After a disappointing 6-0 loss to begin the season against Rutgers University, the West Chester University women’s field hockey team won a thrilling double overtime game by a final score of 3-2 over Lehigh on Wednesday afternoon.The story of the game was goal keeper Joelle Zarefoss who withstood a fury of 30 Lehigh shots, limiting the opposition to just two goals.
Alex Swayze scored both her and her teams first goal of the season in the first half with just over ten minutes having gone by in the half. On the play, senior mid-fielder and co-captain Lauren Dubois had the assist. Zarefoss saved 12 of the 30 Lehigh shots in that half as well, allowing no goals through the first 35 minutes of play. At the mid-way point, West Chester was up 1-0.
The second half saw Lehigh tie the score at 1-1 when Kara Zweizig scored early in the half on a penalty stroke. Only six minutes later, Swayze scored another goal for the Lady Rams, this time unassisted.
Zweizig scored her second goal of the half just over 12 minutes later, tying Swayze 2-2 in the goal leader department. Also in the half, Zarefoss stopped 17 of the 19 shots in which she was challenged with.
Not until the second overtime, and nearly the 91st minute overall in the game, did West Chester pull out the victory when Brittany Cislak scored her first goal of the season after senior defender and Co-captain Desiree Walker had the assist on a penalty corner. Zarefoss stopped both Lehigh shots she met in the overtime periods. West Chester mustered 18 shots for the game, making their only shot on goal in overtime count.
At the end of the week, the Lady Rams were fourth in the Atlantic-10 conference at 1-1 overall, as not one team in the group has yet to play a divisional game.
Next up for the team is the Vonnie Gros classic where both Appalachian State and defending National Champion North Carolina will visit the campus of the purple and gold. Appalachian state comes in on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and the champs invade West Chester on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Note – the team will travel to Monmouth on Sunday, Sept. 7. This game will finish too late to make this edition of The Quad but game details will be included in next week’s issue.
Player of the Week – After a rough offensive start to the season, Alex Swayze carried the load on her shoulders and led the team with two goals against Lehigh. Not only were they her first two personal goals of the season, they were the teams first two goals of the year as well. Those two scores sparked Brittany Cislak’s game winning goal in double overtime as the team won 3-2. Because of the much improved offensive effort, both Swayze and Cislak are the players of the week. Their offensive task will grow much larger through this week, particularly when the defending National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels come to West Chester.
Mike Heiman is a fourth-year student majoring in elementary education with a minor in literacy. He can be reached at MH606613@wcupa.edu.