The West Chester’s women’s lacrosse team won their matchup against Slippery Rock in a dominant 21-4 fashion. The Golden Rams improved to 10-1 on the season.
Fittingly enough, on Senior Day for the Golden Rams, Seniors Jacquie Burke and Lauren Glassey had superb performances, both scoring four goals. Tori Dugan had six assists and three goals as well.
The win over Slippery Rock added to the Golden Rams perfect season in the PSAC conference so far, improving the team to 7-0. Meanwhile, Slippery Rock added to their unfortunate season, with the loss contributing to a 1-6 record in the PSAC conference.
It was a special day for Burke, who had one of the best games of her career. The four goals for Burke were a career high, with three straight goals spanning over halftime. Burke scored to close the first half, and then scored twice to open the second half, giving the Golden Rams a 13-2 lead.
Coach Ginny Martino started all 10 of the seniors for Senior Day, with the seniors combining for 17 of the 21 goals scored. Kelsey Sward, a fellow senior, picked up the win in the cage for West Chester.
It was a bounce-back game for the Golden Rams, who suffered their first loss of the season earlier in the week to Rollins College. The 12-9 defeat snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Golden Rams, but this luckily did not occur in the PSAC conference. It was Rollins first win over the lacrosse team since 2010.
In the second half of the game, the Golden Rams were outshot 18-7 by Rollin’s Tars. Glassey managed two goals and two assists on the day, while Theresa Giunta had two goals and an assist. It was Jess Henderson’s first loss of the season guarding the cage.
Two days before the loss to Rollins, the Golden Rams won over Shippensburg with a final score of 17-12, adding to their perfect record in the PSAC conference. With the score at 12-11 with 11:15 to go, the Golden Rams managed to score five of the last six points, pulling away from the Raiders in the process.
Henderson managed to pick up four saves as she protected the cage for the Golden Rams, while Dugan and fellow Golden Ram Jamie Dolan both scored four goals on the day to help the Golden Rams achieve yet another win.
Now, after their dominating performance over Slippery Rock, the Golden Rams go on the road to face much tougher opponents. West Chester will visit LIU-Post, the number one ranked team, and will be a rematch of last year’s national championship game.
Soon after, the Golden Rams will face off with Lock Haven, the Golden Ram’s nemesis and arch-rival. Indiana (Pa.) will close off the Golden Ram’s three-game road-trip. Lock Haven and IUP are tied for first place with the Rams, and both teams are undefeated.
Oliver Suskin-Santarelli is a third-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at OS753461@wcupa.edu.