THE RUNDOWN
No. 5 DBU (13-2, 9-1 LSC) edged St. Mary's (6-6-2, 3-4-2 LSC) by a score of 1-0 Wednesday evening on University Hill. In a match loaded with narrow misses and shots deflected off crossbars, Ashley Merrill provided the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute to give DBU its fifth straight win.

The Rattlers' defense rallied throughout the first half, surviving a trio of on-target shots from Ashley Merrill. DBU threatened with the 1-0 goal late in the half before St. Mary's defender Maggie Wirebaugh swooped into the empty goal to knock away a Patriot shot attempt. Hailey Brown would save her only first-half challenge in the closing seconds as both teams entered the break in a scoreless draw. 

In the 54th minute, Abigail Olmos found Ashley Merrill navigating a gap in the STMU defense. Merrill then fired a rolling kick into the lower-left corner of the net as DBU took the 1-0 lead. The St. Mary's offense would spend the rest of the game on the offensive, aggressively searching for an equalizing goal against an immovable DBU defense. Hailey Brown completed another terrific shift in the net, tipping away her third save of the match in the final four seconds to preserve the win. 

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
-DBU has now won 17 straight against St. Mary's, improving to 20-8-1 in the all-time series.
-The Patriots boast a 7-2 home record.
-DBU holds a six-point lead over No. 2 TWU in the conference standings.

COACH MICHELLE LENARD ON THE WIN 
"That was a tough game. It was a battle just as we expected it to be... It took us a while to get some good shots at the goal, but we kept our foot on the ball and were patient. We had a couple of close shots that should have gone in, but they didn't, and sometimes that happens. We really challenge our defense to keep us in games when that happens, and they gave a great effort to earn the shutout. That was a fantastic goal from Ashley [Ashley Merrill] to give us the goal that we needed to get the win."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
20-11 -The Patriots outshot the Rattlers 20-11 on the day. 
2 - DBU is on its second five-game winning streak of the season.
192 - Coach Michelle Lenard is now eight wins away from 200.

UP NEXT
 No. 5 DBU heads to New Mexico for a Saturday match at Eastern New Mexico.