PEMBROKE – UNCP took its fourth shutout of the season against Clayton State with a 3-0 victory at Varsity Grounds on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Lady Braves stretched their unbeaten streak out to five on the season.

Brittany Padilla got UNCP (8-1-1, 3-1-0 PBC) on the board unconventionally in the 30th minute as her strike appeared to have been collected by Clayton State (3-5-0, 1-3-0) netminder Stefania Cola, but the shot was ruled a goal by the linesman as the goalkeeper back stepped, thereby, carrying the ball over the plane of the end line.

Junior Rebecca Womack took the second half by force with her shot just inside the box for the second goal of the game for UNCP in the 48th minute. Six minutes later, freshman Anna Zetterlund charged into the box for an identical shot past the goalkeeper cap the game scoring.

Freshman Kayla Colon was assigned to defend Clayton State's Cherie Sayon the entire game to shut down any opportunity for Clayton State to change the outcome of the game. "Kayla did an outstanding job with her task of eliminating any chance that Sayon could become the deciding factor in the game," said head coach Lars Andersson.

UNCP outshot Clayton State 14-7 in the first-half which increased to 24-12 by the final buzzer. Britney Bennett finished all 90 minutes of action with seven saves to tally her fourth shutout of the season. Cola also grabbed seven saves for the Lakers.

"We remained faithful to the game plan and were patient of offense and attentive on defense for us to capture this needed conference win," Andersson said. "We now look forward to this upcoming week when we play two more conference games on the road with an opportunity to take two wins if we stay focused and take it one game at a time."

UNCP will travel to USC Aiken (2-7-0, 0-4-0 PBC)) on Wednesday for another PBC matchup with kickoff starting at 5 p.m. The Lady Braves will face Georgia Southwestern (2-6-0, 0-2-0 PBC) on the road at 1 p.m. on Saturday.