Rollercoaster season continues
The Golden Rams started out last week with a two-game winning streak with shutouts against the University of Penn and LaSalle. The winning streak came to an end after two consecutive losses against Ursinus and Saint Joseph's last week.The match against LaSalle started the Golden Rams off with a 3-0 shutout victory in their first Atlantic 10 Conference game, but they evened out their record after their 3-1 loss against St. Joseph's. West Chester holds a 1-1 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference and is 5-8 for the year.
Leah Angstadt came up big for West Chester with three goals in the past four games. Angstadt scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win against Penn, and put up two for the Golden Rams in the battle against Ursinus.
The University of Penn match was a non-league, 1-0 shutout victory at Vonnie Gros Field. The win broke the Golden Rams' six-game losing streak last Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 6.
The Quakers started an aggressive first half with three shots in the first 11 minutes. Their efforts were silenced after Angstadt was awarded a penalty stroke in the 21st minute and sent the ball into the high left side of the goal past Penn goalkeeper Danielle Rothman.
Angstadt's goal was the only tally to make the scoreboard. The Golden Rams shut down the Quakers as they had one shot thereafter, and were unable to put up any goals against their hosts.
Penn was awarded eight penalty corners and made four shots in the tilt. West Chester took five penalty corners.
Kristen Arnold made three saves for the Golden Rams and Danielle Rothman also made three saves for the Quakers.
The Quakers have lost five of their last six games and have a 1-8 record.
The following game opened West Chester's Atlantic 10 play last Friday, Oct. 8, at Vonnie Gros Field.
The Golden Rams' winning streak continued with a 3-0 shutout win against LaSalle (5-7, 0-1 Atlantic 10). The win was West Chester's fourth shutout this season.
West Chester picked up their first goal in the first half and tacked on two more in the second. Their opponents were unable to sustain any offense. The Explorers were held to one shot in the first half and five shots overall.
Nicole Fiorilla scored ten minutes into the first half off of an assist from Kate Zunski to take an early 1-0 lead.
Nancy Stehman continued the scoring in the second half for her first career goal off of a pass from Caitlin Dempsey in the 48th minute. Kelsi Lykens assisted Alisha Moran in her fourth goal of the year sweeping in a shot along the end line.
LaSalle goalkeeper, Emma Ruth, made eight saves in the cage for the Explorers, six in the first half alone.
Kristen Arnold (4-3) was in the cage for the whole game and had two saves for her second consecutive shutout. Arnold's defense helped her team to a two-game winning streak.
The Golden Rams held a 17-5 advantage in shots and 9-5 lead in corners.
The winning streak came to a close after a 3-4 overtime loss to Ursinus at the 31st annual Eleanor Snell field hockey game on Sunday afternoon at Vonnie Gros Field.
Angstadt put up two goals for West Chester, while Jennifer Bayzick came up big for the Bears with the final overtime goal, and three goals overall.
Urisinus, who is fourth-ranked nationally in Division III, extended their ten-game winning streak. Their last loss was at their season opener against Messiah.
The game evened out the Bears' record in the all-time series with the Golden Rams (23-23-9) and the Eleanor Snell series (14-14-3). The game was the fourth battle in the last five years to be decided in extra time for the two oldest field hockey programs in the country. In those four OT matches, West Chester is 1-3.
The teams exchanged shots for the entirety of the game with aggressive offense from each side.
Bayzick opened up scoring 10 minutes into the first half for the Bears. Nicole Fiorella responded with a tying shot 17 minutes later. Fiorella connected with a rebound that hit the post and ricocheted onto her stick directly in front of the Bears' cage.
A minute later, Alyssa Thren took the lead back for the Bears with an unassisted goal, her 15th of the season. The goal allowed the Bears to retreat to their locker room with a 2-1 lead.
Angstadt put up her first goal of the game off of a penalty corner in the 45th minute tying the score 2-2. The score remained tied until Bayzick scored her second goal of the day with an assist from Bridget Resetco fourteen minutes later.
Bayzick's goal left the Golden Rams trailing 3-2 nearing the end of the second half. With 3:45 remaining, Angstadt was awarded a penalty corner after the ball was caught under Bears goalkeeper Lauren Lightwood-Mater. Angstadt sent the ball into the upper left-hand corner of the cage through Lightwood-Mater's outstretched stance, sending the game into overtime.
Three and a half minutes into overtime, Bayzick put up her third goal of the game lifting the Bears to a 4-3 victory.
Arnold was in the cage for the Golden Rams, evening her record to 4-4. Ursinus goalkeeper Lightwood-Mater (10-1) was credited with five saves.
Ursinus was awarded 17 penalty corners to West Chester's eight. Four of which were in overtime and eventually lead to the game-winning goal.
The Golden Rams continued their play in the Atlantic 10 with another loss (3-1) in a match up against St. Joseph's University, on Friday afternoon at Buckley Field.
The loss evens up the teams' records to 1-1 each in the Atlantic 10 conference. The Golden Rams are 5-8 overall after the loss and St. Joseph's record improved to 4-9 overall.
Kayla Gluchowski put up the first tally of the game off of an assist from Fiorella in the 11th minute, giving the Golden Rams an early 1-0 lead.
The Hawks commanded the remainder of the game with three unanswered goals.
Nicole McCreight shot off of a direct corner nine minutes later from Caitlyn Crane and Hannah Rogers for her 10th goal of the season.
In Casey Fry's first game back since an injury, she continued the scoring for the Hawks four minutes later sending the shot past Gabby Panasiewicz, her fourth of the year.
In the second half, Ellen Rowe sent in the Hawks' third and final goal of the game 58 minutes in, lifting the final score to 3-1. The Golden Rams did not take a shot in the remaining 12 minutes of play.
Panasiewicz was in the cage for the first 35 minutes giving up two goals and making two saves. Arnold took over for the remainder of the game and was credited with five saves. She gave up one goal in the second half. St. Joseph's goalkeeper Kelly Swanick made seven saves letting in one goal.
The Golden Rams travel to Temple for a Sunday afternoon game at noon for another Atlantic 10 Conference game.
Brynn Dougherty is a third-year student at West Chester University. She can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.
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