Coming off a five-game win streak in the past three weeks, the West Chester University Golden Rams kept the streak alive this week with a pair of wins against Kutztown University and Mansfield University.
Senior defender Hannah Davies was named PSAC Player of the week on Oct. 27. Davies scored the game winning-goal in overtime to help West Chester defeat top-ranked Millersville. This is Davies’ first Player of the Week award in her four-year career at West Chester. Davies is part of an excellent defense, where she leads the team in minutes played this season. Davies is also the second Golden Ram to receive the Player of the Week honor this season, after freshman Rachal Toppi was awarded it in week five.
Riding the five-game win streak, the Golden Rams opened up the week traveling to Kutztown University on Tuesday night. Kutztown came into the week with a win on Senior Day in their previous game against Mansfield, giving them a record of 7-7 on the season. The top two leading scorers for West Chester, Toppi and Marnie Kusakavitch scored a pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the game to give WCU the early 2-0 lead. Toppi’s goal was her team-leading 17th of the season, and Kusakavitch’s goal was her 11th of the season, good for second on the team. Kutztown’s Anna Behm scored her 15th goal of the season to bring the Golden Bears to within one in the 22nd minute. Junior Alexa Moran scored the first goal of her collegiate career in the 47th minute to regain the two-goal lead. Dayle Paustian added to the lead for the Golden Rams two minutes later to put WCU up 4-1. Rayann Fink scored the final goal of the game for Kutztown in the 66th minute. Sarah Krause made five stops in the cage, picking up her 10th win. The West Chester offense rattled off 26 shots, while adding just three penalty corners. The defense held the Golden Bears to just 10 shots on offense, and allowed eight penalty corners.
West Chester closed out the week on a dreary Saturday evening against Mansfield University. Junior Alexis Versak continued her MVP candidate season by putting the Golden Rams on the board just 59 seconds into the game, tipping in a shot from Kristina Scherrer. Coming off her Player of the Week honors, Davies added to the lead for West Chester in the fourth minute, picking up her fourth goal of the season, with another assist on the goal going to Scherrer, her team-leading ninth of the season. Moran gave the Golden Rams the 3-0 just six minutes into the game. Junior Alayna Brown opened the flood gates in the 10th minute, rattling off three goals of her own for a natural hat trick within a 10-minute span. Freshman Mary Spisak scored her seventh of the season to put West Chester up 7-0 24 minutes into the game, with an assist on the goal going to Kusakavitch. Sophomore Caitlin Wood scored her first two goals of the season within a five-minute span to cap off an incredible nine-goal half for the Golden Rams. Sophomore Alli Morris scored the first goal of her collegiate career in the final minute of the season to complete the 10-0 victory for West Chester. Krause played 58 minutes in the cage to pick up the win, improving to 11-2 on the season, making five saves. Audree Bonavita played 11 minutes, making three saves. The West Chester offense rattled off 35 shots, and added on 13 penalty corners. The defense held Mansfield to 10 shots, and three attempts on penalty corners.
Riding a seven-game win streak in the home stretch of the season, the Golden Rams look to continue the success in the final two games of the season with games against Mercyhurst University and Slippery Rock University. West Chester travels to Mercyhurst University on Wednesday, who is coming into the game riding a four game win streak of their own. West Chester was able to defeat them 5-3 in their first meeting back on September 13th. The Golden Rams will close out the week for Senior Day on Saturday against Slippery Rock, who is 9-8 on the season and currently on a two-game losing streak. Scoring 14 goals in their last two games, while only allowing two goals, the Golden Rams will look to carry their dominating offense and defense into the final two games and the post season.
Dylan Harrison is a third-year student majoring in communications with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at DH785892@wcupa.edu