WINCHESTER, Va. - The Shenandoah University women's soccer team earned its first USA South Conference victory of the season Saturday afternoon by defeating the Averett University Cougars 4-1.

Sophomore Karen Hild (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) struck early with the first of her two goals on the afternoon coming in just the sixth minute to lead the Hornets (5-4 overall, 1-2 USA South) over struggling AU (3-8, 1-3).

The Shenandoah lead exploded to 3-0 before the first half was even one-third completed as freshman Leanne Gibson (Woodbury, N.J./West Deptford) scored the second goal of her career in the 11th minute before Hild tacked on her second of the day two minutes later.

Averett was not able to answer the SU attack until Dee Moyer (Waynesboro, Va.) prevented a shutout with the lone goal for the Cougars in the 77th minute.

Senior Shannon Revels (Spotsylvania, Va./Spotsylvania) iced the match with a high strike from 15 yards out to close the scoring for the afternoon in the 81st minute.

Sophomore Megan Ross (Harrisburg, Penn./HACC) remained relatively untested making a pair of saves to earn the win while her counterpart, Shelia Nichols (Bethel, Vt.), made 19 saves - including 16 in the second half - in a losing effort for Averett.

A complete boxscore can be found at: http://www.su.edu/athletics/wsoc/2003/100403.htm

The Hornets are back on the pitch Friday afternoon when Shenandoah hosts Chowan in a USA South match scheduled for 4:00.