Miracle Hershey and Julz Mohrbacher led the offense in a 2-0 win against St. Vincent College yesterday at John F. Wiley Stadium to send Waynesburg University the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship.

“It was a great strong win we had tonight,” Mohrbacher said. “It was a collective group effort on the offensive and defensive side. It felt great to beat them.”

The Waynesburg and St. Vincent goalkeepers protected their boxes to keep the game scoreless heading into the half. 

In the seventh minute, Amanda Pepe charged down field with possession of the ball and fired a shot that St. Vincent goalkeeper Rilyn Warner saved. 

Emma Koller snuck a shot past Abby Ngugi and Jocelyn Stiffler in the 43rd minute, but was saved by Lex Greenlief.

“We knew we had to come with high energy at the beginning at the half,” junior captain Waverly Lorne said. “After a couple of shots on goal, we knew they wanted to win. Whoever has the most energy and was on top of their details would come out on top.”

The Yellow Jackets finished the first half with seven shots, with four of them being on goal. Greenlief provided three saves. The Bearcats had six shots with three on goal. Warner collected four saves.

Waynesburg was playing against a strong gust of wind throughout the game, but before the second half began, head coach George DeAugustino encouraged the team to keep applying pressure.

“The score was 0-0 and going into the wind,” DeAugustino said. “We played really good soccer. I told them the wind was on our back, so let’s use it, and apply pressure.”

In the 79th minute, Hershey provided the game-winning goal after a pass by Mohrbacher that Hershey initially headed over two St. Vincent defenders to set up the breakaway. With blistering speed, Hershey passed the defenders and with a strong right leg kick, buried a shot past Warner. 

“I went all out in effort for the seniors here,” Hershey said. “Coach George has helped me a lot. He has been pushing me to be better and encouraged me to do the best I can out there.”

In the 83rd minute, Hershey spun away from being cornered by three defenders to center the ball to Mohrbacher, who fired a shot over the head of Warner to the top left corner of the goal. 

“I’m happy that it happened,” Mohrbacher said. “It feels great to get the win and I’m looking forward to the championship.”

Waynesburg finished the night with 16 shots, with six being on goal. Greenlief compiled her 10th shutout with eight saves. St. Vincent had 12 shots, with eight being on goal. Warner totaled four saves on the night.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to face Grove City in the PAC Championship on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 4:30 p.m. Grove City defeated Waynesburg 4-0 in the regular season finale. The Wolverines look to defend the PAC title for a third year in a row. 

“I know this team won’t settle,” Lorne said. “We are going to go after them and do what we can do. This is exhilarating and giving it all to our seniors. We are so excited to continue the season and to keep being with everyone and playing the sport we love.”