Jersey City, N.J. (October 5, 2022)—Kayla Pennington scored in the sixth minute and the defense made that lead stand as Mount St. Mary's women's soccer earned its first-ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory with a 1-0 win at Saint Peter's on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Mountaineers (2-3-6, 1-2-2 MAAC) were the aggressors early in the contest, generating a good scoring opportunity in the fifth minute before breaking through a minute later to take the lead.  In the fifth minute, Alexis Dragisics took a cross in the middle and fired a shot that was deflected by Saint Peter's goalkeeper Olivia Mackethan.

Just over a minute later, the Mount took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to take the lead.  Kalli Bell lofted the corner kick to the middle of the box where Kayla Pennington headed it past Mackethan for a 1-0 advantage.  The goal is Pennington's second of the season, tying her with Madison Bee and Luisangely Navas for the team lead. Bell picked up the assist, her team-leading fifth on the year.  The early goal marked just the second time in 11 games this season that the Mount has scored first in the game.

The Mount had another opportunity in the 21^st minute off a corner kick, but Bee's shot was stopped.   Play was pretty even the rest of the half with the Mount taking the 1-0 lead to the locker room.   Mount St. Mary's held a 7-to-2 edge in shots in the opening half, including a 5-to-1 margin in shots on goal.

The Mount had a couple of early scoring chances in the second half off a corner kick and a cross off a buildup, but were unable to generate a goal.  The Mountaineer defense kept the Peacocks (3-10-0, 2-3-0 MAAC) at bay for the middle part of the half, but Saint Peter's put pressure on in the final 10 minutes in trying to find the equalizing tally.  Saint Peter's had four shots in the final 10 minutes with Mount keeper Drew Camp making one save, but the Mountaineers were able to hold on for the shutout win.

Saint Peter's finished with an 11-to-8 shot advantage, including a 9-to-1 edge in the second half.  In shots on goal, the Mount held a 5-to-2 margin while Saint Peter's had five corner kicks to the Mount's four.  Camp finished the game with a pair of saves while Mackethan had four stops for the Peacocks.

The Mountaineers return to action on Saturday with a MAAC road matchup at Niagara.  Kick-off is set for 1:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES:  The Mount joined the MAAC in May and posted a pair of ties and a pair of one-goal losses before today's first MAAC victory…The Mountaineers have recorded back-to-back shutouts for the second time this season…Prior to this year, the last time the Mount had back-to-back clean sheets was a three-game span in October of 2015…Mount St. Mary's first-year head coach Melissa Sherwood was facing her former school for the first time….Sherwood was the head coach at Saint Peter's from 2016-19.