The women’s soccer team continued their early success this season, winning two more games this past week against Mansfield and Edinboro.
The first game of the week was on Wednesday against Mansfield. They were on the road, facing a respectable Mansfield squad. But the Lady Rams came into the game with a game plan, got ahead and never looked back.
However, for the first 40 minutes of the game it was very tight. Both teams were going back and fourth, each knocking on the door with scoring opportunities but could not get the ball past the keepers. That all changed once the game got past the 40th minute when West Chester’s Kara Parvel broke the tie with her first goal of the season. The goal came off a deep pass from Carly Yost, which allowed Parvel to break free as she pushed past the keeper to give the Lady Rams the lead heading into halftime.
The Lady Rams just built off the momentum from Parvel’s goal from the previous half. Senior Dana Hunt played the ball off a blocked shot, and offered up a shot of her own, and pushed it right past the Mansfield goalkeeper for her first goal of the season.
Almost exactly a minute later, senior Carly Yost, who assisted on the first goal took a long pass from Cara Deola and took a shot from the right side about 15 yards out and scored another goal for the Lady Rams, which now pushed the score to 3-0.
As if that was not enough, sophomore Lexi Brown decided she wanted to get involved in the 76th minute when she stole the ball from the Mansfield defender and beat the goalkeeper for her first goal of the season, which made the score 4-0, which was the end result.
It was an all around great game for the Lady Rams, where they dominated every aspect of the game. They had more shots, shots on goal, and corners. West Chester goalkeeper Alex Srolis had two saves, and backup goalkeeper Camilla Greeby also did not allow a goal in her seven minutes that she defended the goal.
The Lady Rams then traveled home for their next matchup on Saturday against a tough Edinboro team. It was a wet and rainy afternoon, which made it tough for the players to play the cleanest soccer. Players were slipping and sliding all over the place.
The teams fought through it and played a very even game. There were not many scoring opportunities for either team. Each team had nine shots and West Chester had 5 on goal while Edinboro had four.
That one shot difference in goal was the difference maker, which came from Carly Yost in the 67th minute. Lexi Lentz delivered a beautiful pass over the top of the defenders, which allowed Yost to get free, and she slid the ball right past the goalkeeper on the left hand side of the net, for her third goal of the season. West Chester played stellar defense the rest of the game, stifling out any opportunities that Edinboro had and found a way to win. It was tough conditions for the teams but good teams find a way to win on days that it might not be all there.
West Chester will look to continue their early success in the season and stay undefeated when they travel to Mercyhurst on Friday for an afternoon matchup in Erie, Pa.
Ryan Calpin is a third-year student majoring in communications with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at RC784188@wcupa.edu