What a wild way to capture your first PSAC East victory in this 2007 season. On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon at the South Campus Soccer Field, the West Chester University Lady Rams soccer team (4-1-1, 1-1-1 PSAC East) defeated the Kutztown University Golden Bears (3-3-1, 0-3-1 PSAC East) 3-2 in dramatic fashion.Kutztown second-year player Angela Corrado started the scoring early, as she scored off of a corner kick from teammate Diana Hopper at the 16:09 mark of the first half. After the Kutztown goal, West Chester went on the attack.
Two minutes later, first-year standout Sarah Oswald scored for the Golden Rams off of a beautiful pass from Brittany Yetter. Yetter was able to pass the ball to Oswald through the Golden Bears defense and into an open net as Kutztown goal keeper Stefanie Bonsky came out to try and defend the shot with no prevail.
Oswald was not done. Twenty minutes later, she was able to score her second goal of the game, and her seventh of the season, on an assist by Christine Thurwanger, to give the Golden Rams a 2-1 lead.
“Its great to see someone like Sarah [oswald], who’s a freshman, come in here and have the poise that she has in front of the net,” Coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley said. “I think as she begins to mature and she grows with the program, I think we’re only going to see her become a better player. A player like that helps to make everybody else a better player.”
The second half of the contest started much slower than the first half. West Chester and Kutztown could not find the rhythm to continue scoring until the final minute of regulation.
With less than a minute left on the clock, Kutztown was able to get a corner kick. Diana Hopper was the Golden Bear to volley the ball from the corner. KU fourth-year player Kristen Kentner was able to get her foot on the ball and kick it into the back of the net.
After Kutztown had scored to tie the game at two, West Chester did not settle for going into overtime. The Golden Rams attacked on the Kutztown side of the field and eventually earned their own corner kick with less than ten seconds remaining in regulation. Yetter kicked the ball from the corner and it deflected off of a Golden Bear player and into the net past Bonsky with no time on the clock. West Chester’s bench cleared as all of the girls celebrated the victory.
“I am pleased with how the entire team is playing as a team on the field. I think we can move the ball around. We’ve got a lot of differently players on the field,” Townsley continued. “I think we’re a complete team.”
West Chester goalkeeper Hilary Smart finished with three saves as she went the distance, while Bonsky had five saves on the day.
After Wednesday’s victory over Kutztown University, the West Chester University Lady Ram’s (5-1-1, 2-1-1 PSAC East) defeated the Edinboro University Lady Scots 2-1 on Saturday.
First year forward, Oswald continued her dominance as she scored her team-leading eight goal of the season to give the Lady Ram’s a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Midway through the second half, fourth-year midfielder Lauren Ginnona scored to give West Chester the lead, and eventually the game.
The next chance to watch the Lady Ram’s at home will be Monday against East Stroudsburg at 4:30 p.m. and Thursday against Mansfield at 3 p.m.