West Chester University men’s soccer team continued its roll, extending their season long win streak to eight games. In the past week the Rams had three games, one at home, and two on the road. They were able to win all three of those games, and now they sit atop the PSAC standings, one point ahead of Mercyhurst. Also, with their wins in the past week, they have clinched a PSAC postseason tournament berth.
The first of the three games this past week was a home matchup on Tuesday at 3 p.m. It was a non-conference matchup against Philadelphia University. The Golden Rams won the game by the final score of 3-2. However this game certainty did not lack any controversy, as a brawl almost escalated at the end of the game.
Before the game, however, West Chester formally introduced the new soccer field, as “Rockwell Field”. A ribbon ceremony was held prior to the game.
West Chester got off to a hot start in the first half as three different players scored for the Golden Rams before the 45 minute mark. Miguel Ross started the scoring off with a goal in the 20th minute as he took a pass from Dan Venuto and cashed in on his sixth goal of the season. Shortly after that, Alex Badulak scored his first goal of the season, unassisted. Then right before the half, at the 36th minute, John Gabel took a pass from David Green and he also capitalized for his first goal of the season. This game was very physical, and toward the end of the game things got really chippy. However, as both teams went into the half, West Chester was feeling pretty good about themselves, as they led 3-0.
In goal for West Chester was Phil Horan, instead of Ryan Schultz, who at that point was at a 600 minute PSAC shutout. Philadelphia University came out in the second half fired up, as they got on the board in the 61st minute on a goal by Jordan Lynch, on a pass from Domenic Colletti. West Chester was given two penalty kicks in the second half but they could not capitalize on them. Philadelphia University thought that they had made the score 3-2, however, it was called back for offsides, and this did not sit well with the Philadelphia coach.
As the game neared the end, with the score 3-1, Philadelphia added another goal from Chris Kulczytzky, on an assist from Armando Canela. But after that play that made it 3-2, there was some pushing and shoving, and many yellow cards were awarded. There were a total of six yellow cards in the game, four of them were PU, and two of them WCU. Four of the six yellow cards were given in the final eight minutes of the game. It was a very testy matchup that West Chester was happy to walk out of there with the win.
Next up for West Chester was an away matchup against California University of Pennsylvania. Ryan Shultz was back in goal, as he tried to continue his impressive shutout streak. California University of Pennsylvania came in sporting a 5-8-1 record, so West Chester knew this was a game that they should win, a game that they should start fast and never look back. That is exactly what they did, as in the 15th minute, captain Conor Malarney put in his 10th goal of the season, on an assist from Alex Caplan. There was not much else going on in the first half, so the Golden Rams went into halftime leading 1-0. This brought Shultz’s shutout record to about 650 minutes.
In a very even second half, as each team only had three shots on goal the entire game, the difference was that Shultz made three saves, while the California goalkeeper only made one. West Chester then put the nail in the coffin in the 79th minute when Tommy Ryan netted his third goal of the season. Shultz’s shutout record was now at an astonishing 696 minutes heading into Saturday’s matchup with Slippery Rock.
Saturday’s matchup at Slippery Rock was West Chester’s final PSAC matchup of the year, and second last matchup of the regular season. Slippery Rock was third in the PSAC standings coming into the game, and both teams had similar records, with West Chester having one more tie.
The game was scoreless for the first 25 minutes until freshman Miguel Ross took over the next couple of minutes. In a three minute span, Ross scored two goals, numbers seven and eight for the season. Conor Malarney and Alex Caplan received the assists on the play. In the 42nd minute, Ryan Shultz’s shutout streak ended at 738 minutes, as Slippery Rock’s Declan Brennan put in his fourth goal of the season, and made the score 2-1. This remained the score for the rest of the game, as West Chester won a crucial game, as the defense stepped up, only allowing two shots on goal.
West Chester’s record now stands at 11-3-2, atop of the PSAC standings, and a clinched playoff berth. In the PSAC only two teams have clinched a playoff berth thus far, so the field is wide open as to who they would be playing. New coach Michael Benn must be very proud, as the West Chester men’s soccer team has the momentum heading into the final regular season matchup against Shepherd University, and ultimately into the postseason. Shepherd University is struggling on the season as they are 2-12-1, so this is a game that West Chester should win, to keep their momentum going into the postseason. The Golden Rams will be home for this matchup on Thursday at 2 p.m. at the newly named “Rockwell Field.”
Ryan Calpin is a second year student majoring in communications with a minor in jounralism. He can be reached at RC784188@wcupa.edu.
Mon. Apr 29th, 2024
