The women’s lacrosse team continued their seven-game winning-streak after triumphing over Mercyhurst and Millersville, leading head coach, Ginny Martino, to her 200th victory at West Chester University. On Saturday, March 26, the Rams completed their weekend sweep after conquering Gannon on Friday. No. 7 West Chester (8-1, 6-0 PSAC) defeated Mercyhurst (7-2, 3-1) in a PSAC match with a final score of 16-10 on Sunday afternoon.
The victory allowed West Chester to maintain its perfect record in 2011 league play.
Jackie Hoover tied her career-high, knocking in five goals, and surpassed her own personal record by accumulating seven points overall.
The Golden Rams made their presence known by the end of the first half with three unanswered goals, exiting the half with a 9-5 advantage over their competitors.
Mercyhurst kept the game interesting in the second half, responding to the Rams’ goals with four of their own. Ally Keirn earned two of those goals to help put themselves within reach, 10-8.
Hoover took a feed from Tori Dugan behind the cage to regain their three point lead, until Mercyhurst’s Alisha Catalino brought the Lakers back to a two point deficit.
For the next 12 minutes, each team displayed aggression that kept the game within reach. In the final 11 minutes of play, Mercyhurst could not keep up with West Chester’s five unanswered tallies.
With that, the Golden Rams put Mercyhurst’s seven-game winning streak to an end, while extending their own streak to six consecutive games.
Devon Lotkowski and Dugan finished with hat tricks, finishing with four and five points, respectively.
Shannon Hayes posted three assists and Claire Grimwood put up two goals. Erin Oczkowski, Jacki Patterson and Lauren Glassey each scored once.
Keirn and Kayla Minner netted three goals apiece for the Lakers. Kiern accumulated five points, while Kayla Minner was close behind with four points overall. Catalino put up two goals, while Kimberly Masterson and Anna LeGrett made up the difference, scoring twice each.
MacKenzie O’Keefe (5-1) was credited with the win with three saves. Jess Henderson took over the second half, recording three saves as well.
Mercyhurst’s Jenny Perkins (7-2) stayed in the cage for the whole game, stopping 11 shots.
Jacki Patterson commented on the team’s celebration after Martino’s victory: “We were all so happy to be a part of Ginny’s 200th win. We had flowers, balloons and a card for her after the game which she really appreciated. We really wanted to win that game for her because she is the mastermind behind the talent.”
Building upon their victorious morale, the Lady Rams added onto their streak with a 14-7 win against visiting Millersville in a PSAC contest at Vonnie Gros Field on Tuesday evening.
Once again, the Rams gained an early lead over the Marauders (3-4, 1-4 PSAC), breaking for halftime with five points of breathing room with a score of 6-1.
Millersville’s Ashley Henderson took a feed from Kelsey Schmoltze at the 6:39 mark to put the Marauders on the board. The Rams followed up with three more tallies to end the half.
Less than a minute into the second half, Millersville’s Kathryn Kehring tacked another goal onto their score only to be answered by three more from the Lady Rams.
Within the next five minutes, the Rams rattled off four goals to Millersville’s two, keeping a commanding lead at 13-4.
Although the Marauders hunted for more goals, successfully netting three, the Rams’ substantial lead was topped off with another goal, setting the final score at 14-7.
Grimwood lead the team in scoring, netting five of the team’s 14 overall goals. Dugan also posted her third consecutive hat trick in the past three games.
The win allowed the Golden Rams to preserve their perfect PSAC league play, putting their regular-season conference winning streak at 65 games.
Millersville’s record slips to 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the PSAC.
O’Keefe went the distance again for the Rams, and was credited with 10 saves.
Marauder goalkeeper Courtney Haggerty also played the whole game. She took the loss registering 10 saves of her own.
“The games versus Gannon and Mercyhurst were huge games because they are both ranked, and they counted as conference games,” Patterson said. “Winning those games was really important to our quest for PSAC championships. We were so pumped up for that weekend and all showed up big time when that time came.”
West Chester travels to Shippensburg this weekend for another PSAC league match.
The Raiders were picked sixth in the same PSAC preseason poll that deemed West Chester the No. 2 seed. The Raiders are 2-4 in the PSAC and 4-4 in non-conference play.
The Golden Rams will take on the Raiders at Shippensburg on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Brynn Dougherty is a third-year student at West Chester University. She can be reached at BD670913@wcupa.edu.