West Chester entered the final weekend of the regular season in control of their playoff fate, with the ability to lock up the No. 2 seed in the PSAC with a win over Edinboro Saturday in Erie, Pa. The Rams were determined to get the victory and succeeded by defeating the Fighting Scots 19-5.
Sarah Dennison drew first blood for the Golden Rams, scoring .37 seconds into the game off an assist from teammate Jordan Heidelbaugh. Jamie Dolan followed that up with an unassisted goal, giving the Rams an early 2-0 edge.
Edinboro’s Shannon Rohrich scored her 46th goal of the season cutting the Rams’ lead in half, making it 2-1. Dolan quickly followed that with her second of the game only 16 ticks later.
Brittany Long tacked on another goal for the Rams extending the game to 4-1. Edinboro remained persistent and was able to penetrate the Rams’ defense for two more goals in the second half.
Tori Dugan scored two straight goals, followed by Dolan’s third of the game. Hayley Nelson capped off the first half with two straight goals, giving the Rams a commanding 10-3 advantage heading into halftime.
The second half continued the scoring barrage as West Chester ripped off five straight to open it up. Dugan and Nelson finished off their hat tricks, in the middle of a 9-0 stretch by the Rams, making it a 15-3 ball game. Rorich scored the last two goals for Edinboro, capping off a hat trick while scoring her 48th goal of the season. The game ended 19-5, helping West Chester secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming playoffs.
The Rams blasted Edinboro in the shot category, out-shooting them a ridiculous 40-13. They held the advantage in each stat column, dominating the game from the first to the final whistle.
Prior to Edinboro, West Chester suffered a tough loss to No. 4 nationally ranked LeMoyne. After starting off the season on a nine-game winning streak, West Chester is 3-4 in the last seven games.
West Chester found themselves down 8-6 at half time, something unfamiliar to the Golden Rams this season.
Despite tying the game only a few minutes into the second half, LeMoyne ripped off four late goals to put the game out of reach. The Rams tacked on one last goal, but it was too little, too late as LeMoyne won 12-9.
Earlier in the week the Rams played their final game of the regular season at Vonnie Gros Field, defeating the visiting Kutztown Golden Bears an impressive 20-7, locking up second place in the PSAC. Dugan continued to shine and recorded three more goals and added seven assists, a career high. Recording 10 points matched her career high from almost exactly a year ago against IUP on April 21, and marked the second time in the past two weeks she eclipsed the nine-point mark.
This game was never much of a contest, as West Chester jumped out to a commanding 7-0 lead before the Golden Bears remembered they were in the middle of a lacrosse game. Finally they were able to penetrate the Rams’ tenacious defense, scoring two goals in a row to make it a 7-2 game. However, the onslaught continued as Brittany Long, Gina Eberwien, and Haley Nelson all scored, extending the game to 10-2.
The second half started off the same as the first and the Rams scored the first six goals. Dugan, Glassey, Nelson, and Heidelbaugh all recorded hat tricks for the Golden Rams, en route to their 12th victory of the season.
The Rams ended the regular season a remarkable 13-4 (10-1 PSAC), earning them a No. 2 seed and bye in the first round of the playoffs, setting up a date next Saturday against the winner of IUP and Gannon.
Timothy Mulqueen is a third-year student majoring in marketing. He can be reached at TM734386@wcupa.edu.