PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida women's soccer team returned to its winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Montevallo on Wednesday night, improving to 8-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the Gulf South Conference. The shutout with UWF's sixth of the year and the team's third in its last six matches.
 
After a scoreless, rainy first half, the game-winner came in the fourth minute of the second half by sophomore Leonie Kreil. Kreil's goal, which was her fifth of the season, came off a shot from Shantell Thompson that rebounded off UM keeper Judith Perez-Bayon. The goal marked Kreil's second game-winner of the season.
 
Kreil led all players with five shots in the contest, with two of those going on target. After her effort on Wednesday, she ranks fifth in the conference in points per game (1.33) and has the fourth-highest goals total (5) in the league, while still leading the GSC in assists.
 
UWF held possession for most of the game, taking 19 shots compared to Montevallo's 7 and out-cornering UM 12-1. Kreil's goal was far from the only opportunity that West Florida created on the night, with several coming right after the halftime break in action. After Kreil's goal in the 49th minute, Thompson had a shot just outside the 18-yard box that was blocked in the 52nd minute, and Grace Busby put a shot on target just 34 seconds later.
 
The Argos did some similar work in the 61st minute, with three shots coming across in just two minutes of play, and in the final nine minutes of the game, when UWF tallied three shots that were either saved or just missed hitting the goal.
 
West Florida's back line made goalkeeper Katelyn Burkhart's night relatively easy, holding Montevallo to just seven shots and keeping the Falcons' leading goal-scorer Allye Darnell to just one shot.
 
The win for Burkhart was the 29th of her UWF career, putting her in sole possession of fifth place in the Argonaut record books. And she now has 13 career shutouts, a total that also ranks fifth in UWF women's soccer lore.
 
After the 19 shots, 12 corners and 1 goal on Wednesday, the Argonauts maintained their GSC lead in each of those categories. UWF has the highest scoring average (2.75 goals per game) in the conference, as well as three more goals (33), 25 more shots (240) and 36 more corner kicks (109) than any other team in the league.
 
West Florida continues conference play with the second of three matches this week on Friday against West Georgia, which is scheduled for a 5 pm kickoff.