ST. LOUIS – SIUE women’s soccer won its third consecutive game Friday night, defeating Saint Louis 1-0 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on the SLU campus.

The Cougars wasted little time in getting on the board. Freshman Kayla Delgado buried a shot from 25 yards out to the top corner past Billiken goalkeeper Hanna Benben to put SIUE up 1-0 just 41 seconds into the match. Marissa Delgado assisted on the goal.

“It takes pressure off,” SIUE Head Coach Derek Burton said. “But the longer you go with it just 1-0 it gets a little hairy.

It’s the way that she can strike a ball,” Burton said of Delgado. “We’ve seen it a couple of times already just through four games.”

The Cougars (3-1) held the lead despite Saint Louis (1-4) outshooting SIUE 13-10 for the game.

“We had a couple of good chances where we could have put another one up and maybe had a little more breathing room,” Burton said.

Tory Pitts had back-to-back chances for the Cougars in the final six minutes of the first half. Her first shot came from the top of the box and nearly got over Benben, who was able to reach high and make the save. Pitts’ second shot went just over the bar.

Pitts went one-on-one with Benben in the 76^th minute. Benben charged hard out of the goal, and Pitts slid a shot just wide of the frame.

Benben made six saves for Saint Louis.

The Billikens had numerous scoring chances late. SLU’s best scoring chance came in the 85^th minute. Following a corner kick, SIUE was called for a foul in the box. Saint Louis was awarded a penalty kick. SIUE sophomore goalkeeper Jennifer Pelley denied SLU forward Jenny Hummert with a diving save to her right.

Pelley made five saves to secure her second consecutive shutout and the 11^th of her SIUE career.

“What can you say about a penalty kick save? It doesn’t really get any bigger than that,” Burton said. It wasn’t just the PK, but some of the long services in too. They were playing pretty direct. (Pelley) came out gobbled a couple up, also played some with her feet. It was just an all-around good performance.”

With less than a minute to play to the Billikens had a corner kick that sailed in front of the goal. SLU’s Michelle Schwartz put a shot just wide of the goal.  

“We’re close (to where we want to be),” Burton said. “We definitely have a way to go. By no means are we a finished product. We see glimpses here and there and stretches of some very good play.”

The game featured 25 fouls, including 18 in the second half.

“We’re going to be a little bit sore tomorrow,” Burton said. “We’ll do our best to recover to be ready to go on Sunday. Sunday will be a deep, team-oriented game. We’re going to need everyone on Sunday.” 

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