The Golden Rams started off their first two games at a tournament hosted by Wilmington, facing off with both Wilmington University and Bloomington University.
Starting off last week with the Rams going up against Wilmington on Sept. 3rd, West Chester could not get the offense going. It was a defensive battle the against Wilmington. The Rams lost by a close final score of 1-0, with the only goal being scored by Wilmington’s Lance Berry inside the nine minute mark, before the ending of the first half. On a high note, Sophomore Matt Palmer played the entire 90 minutes in goal, making seven saves to keep the Golden Rams in the game throughout.
Kicking into the next game, the Rams’ second opponent in the tournament was Bloomington University. West Chester grabbed a win in their second game to improve theirtournament record to 1-1. WCU took the victory by a close 1-0 win on a Roberto Silva goal in the 34th minute. It came with 11 minutes to go in the first half on his second shot, after sailing one high over the crossbar two minutes earlier. Max Adarkwah earned the assist on the Silva goal by crossing the ball into the center, setting up the score. Goalkeeper Palmer (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) (1-1) played all 90 minutes for WCU, making eight saves total. Palmer allowed only one goal in over 180 minutes between the posts in Wilmington. The Rams spilt the tournament, going 1-1 and gained some momentum going against their next opponent.
In the next game, the Rams’ opponent was Mercyhurst University, where they could not pull out a victory in a tough battle. The final score was 3-2 in a double overtime thriller, where Mercyhurst’s Joseph Korb scored on a rebound shot in the 102nd minute, giving Mercyhurst the victory. WCU surrended both regulation goals in the first half, putting on an impressive defenseive showing in the second 45 minutes. Palmer made seven saves, going the distance in the net for the whole game with another solid showing. Brian Schaefer and Kody Eberly scored goals for the Rams during the first half, but no West Chester players could find the net before Mercyhurst beat them to it.
Despite the 1-2 start, the Golden Rams can be optimistic. Each of their losses has been by only one goal, and all the games have been extremely close.
As the season continues, the Golden Rams currently hold a record of 1-2, with some key games coming up in the next few weeks. NYIT will be a nice non-conference challenge for the Rams, with a huge PSAC battle against California University of Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon. Cal U is one of the top PSAC soccer programs, so West Chester will need to prepare for their toughest challenge to date. West Chester will look to get back on track and reboot the success they finished with last season. There next oppenent was Gannon University, a team they played after publication. They will then host New York Institute of Technology at Rockwell Field on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Marcelus Council-Jones is a fourth-year student and can be reached at MC785844@wcupa.edu