The West Chester University Golden Rams lacrosse team pushed their winning streak to six in a row to start the season after shooting their way past Shippensburg University, Bloomsburg University and Indiana University of Pa. Division II West Chester, ranked No. 5 in the country, continues to show why they were selected to repeat as division champions this season. With the two conference victories over Shippensburg and Bloomsburg, West Chester has now won 52 consecutive regular-season conference games.
On March 22, the Golden Rams (6-0) defeated PSAC East rival Shippensburg 18-8. Freshman attacker Nicole Pyle and sophomore midfielder Alyssa Gallen each recorded hat tricks in the win.
West Chester scored the first four goals of the game to take control of the contest. Senior Nicole Haines, junior Shannon Hayes, Pyle and senior Gabrielle Stitz scored the goals for the Golden Rams.
The Red Raiders answered with two goals of their own as Karen Schnurr and Lena Stoneburner recorded the goals to cut the West Chester lead in half. Junior attacker Jackie Hoover scored her only goal of the game for the Golden Rams 25 seconds later to give the hosts a 5-3 lead.
Stoneburner scored her second goal of the game three minutes later for Shippensburg but West Chester scored the final five goals of the half to take a commanding 10-3 lead into halftime. Sophomore attacker Erin Oczkowski scored back-to-back goals 40 seconds apart, while Gallen, Pyle and senior Katy Crouse rounded out the scoring in the half for the Golden Rams.
In the second half, West Chester continued to put the pressure on the Red Raiders as they never allowed them within eight goals. Gallen scored a minute and a half into the half, while Pyle added another goal a minute later to extend the Golden Rams lead to 12-3.
Gallen recorded her hat trick with 22:04 left in the second half off an assist by Hayes. Freshman midfielder Lauren Glassey scored two goals in the second half to help West Chester pull away from Shippensburg.
Pyle, Hayes, Gallen and Oczkowski all recorded four points in the game for the Golden Rams. Ten different West Chester players scored in the contest. Sophomore goal keeper MacKenzie O’Keefe recorded the win as she made eight saves.
On March 25, West Chester traveled to PSAC East rival Bloomsburg University and came away with a hard fought 13-10 victory. This game featured the top two teams in the Eastern Division.
The Golden Rams jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Hoover, junior Claire Grimwood and Oczkowski scored within the first eight minutes of the game. By the 10 minutes mark, West Chester added three more goals as Oczkowski, Haines and Stitz scored after Allie Kakareka scored for the Huskies to lead 6-1.
Oczkowski scored her third goal of the game with 1:20 left in the first half as the Golden Rams went into the half with an 8-4 lead. Coming out in the second half, Bloomsburg scored two goals within five minutes to cut the West Chester lead to 8-6.
The Golden Rams answered back with four unanswered goals as Stitz, Crouse, Oczkowski and Stitz scored in a 12 minutes span to open the game up. The Huskies scored four of the final five goals of the game, but West Chester was able to hold on for the victory.
Oczkowski (four goals) and Stitz (three goals) were the only Golden Ram players with more than one goal. Eight different West Chester players scored in the game. O’Keefe recorded seven saves to pick up the win in the game.
On Saturday, the Golden Rams continued their winning ways with a convincing 18-7 victory over IUP at home. West Chester allowed only 14 shots by IUP and forced 20 turnovers to control the game throughout the afternoon.
Haines started the scoring a minute and half in as she scored past IUP goal keeper Liana Wall. The Golden Rams scored eight of the first nine goals as IUP never got into the game. Hayes and Grimwood scored before IUP got on the board.
After Kellie Caldwell scored for IUP, Stitz, Hoover, Haines, Grimwood and Pyle all scored for West Chester as they held an 8-1 lead 11 minutes into the game. Hayes added two goals before the end of the half as the Golden Rams held a 13-3 lead at the half.
Gallen scored two goals in the second half as West Chester pulled away from IUP. Junior Brittany Moore, freshman Jacquie Burke and Glassey finished off the scoring in the game for the Golden Rams.
Grimwood, Hayes and Gallen recorded hat tricks for West Chester and Haines scored two goals in the game. Eleven different players scored for West Chester as all 27 players got into the game. Freshman goal keeper Kelly Martin picked up the victory as she played in the first half, while O’Keefe played the second half.
This week, the Golden Rams continue division play as they host East Stroudsburg on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Millersville University on Thursday at 1 p.m.
LJ Harrell is a fourth-year student majoring in Marketing. He can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.