Greenlief had three saves in the first half. 

“It’s a great back line,” head coach George DeAugustino said. “Jocelyn Stiffler and Abby Ngugi are doing a great job at center backs. Gracie Smith and Waverly Lorne as the outside backs contribute a lot defensively.”

The Yellow Jackets saw a lot of shots on goal before one could find the back of the net. Freshman Miracle Hershey had two. Ryan White, Amanda Sweeney, and Julz Mohrbacher each had one.

“In the pregame speech, I talked about how the game honors toughness,” DeAugustino said. “We really wanted to put pressure on the backline. The more we can drive and put pressure on the back line, the more opportunities we will get.”

In the 84th minute, Mohrbacher crashed into two Allegheny players to get a penalty kick. DeAugustino gave the nod to Mittendorf for the kick. The ball went past the low left side of Allegheny’s goalkeeper Alex Augustine.

“We had momentum going into the play,” Mittendorf said. “We were gonna get something, you could almost feel it in the game.”

Mittendorf now leads the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in game-winning goals with four.

“I didn’t even know that,” Mittendorf said. “It feels good to help the team and make a difference. Especially something that makes a difference in the game.”

From 30 yards out, Madeline Schneider for Allegheny tried to tie the game up in the 85th minute  with a right foot kick, but a perfectly-timedperfectly-timed jump by Greenlief poked the ball away from the goal and saved the lead for Waynesburg.

“Alexus Greenlief had an incredible game last night,” DeAugustino said.

Mohrbacher, in the 86th minute, headed the ball away from the goal to keep the game 1-0 in the favor of Waynesburg.

“If it wasn’t for that, the game would have been 1-1,” DeAugustino said. “So even our forwards were defending.”

The Yellow Jackets finished the night with 28 shots to Allegheny’s 20. Greenlief finished the night with nine saves.

With last night’s win, DeAugustino passed Jim Rue for third place in the all-time head coaching wins for the women’s soccer team. DeAugustino, with 38 wins, is three wins away from tying Laura Heethius for second place.

“I didn’t really realize that until the guys for the WUSN [Waynesburg University Sports Network] game mentioned it to me on Saturday against Bethany,” DeAugustino said. “I’ve been so focused on this current season, but it is a cool thing to see and to be up there. All the credit goes to the women on this team.”

Waynesburg University will remain on the road as they travel up I-79 to compete against Washington & Jefferson College on Saturday, Oct. 4. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Presidents last year in the regular season, 2-0, at John F. Wiley Stadium.

“We are excited for W&J,” Mittendorf said. “It’s our big archrival game, so we always look forward to it. We knocked them out in the tournament before. We haven’t won against them on the road before, so it’s a part of our goal this year.”