Photo Credits – wcupagoldenrams.com
West Chester University’s women’s soccer team has cruised through their start to the 2022 season, winning their first three games!
The Golden Rams kicked off the new campaign on Aug. 25 with a home matchup against Jefferson University at Rockwell Field. After Abby Lytle opened up the scoring early for Jefferson, Julia Raybold responded quickly in the 17th minute to put the Rams on the board for their first goal of the year. In the second period, Nicolette Harrison, Kiley Kergides and Kelli Collins followed suit to give West Chester a dominant 4–1 win. The defensive unit, which includes freshman Jacqueline Graham and the aforementioned Kergides, delivered an exceptional performance, keeping the ball out of the zone and making the job easier for goalkeeper Hayley McGee.
The second game of the season took place on Aug. 31 with a conference meeting with Shippensburg University. After a back and forth defensive battle for much of the first half, Alyson Cutter, sophomore forward from Warrington, gave West Chester the lead with a penalty kick goal in the 39th minute. The defensive clash continued for the remainder of the game, and the Golden Rams hung on for a nail-biting 1–0 victory to improve to 2–0 on the season. Hayley McGee, senior from Mechanicsburg, was a force in net, keeping the Raiders off the scoreboard for her 10th shutout of her college career. McGee is coming off an impressive season a year ago in which she was named Defensive Athlete of the Week three times, and she was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District and the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area teams.
Following this game, West Chester traveled to Bloomsburg on Saturday for their first road game of the year against the Huskies. In similar fashion to game one, Raybold scored the opening goal for the Golden Rams in the first period, this time on an assist from Kaitlynn Haughey, sophomore midfielder from Philadelphia. Minutes later, Haughey added the team’s second goal of the day to give West Chester a comfortable 2-0 lead. With time winding down in the second period, Amanda Stoll put Bloomsburg on the board to cut the lead to 2–1. However, this proved to be too little, too late. Cutter, who was just named PSAC Athlete of the Week, added an additional goal for the Golden Rams to make the score 3–1 and put the game away for good.
Through three games, the Golden Rams have outscored their opponents 8–2, while outshooting them 61–22. This is a testament to West Chester’s ability to perform at a high level on both ends of the field. The team has also done a nice job of staying disciplined early in the season as they only have two yellow cards and no penalty kick attempts against them.
After a successful year in 2021 in which West Chester advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, the team has picked up right where they left off thus far and will look to build on the momentum and rapport they have established during the young campaign.
This week, the Golden Rams will travel to Mansfield on Wednesday before returning home Saturday for a matchup with Shepherd University. For more information on the women’s soccer team, including ticket access, scheduling information and statistics, visit the West Chester University Athletics website!
Erick Klambara is a fourth-year Media & Culture major with a minor in Journalism. EK924666@wcupa.edu