The West Chester women’s soccer team is only one win away from finishing their season with their best record since they went undefeated in 2006. Their only loss this year came at the hands of Bloomsburg, who they later defeated 2-0 in their second matchup.Their latest win came against Chestnut Hill College. The Lady Rams received help from three different members of the offense. The team’s leading scorer, Sarah Oswald tallied the game winning goal when her corner kick in the first half deflected off of a defender in front of the net.
Jessica Bennett and Sam Paolino scored in the second half to give the Rams a 3-0 win. Goalkeeper Lyndsie Bernardini was only called on once to make a save in the competition.
West Chester has now gone 1,064 minutes since they last let in a goal on keeper Lyndsie Bernardini. The win also gave West Chester yet another shut-out, bringing them to 11 straight. Their winning streak is now at nine, with their unbeaten streak up to 15 games.
The PSAC tournament will start on Tuesday Nov. 3. West Chester will go into the tournament seeded number one. Aside from being the highest seeded team, West Chester will gain further advantage by having home field advantage throughout the tournament.
West Chester has not lost on their home turf yet this season. The tournament will start on the third and conclude on the sixth and seventh.
Last season, West Chester advanced to the PSAC semifinals before falling to Mercyhurst 2-1.
The Rams are confident going into the playoffs this year. Although they lost several key players from last year they have been able to rely on their remaining veterans to anchor the team. They have also called on some newcomers to be key players as well.
Goals have been scored by 13 different members of the team this season. Seniors Sam Paolino and Heather Manorek are the only two remainees from the 2006 undefeated season and have both added significant contributions to the offense.
Sarah Oswald has also been a major force on the offense as the team’s leading scorer. Junior Jessica Bennett, along with Sophomore Brittany Couper, have provided head coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley with tough defense throughout the season.
The younger players have also been a huge addition to the roster in the offseason. Goalkeeper Lyndsie Bernardini is consistently mentioned as being perfect in net. She has only let in two goals this season on 43 shots bringing her save percentage to .953.
Sophomore Tara Malkiewicz is a strong defender who has also tallied a couple goals this season. Malkiewicz, along with Oswald and Bernardini, have been named a PSAC Athlete of the Week this season. Freshmen Jen Gangl and Jen Hutchinson have also been noticeable members of the team throughout the season.
Players are it all that are contributing to the success of this team. Coach Kempf Townsley came into the head coaching position the year after the team made it to the national semifinals and was able to pick up where the previous coach left off. She came into this season with a record of 31-6-8 at West Chester.
West Chester finished their season on Saturday night in a Halloween night matchup against East Stroudsburg. West Chester won the game by a final score of 1-0. The shutout was West Chseter’s 12th straight on the season.
The lone goal in the game was scored by Sarah Oswald, who ended the season with the team lead in goals, eight, and points scored, with 28. She will be looked to in the playoffs to lead the team.
The Lady Rams end the season with a 16 wins, one loss, and one tie. They let up a stingy total of two goals in the season, and are currrently riding a shutout streak of over 1100 minutes.
As the season ended for everyone over the weekend, West Chester found out who they will be playing in the first round of playoffs. WCU will be hosting No. 4 seed Bloomsburg University Nov. 3 at 1 p.m.
Amy Festa is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in Journalism. She can be reached at AF649219@wcupa.edu.