Last season, the Golden Rams field hockey team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Millersville in the NCAA semifinals to close out a successful 18-3 season. They could not have asked for a better start to their season so far, going 4-0 in the first two weeks of play.
West Chester University opened up their season at home with a matchup against Lindenwood on Sept. 4. Senior back Alexis Versak opened up the scoring for the Rams with a goal off of an assist from fellow senior Kristina Scherrer in the first six minutes of the game. Coming off of a season where she scored 22 goals as a freshman, Rachal Toppi increased the WCU lead to 2-0 with a goal seven minutes after Versak’s. After a goal by Lindenwood’s Virginie Leyssons, the Golden Rams closed out the first half with goals by last season’s second leading goal scorer, Marnie Kusakavitch, and Toppi adding her second of the game. West Chester came out guns blazing in the second half, increasing their lead to 7-1 in the first 10 minutes of the half after goals by Dayle Paustian, Mary Spisak, and Kusakavitch, her second of the game. Toppi closed out the scoring for the game to complete the hat-trick with a penalty stroke goal in the 53rd minute, to give the Golden Rams the 8-2 victory in the first game of the season.
West Chester played their second game of the season at home against Stonehill University on Sept. 6. In the first half, the Golden Rams found themselves in a rather unfamiliar situation, trailing 2-0. Stonehill scored the loan pair of goals in the half, first in the 10th minute by Erika Kelly, and second in the 29th minute, by Lauren Giordano. After gathering themselves during the halftime break, West Chester was back to their old selves in the second, tying up the game 2-2 with a pair of goals from Kusakavitch and Paustian 1:17 apart in the 50th and 51st minute. Paustian added her second of the game five minutes later to give WCU the 3-2 lead. In the 67th minute, the reigning PSAC Freshman of the Year Toppi scored a goal for the highlight reel. After receiving a pass from Paustian with her back to the goal, Toppi juggled the ball on her stick, and then swatted the ball over her shoulder and into the back of the net for a goal of the year candidate to secure the 4-2 comeback victory over Stonehill. “Whenever I get the ball on my stick, I’m going to try to do whatever I can to score,” Toppi said about her improvisation. “If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I don’t practice that stuff much at all.”
No. 2 West Chester played its first road game of the season on Sept. 9 when they traveled to No. 4 Shippensburg. Molly Stuart of Shippensburg opened up the scoring in the eighth minute with her second goal of the season to give the raiders the early 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Kusakavitch scored her fourth goal of the season to tie things up for the Golden Rams. Madison Scarr of Shippensburg answered right back in the 19th minute to regain the lead 2-1. In the second half, Toppi tied it up for WCU off a tip from Versak shot in the 57th minute, which would be the final goal of regulation. In overtime, the Raiders controlled the play for most of the period, with West Chester goalkeeper Sarah Krause making a pair of key saves off a penalty corner midway through the first overtime. One overtime wasn’t good enough to decide a winner between these two powerhouses, and the two teams headed to a second overtime. Senior Versak scored the game winner for the Golden Rams in the 97th minute, tipping in a loose ball off of a feed from Kusakavitch to give WCU the 3-2 victory in double overtime.
West Chester closed out the week with a home game on Saturday against Slippery Rock. Kusakavitch continued her hot start to the season, opening up the scoring in the 21st minute to give WCU the 1-0 lead. Also continuing her hot start to the season, Paustian scored her fourth goal of the season in the 49th minute to increase the lead to 2-0. Kusavitch closed out the scoring in the 57th minute with her sixth of the season to give the Golden Rams the 3-0 victory. Krause made three saves in the cage, securing her first shutout of the season to help West Chester improve to 4-0 on the season.
West Chester University will look to both Kusakavitch and Toppi to carry the offensive load this season, but with the goal scoring depth the Golden Rams have at almost every position, it would not be surprising to see quite a few members of the team with double digits in the goal column. With a strong defense in front of Krause and an explosive offense, West Chester looks to have another great season where they score four times as many goals as they give up. The Golden Rams continue their undefeated season this week on the road against Kutztown and Seton Hill.
Dylan Harrison is a fourth-year student majoring in communications with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at DH785892@wcupa.edu