No. 2 West Chester Downs East Stroudsburg; Lykens Part Of Five Goals

Box Score

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Kelsi Lykens had a hand in five of West Chester's goals as the host and second-ranked Golden Rams defeated visiting East Stroudsburg, 8-1, in a non-league field hockey contest Saturday afternoon at Vonnie Gros Field.
 
West Chester (4-2) rebounded nicely from a lackluster second half in a loss on Wednesday to Millersville. The Rams scored three times in the first 17 minutes of the game, and then added two goals within four minutes after halftime to finally pull away from a pesky East Stroudsburg (2-4) bunch.
 
Lykens finished with one goal and four assists to lead the offensive onslaught. West Chester's eight goalas were the most in a game this season, tying the mark of eight against Lindenwood earlier this fall. Alayna Brown scored twice and picked up an assist in her first start of the year as well. Lauren McGinley, Megan Callanan and Kelsey Cheek all scored once and assisted once.
 
Brown scored just four minutes into the game, and then assisted on a marker by Cheek three minutes later to stake West Chester to a 2-0 lead. East Stroudsburg's Ally Roth slapped one home off an assist from Emily Howell off a penalty corner six minutes later to cut the deficit in half.
 
However, Callanan's sixth goal of the year from Lykens in the 17th minute restored the hosts' two-goal advantage. Following that power surge, the two teams failed to find the back of cage the rest of the first half, and the game remained very much still in the balance.
 
Lykens struck 35 seconds into the second half, and Alexis Versak then blasted home a shot from the top of the circle off a penalty corner three minutes later to push West Chester's edge to an insurmountable 5-1 lead.
 
McGinley notched her second of the year in the 51st minute. Then, Brown picked up her second of the game two minutes later. Lykens delivered both assists and the Golden Rams led, 7-1. Freshman Marnie Kusakavitch scored her first collegiate goal in the 68th minute to close out the scoring.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Audree Bonavita (1-1) registered a career-high 10 saves in collecting her first collegiate win in the cage. Danielle Ard (0-2) posted four saves for East Stroudsburg, before giving way to Alexis Charles, who made one save.
 
West Chester will host Indiana (Pa.) next Friday at Vonnie Gros Field in a rematch of last Saturday's 3-2 overtime win for the Golden Rams. This time around, the game will count in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference standings.