Two days after dropping their first Cape Fear Valley (CFV) conference soccer match of the season, the Union Pines' Lady Viking toughed out a gritty 1-0 league victory, Wednesday in Spring Lake, against the Overhills Jaguars (6-5-1 overall).

The win kept the Vikes (9-2, 7-1) tied atop the conference standings with Western Harnett, a team they lost to earlier this week.

Despite outshooting and outplaying the opposition much of the night, the Vikings struggled to score. Kacey Graner scored 13 minutes into the second half off a crossing pass from Anna Pilson, who returned to action after missing a game due to illness.

"I did not feel very good tonight at all really," Pilson said after the match, "and I was not even sure I would be able to play in the match until we started warm-ups. I was really upset about missing the Western Harnett game though, but I sucked it up and (I guess) it was worth it."

Pilson now leads the Vikes in goals (8) and assists (10).

Graner, a junior midfielder, has now scored goals in three consecutive matches and has a total of seven on the year.

"This win was very important to us," Graner said, "because the loss to Western brought us down a little bit since we had not loss a conference match yet. So this one will help lift us back up and we can get another winning streak going."

Edmiston was proud of Graner who filled in well on the back line making several important clears late in the match.

"Kacey is just an all-around big-time player," Edmiston said, "and she really has a knack for scoring goals. At the same time she is all about the team and can play any position. She does not mind when I move her around and I love that about Kacey. She will play tough wherever she goes, just as she did tonight when we moved her back to defense."

Junior keeper Summer Hennings earned the shutout win, saving 11 Jaguar shots.

"Tonight was really big," said Hennings. "We were able to bounce back after a tough loss a get a win even though we did not play our best soccer and that goes a long way in helping boost confidence."

The Vikes are off all next week for spring break but return to action on April 20, in a CFV match at Sanford, against the Southern Lady Cavaliers

Contact F.W. Manning II at 639-5481 or by email at fwm2@nc.rr.com