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NEWARK, Del. - - Amelia Aquino came off the bench and scored in the 79th minute to lead the Wilmington University women's soccer team to a 1-0 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over Georgian Court on Wednesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The win gives the Wildcats 20 points in the CACC with a 6-1-2 record, and now stand at 9-2-4 overall with two games to play in the regular season. The Wildcats are a win away from clinching one of the top two seeds for the upcoming CACC Tournament.
The Wildcats struggled to solve the back line of the Lions in the first half, despite efforts from Emilie Larsen in the 13th minute and Alyssa Ruggeri in the 24th minute.
Wilmington controlled possession in the second half, putting the pressure on the Lions. Julia Yuhase hit the crossbar in the 50th minute and then Evelyn Payne got into the box on the right side in the 74th minute, but her attempt was saved.
Amelia Aquino finally broke through in the 79th minute. She turned around her defender towards the endline and tried to play a ball across the box. The cross got deflected but bounced right back to her and she collected and took a shot from the corner of the six-yard box, scoring her second career goal for the lead.
Alyssa Ruggeri had another opportunity with her left field from atop the 18-yard box, but her curving ball didn't dip low enough, narrowly sailing high over the bar in the 84th minute.
The Wildcats outshot the Lions, 12-4, in the contest, including 6-2 in shots on goal. Georgian Court earned more corners in the game, 3-2. Mio Nakajima made two saves to record her fourth shutout of the season.
Wilmington has two regular season games remaining, starting with a road game at Felician on Saturday night. The opening whistle is set for 5:30 p.m. in Northern New Jersey.
