A chill in the air did not stop the No. 2 women’s soccer team from finishing their regular season Saturday afternoon with a bang, sinking Shippensburg 3-0 in Farrell Stadium. The Golden Rams have added another notch in their undefeated season for a record of 18-0 on the season and 12-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The 12 victories set a new team record for conference wins. The Golden Rams are unbeaten in their last 24 conference match-ups.
The Golden Rams will head to the PSAC semifinals Friday afternoon, facing the winner of the Shippensburg vs. Kutztown game.
If Shippensburg defeats Kutztown, the regular season finale for the Golden Rams could very well be a preview of their first playoff game, and the future looks promising.
The Golden Rams came out strong, scoring the first goal of the game within the first 10 minutes of play. The ladies continued their solid start with Julie Karcher heading the ball into Ship’s net off of a feed from Lauren Boyer at 7:16 into the game. This goal was the game winner on Saturday. This goal came as no surprise, as the first eight minutes of play were down by the Ship net. It was only a matter of time.
Karcher now posts 61 career goals, becoming just the second Lady Ram in history to reach the 60 goal mark. Karcher already holds the single season goal record with 21 goals set in the 2005 season.
Shippensburg seemed to have picked up their intensity a little after that, and held the Golden Rams to a lone goal in the first half. There were plenty of shots on goal coming from the Golden Rams, but no connection was made.
In the second half, however, the Golden Rams looked even stronger than they did in the first half. Ship came out intense for the first five minutes of the second half, but the Golden Rams stepped it up. Between the 50th and 55th minute, the Golden Rams managed to set up three corners. No goal was scored as a result of these, but five minutes later, Danielle Gerz connected with a feed from Brittany Yetter.
Not even ten minutes passed before Gerz made another connection, this time off of a feed from freshman Michelle Kolenet, knocking the ball right past the Ship keeper to add some extra security for the Golden Rams, bringing the final score of the game to 3-0.
Gerz has been a strong force for the Golden Rams for the past couple of games, scoring five goals throughout the last three games.
Hilary Smart earned the shutout, stopping all three goals on the WCU net. The Golden Rams have produced six straight shuouts, extending their scoreless streak to 618 minutes.
Saturday’s game honored the three seniors playing in their last regular season wearing a Lady Rams’ uniform. These seniors were forward Julie Karcher, defensive player Casey McKinney and midfielder Elma Numerato.
The Golden Rams head into the PSAC playoffs as host this Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. Tickets for the game are $7.00 for adults, $2.00 for students and free for students with school I.D.s from a PSAC school.
(Hershel Cohen)