The Waynesburg University Women’s Soccer team beat Hiram College for the first time in recorded program history, shutting them out 2-0. The Yellow Jackets are in second place in the conference with a 7-0-2 record and have 23 points.

“It was not an easy win,” sophomore forward Amanda Pepe said. “We had to play a little differently. We had to play a little bit more messier than we are used to. It wasn’t a clean win, but I think we all worked really well together.”

In the 28th minute, Ryan White passed the ball to Amanda Pepe while under pressure from two Hiram defenders. Pepe then sent a shot past the right side of the diving goalkeeper, Madie Kennedy.

“We dominated most of the game,” Pepe said. “We felt pretty secure and it’s nice to see what we were working on paid off.”

At the end of the half, the Yellow Jackets had 14 shots, 10 of them being on goal. Waynesburg’s defense did not allow Hiram to have shots of any kind in the first half. Senior Lex Greenlief did not have any saves in the first 45 minutes. Kennedy recorded nine saves for Hiram.

“It was super windy at Hiram in the first half,” head coach George DeAugustino said. “We were working with the wind and used that as our advantage and kept possession for a majority of the time.”

In the 68th minute, Reagan Mittendorf sent the ball in on a corner kick to Amanda Sweeney, who headed the ball past Kennedy to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead over the Terriers.

“We worked a lot on corner kicks this week,” Sweeney said. “We knew Hiram was vulnerable in that area. We did a lot of headers and corner kick situations every single practice. I went into the game to be ready on every corner kick to try and produce something.”

This was Sweeney’s first collegiate goal.

“We really wanted to attack their outside backs,” DeAugustino said. “In practice, we focused a lot on corner kicks and Amanda was able to score her first collegiate goal on a corner kick. The game plan worked”

The Yellow Jackets finished the game with 22 shots to Hiram’s four. Greenlief had one save on the night and Hiram had 12 between two goalkeepers. Waynesburg had 10 corner kicks and did not allow Hiram to have any. 

DeAugustino sits at 43 wins as head coach and passed Laura Heethuis for second place. Ken Alberta holds the most wins as a coach with 58. 

“Something I have been preaching ever since coming here is that I love to win,” DeAugustino said. “It’s all about the team and I hate losing. It’s an honor to be in the same category as them.”

Waynesburg has won its last five games in a row and will travel to Geneva on Saturday, Oct. 25. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Golden Tornados last year 5-2 and have won six straight matchups against them. Geneva sits in fifth place with a 5-3-1 record and 16 points.