PIKEVILLE, Ky. – According to the NAIA women's soccer modified RPI, Cumberland (Tenn.) is the best team in the nation and the coaches' top-25 poll doesn't have it far from that at No. 3.
Against the University of Pikeville on Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs (11-0-1, 5-0 MSC) played up to their billing, tallying a 12-0 win at the Bob Amos Complex. Cumberland led 7-0 by halftime as Emily Shires finished with a team-best three goals and Olivia Chu, Mackenzie Keele and Shauna Gilpin chipped in with two each.
Cumberland outshot the Bears 24-3 overall and 16-0 in shots on goal as Gilpin fired a team-best five shots and put the most on target with four. UPIKE got shots from three different players as Paulina Ruiz, Olivia Gipson and Katelyn McFarlane each got one off.
True-freshman keeper got quite the test in goal, finishing with five saves and 11 goals against as one of the Bulldogs' scored came from an own goal by the Bears. Lindsay Kitson and Jamie Rainbolt combined for the shutout for Cumberland without having to make a save.
Chu scored the first two goals of the game in the eighth and 12th minutes, followed by a third score from Shires in the 13th and another from Gilpin a minute later. In a span of six minutes, a scoreless 0-0 tie blossomed into a 4-0 Bulldog lead and they never looked back.
UPIKE, still off to its best start in program history at 7-2 overall and 2-1 in Mid-South Conference play, jumps back into action at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday with a non-conference trip to Ohio Christian in Circleville, Ohio.
