The women’s ice hockey team returned to the ice Saturday to shut out Villanova 8-0.
Not having played a game since before winter break began, the Golden Rams’ offense picked up right where it left off.
Villanova came out early with two shots on goal, but West Chester’s goalie Aly Golia denied these shots. This allowed forward Becky Dobson to score unassisted early on. Shortly after Dobson’s first goal forward Daria Carzo scored, assisted by Dobson and Elizabeth Hall.
West Chester dominated the ice in the first period. More specifically Dobson conquered the scoreboard with two additional goals towards the end of the period. Dobson scored again unassisted 13 minutes in, and then again with only seconds left in the period assisted by Virlen Reyes and Lauren Stevens.
Dobson continued to be the star of the game into the second period with an early attempt on goal that was unsuccessful, but she eventually got yet another unassisted goal less than six minutes after the puck was dropped.
Dobson repeated this play again three minutes later giving West Chester even more of an upper hand making it a 6-0 hockey game. With Dobson as West Chester’s unstoppable force on the first line, Villanova was not given many chances to score despite that they were almost even at shots, 11-16.
West Chester continued to assault Villanova’s net later in the period when Carzo scored her second goal of the night at the 12-minute mark with an assist by teammate Amanda Otto. West Chester was on fire, and they were not stopping their strong offensive play to give Villanova’s defensemen a break.
Being up by 7 goals did not stop West Chester in the third period as forward Karine Thibault scored the eighth goal for the visiting team assisted by Reyes within a minute after the final period began.
West Chester was stripping Villanova of any chances to score as the shots on goal increased to 29-16. The visiting team was coming off strong as the defensemen kept the pucks out of their net and the forwards kept slapping pucks behind Villanova’s goaltender Rachel Mannix.
As if West Chester did not already have the upper hand, they were given a power play opportunity seven minutes into the period after a Villanova checking penalty. Villanova’s defense was quick on the penalty kill and kept West Chester out, but then a few minutes later they were called for an interference penalty that gave West Chester another ample opportunity to score. Again Villanova was able to kill the penalty off and keep West Chester from scoring.
Villanova was given a chance to score with a man advantage late in the final period after West Chester’s Nicole Ciccotelli was penalized for checking. West Chester’s defense was equally as solid as their offense killed this penalty off, and did not allow Villanova any goals in the game.
West Chester played a strong game, which they need to continue to do to make it to the top in the DVCHC’s women’s championships rounds.
Following this game the Golden Rams rise to the third seed of their division with 14 points, beating out California University of Pennsylvania by two points.
Deanna Vasso is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in creative writing. She can be reached at DV670502@wcupa.edu.