LEXINGTON, Va. - The Radford women's soccer team stuffed the stat sheet as freshman midfielder Gabi Paupst's game-winner lifted them to a 2-1 victory over VMI at Patchin Field on Friday afternoon.

With the win, the Highlanders improve to 7-0-0 on the season and continue their best start to a season since going 10-0-0 to begin the 1993 campaign. In turn, the Keydets fell to 3-6-0.

A mere 44 seconds after VMI scored an equalizing goal inside the 63rd minute, the Highlanders earned a corner kick and made the most of it. Sophomore defender Allyson Giannone's service into the box was placed perfectly as Paupst made a run toward the near post, connected with Giannone's cross and headed the ball over the line. The goal marks Paupst's fourth of the season and second of the game-winning variety while Giannone is now up to an astonishing seven assists through seven games.

Radford got the scoring started at the 13-minute mark to put the pressure on the Keydets early. Junior midfielder Jasmine Casarez dispossessed VMI in the midfield and spotted junior forward Jessica Wollmann making a run on goal. A pass from 20 yards out found Wollmann who scored to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead. The tally tied her with Casarez for the team lead in goals scored with six on the year.

The Keydets kept on pushing for an equalizer and finally found it in the 62nd minute when Julianne Knoblett sent a long ball over the top into the box for Emma Quirk to head into the back of the net, her third goal of the season.

Casarez may not have scored a goal of her own, but she was a force in the Radford attack all afternoon. Her 10 shots were second this season only to the 11 she posted in Radford's season-opening win over Howard in August. Behind that effort, the Highlanders tied their season-high shot output with 24 shots, including 10 on goal.

VMI made a goalkeeping change at the halftime break, bringing on Sidney Swoope for Ceci Keppeler. Both keepers did well to make four saves and limit the Highlanders to only one goal against apiece. Midfielder Sam Franklin led the Keydets in their attack with three shots, two on goal.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Sophomore goalkeeper Courtenay Kaplan came back from an injury to make her first start of the season, collecting four saves on 12 shots faced
• Casarez, Giannone, Emily Dunn, Alex Struder, Nicole Ray and Jada Ellis all played the full 90 minutes
• Senior Cassidy Ratliff came off the bench and became on of four Highlanders to post multiple shots on the night
• The Keydets did their bet to neutralize the Highlanders' high octane offense by utilizing their depth. Eight players came off the bench with seven of them playing 21 minutes or more in the match
• Giannone is already only one assist away from tying Jordan Lundin (2014) and Suzanne Campbell (1989) for 10th on the all-time single-season assists list with eight
• Struder received a yellow card in the 70th minute, only the second caution the Highlanders have received all season

QUOTABLE
"I thought we played well in the first half and definitely created the chances to finish the game although we should have finished better in the first half. Credit VMI for coming back in the second half, they scored a nice goal. I was very proud of our team for scoring a second goal on a set piece. I thought we finished the game very maturely as a team." - Head Coach Ben Sohrabi

UP NEXT

• The Highlanders now turn their attention to the Saint Francis (Pa.) Red Flash, who they will take on at 2 p.m. this Sunday, Sept. 17th in Loretto, Pa.
• The Red Flash will enter the contest with a record of 2-5-1 after drawing with UMBC, 2-2, on Thursday night

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