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Even coming home couldn't keep the Tennessee women's soccer team out of its funk. The No. 20 Lady Vols fell to West Virginia 1-0 in the First Tennessee Classic at Regal Soccer Stadium.

In the earlier match, No. 15 Illinois defeated Washington State, 2-1.

The loss was the third in a row for the Lady Vols (1-3) and their first at home in 15 games. Tennessee fell to Indiana, 2-0, and second-ranked North Carolina, 1-0, at the Texas A&M Tournament last weekend.

"This is a tough schedule," Lady Vols coach Angela Kelly said. "There are no guarantees. We will move forward and we just have to make sure that in every single loss that occurs, we fix the things that we did wrong and we make sure we don't make that same mistake twice."

West Virginia freshman Blake Miller scored the only goal with nine minutes left, hitting the upper right corner of the net from six yards out.

The 13th-ranked Mountaineers (3-1) put the pressure on goalie Jaimel Johnson early with seven shots in the first half. Sophomore forward Megan Mischler put two in the box while senior Deana Everrett added another. Miller's score was the only shot on goal.

UT had several opportunities to get on top early. Senior midfielder and All-American Kylee Rossi caught goalie Kerri Butler out of position at the four-minute mark but West Virginia defenders made the save.

The Lady Vols had two corner kicks at 11 minutes in, but couldn't get off a shot.

"I think she (Rossi) played very tentative tonight," Kelly said. "She was possibly afraid to fail. We are going to sort that out pronto."

Tennessee had six shots through the first 45 minutes and four in the second half. Freshman forward Emily Dowd came off the bench in the first half to give UT one of its best chances as she took a pass from sophomore Anna Fisher at midfield to the top of the box. Though she was surrounded by the West Virginia defense, she got the shot off that was stopped by Butler.

Tennessee had a final chance with 33 seconds left, but a corner kick from sophomore Tanya Emerson fell short.

The tournament continues Sunday with an 11:30 a.m. matchup between West Virginia and Washington State (1-1-2) and a 2 p.m. game between the Lady Vols and Illinois (4-0).

"They (Illinois) are a big team and they are very physical," Kelly said. "They are going to be dynamic up top. We are going to have to regroup because obviously coming off of a loss doesn't feel good."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.