MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  – Junior Frances Silva continued her stellar play and the West Virginia defense earned its fifth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over seventh-ranked Oklahoma State Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

 

Silva scored a brilliant goal with 88 seconds remaining to give the Mountaineers their second win over a top 10 opponent. WVU has lost only one match since knocking off top-ranked Stanford on Aug. 26.

 

Defender Jess Crowder played a ball up to midfield where forward Kate Schwindel touched it on to Silva. Silva beat her defender and raced toward the goal, creating numbers in transition with forward Kelsie Maloney charging up the middle. Silva was able to cut the OSU center back at the top of the box and send a blast into the upper left corner for the game-winner.

 

Silva, who scored her team-best eighth of the season, has scored seven goals in the last four matches. She became the fourth different Mountaineer to score a goal in four consecutive matches, and the first since Megan Mischler in 2010.

 

West Virginia finished with a 16-12 edge in shots, including a 9-3 advantage in shots on-goal. Silva led all players with six shots, while forward Megan Marchesano paced OSU with four.

 

The Mountaineer back line of Bry McCarthy, Leah Emaus, Mallory Smith and Crowder held the Cowgirls to only one shot on-goal in the second half, a long range attempt from Marchesano. Goalkeeper Sara Keane closed out a very good weekend with a clean sheet, making three saves.

 

After 45 minutes of scoreless soccer, WVU came out strong to open the second half, attacking the goal and sending two shots off the crossbar in the first minute. McCarthy pushed forward and drilled the crossbar on a shot from 25 yards out, before Silva rattled the pipes on a shot from the right corner of the 18-yard box.

At halftime, WVU assistant coach Marisa Kanela made a check presentation for $12,854 to the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center. The WVU women’s soccer team has raised more than $85,000 over the past nine years to help fight breast cancer.