West Chester (6-1, 4-0 PSAC East) continued an impressive streak coming out victorious in three consecutive games, maintaining a nearly perfect record up to this point in the season.In their PSAC home game against Slippery Rock, the Golden Rams held a four-point lead with a final score of 13-9 at Vonnie Gros Field on Saturday.
Nearly nine minutes into the game, Lauren Glassey notched in the Rams’ fifth goal to tie up the score, only to be answered by Slippery Rock’s Casey Quinn leaving the Rams in a one goal deficit. Quinn put up five goals overall for her team.
Trailing behind the visitors 6-5 with four seconds to go in the first half, Tori Dugan’s shot hit the back of the net with an assist from Claire Grimwood tying it up 6-6 just seconds before halftime.
The Lady Rams emerged from the locker room with new defensive strategies that kept The Rock scoreless for a 12:31 span. During that period, Dugan and Hoover each contributed two of five unanswered goals that elevated the score to 10-6.
For the remainder of the game, the Rock tallied three more shots. Slippery Rock’s attempt to regain the lead was denied as the Rams answered with three goals as well, solidifying the final score of 13-9.
Shannon Hayes was credited with five points at the close of the game, making one goal and contributing four assists. Grimwood registered a hat trick. Julia Walsh, Dugan and Hoover each put up two goals, while Theresa Giunta, Devon Lotkowski and Glassey each had goals.
MacKenzie O’Keefe started in the cage for the Rams, registering five saves. Jess Henderson relieved her in the second half also with five saves, and picked up her first win of the season.
Slippery Rock’s Kat Elkin took the loss registering 12 saves.
Although Saturday’s PSAC home game against Bloomsburg (4-3, 1-1) resulted in a victory, the Rams’ 9-8 win was a little close for comfort.
Now 2-0 in the PSAC’s, West Chester moved into the first place slot in the league after triumphing over their contenders once again. Bloomsburg’s loss in their first of two matches pulled them down from the ranks.
With a 6-4 hold over the Huskies and three seconds remaining in the first half, Hoover added onto their lead giving the Rams three points of breathing room.
Bloomsburg came back after halftime with two goals in the first seven minutes of the half.
Dugan responded with a tally at the 10:40 mark, keeping an 8-6 advantage over Bloomsburg.
With nine minutes left of play, Sam Mazzie took a feed from her sister, Tia Mazzie bringing the Huskies within reach.
Two minutes later, Bloomsburg’s Bossert answered with an unassisted goal to tie up the game up at 8-8.
Erin Oczkowski ultimately put up the game-winning tally with two minutes left in the game, her sixth of the season.
Aubrey Bossert stripped Claire Grimwood from behind with 0:39 remaining. Bloomsburg’s Sarah Bennett scooped the ground ball when the Huskies were called for being offsides.
Dugan scored a season high four goals, Grimwood put up two, and Hoover and Nicole Pyle contributed with the other two tallies for the Golden Rams.
Sarah Bates took the loss for Bloomsburg, making nine saves in the process.
O’Keefe made five saves in the first half and was relieved by Henderson (2-0) in the second half, also stopping five shots. Henderson registered her second straight win.
If the 8-9 win on Wednesday wasn’t enough, West Chester’s 18-5 triumph over ninth ranked Gannon certainly made up for it. The Rams dominated Vonnie Gros Field on Friday afternoon, maintaining their nearly perfect record thus far.
Grimwood matched her career high with six goals in the game, and Hayes registered a hat trick as well as three assists.
West Chester (6-1, 4-0 PSAC East) came out with an aggressive first half, giving them a 14-2 hold over ninth ranked Gannon (5-2, 3-1).
Within the first five minutes of contest, the Rams dominated the scoreboard with a 4-0 advantage.
It wasn’t until 20:20 that Gannon’s Jess Fugate put the Golden Knights on the board, putting them at a six-goal deficit. Within the next sixteen minutes, the Rams knocked in seven more shots to strengthen their hold to 14-1.
Lotkowski and Dugan recorded hat tricks, while Pyle followed with two goals in the first half of the game. Oczkowski, Gryzbinski, Hoover and Patterson each put up a tally for the Rams as well.
Fugate lead the scoring for Gannon with two goals on the day. Kim Neagle and Rachel DerCola made up the remainder of the Gannon’s five point score.
O’Keefe (4-1) made 11 saves in the cage for the Rams.
Margaret Maslyn (5-2) took the loss for Gannon while registering five saves.
The game was a part of the program “Lax-4-Life,” -a program that raises awareness and funding for the American Foundation on Suicide Prevention. The Golden Rams give the fans another opportunity to donate to the cause on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a home game against No. 7 Mercyhurst.
The victory over Gannon marked West Chester’s head coach, Ginny Martino’s win No. 199 over her 13-year run with the Rams. Martino is on the hunt for her No. 200 win at Saturday’s game.
Brynn Dougherty is a third-year student at West Chester University. She can be reached at BD670913@wcupa.edu.