ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Facing one of the six teams in the country that remain undefeated, and on their home turf no less, Clayton State (4-2, 0-0 PBC) gave No. 6 Flagler (8-0, 3-0 PBC) all they could handle before falling by a narrow 2-1 score in an NCAA Division II women's soccer game on Saturday, October 5.
 
Both teams would be on the hunt in the offensive end early on and junior goalkeeper Valentina Bonaiuto (Valencia, Venezuela) would be called upon to make a pair of saves off of Flagler's Josefine Nilsen, the last at the 21:40 mark. That effort would set the stage for Clayton State to capitalize in the 33^rd minute.
 
Freshman midfielder Teya Holloman (Marietta, Ga.) advanced the ball into the offensive end before finding senior midfielder Manoly Baquerizo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) on the left wing. The Lakers' offensive threat ripped a shot from there that banged off the keeper and right to the foot of Holloman. She then quickly redirected the ball into the back right corner of the net before the keeper could recover, making it 1-0 at the 32:41 mark.
 
Clayton State's defense would stay in lock down mode as they proceeded to not allow a shot by the Saints until just under a minute remained in the half. That one shot, however, would do damage.
 
Approaching the final minute, FC's Chloe Byrne spotted the nation's eighth leading scorer in Sara Sandberg and promptly got the ball to her just inside the box. She drew the keeper out and then outpaced a defender before putting the ball to the back right corner of an open net to tie the game at 1-1 with 44:05 gone by.
 
Having taken that score to the half, defense would be the order of the day – more so for the Lakers who faced five shots to their one in the frame. The final of those would prove to be the back breaker, however, as Maria Castorino Mujica located Annie Habeeb ahead of the field in the 77^th minute. She got the ball to her for what amounted to a breakaway that would end with a shot that deflected home off the keeper for a 2-1 lead at 76:39.
 
Clayton State would push into the offensive end on multiple occasions, including with a corner kick in the 87^th minute, but could not manage a shot, on goal or otherwise, as No. 6 Flagler closed out the narrow one goal victory.
 
Habeeb and Sandberg paced the Saints with a goal apiece while Byrne and Castorino Mujica each had an assist. In net, Sarah-Lisa Dubel played all 90 minutes, making a pair of saves and allowing the one score to improve to 8-0 on the season.
 
The Lakers were led by Holloman with her first career goal and Baquerizo picked up the assist on the play. The latter would also account for one of the team's three shots on goal, joining Holloman and sophomore forward Isabel Massa (Caracas, Venezuela). Bonaiuto patrolled the defensive end, making six saves against the two goals allowed to suffer the loss and fall to 4-2 on the year.
 
Clayton State continues their two game road swing when they head to Lander (3-3-1, 1-0-1 PBC) on Wednesday, October 9. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. in Greenwood, South Carolina.