Second-Half Surge Lifts No. 2 West Chester Over No. 5 Stonehill, 4-2

Box Score

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Dayle Paustian (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) potted a pair of goals in the second half, and Rachal Toppi (Glassboro, N.J./Glassboro) provided the highlight of the afternoon, to spark second-ranked West Chester to a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over No. 5 Stonehill at sun-drenched Vonnie Gros Field Sunday.
 
West Chester (2-0) trailed 2-0 at halftime, but scored four unanswered goals in the final 35 minutes to complete the comeback against Stonehill (0-2).
 
Trailing 2-0 at the break, the Golden Rams scored a pair of goals 1:17 apart to tie up the contest in the 51st and 52nd minutes. Marnie Kusakavitch (Pittston, Pa./Holy Redeemer) finally got the Rams on the board when she banged home a rebound off a shot from Kristina Scherrer (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) while standing on the far post.
 
Paustian then tied up the game 1:17 later with a slap shot from the left side that went between the goalie's legs. Morgan Snodgrass (Egg Harbor, N.J./Egg Harbor Twp.) set up the play by dribbling down the end line and taking a shot on goal that was originally saved and kicked back out to a waiting Paustian. The junior midfielder gave West Chester the lead for good five minutes later when she finished off a penalty corner in the 57th minute.
 
Toppi, the 2014 PSAC Freshman of the Year, then dazzled the fans at Vonnie Gros with a spectacular goal in the 68th minute to salt away the game. Standing with her back to the cage about eight meters out, she took a pass from Paustian and popped the ball up the air, dribbled it twice on her stick and then swatted it over her right shoulder into the back of the net.

"Whenever I get the bal on my stick, I'm going to try to do whatever I can to score," Toppi said about her improvisation. "If it work, it works. If it doesn't it doesn't. I don't practice that stuff much at all."

Head coach Amy Cohen refuted Toppi's explanation during the sophomore forward's interview saying, "You practice that all the time. Wherever you can find a goal cage, you are playing around with the ball trying to score like a lacrosse player."

"We finally calmed down (in the second half)," Toppi added about the Golden Rams' comeback. "We just needed to be a team and get our passes together. Once we scored those two quick goals, our confidence came back."

That was one area in which Toppi and her coach agreed.

"We started finishing in the second half. I didn't think we played all that poorly in the first half," Cohen explained. "We were getting shots. Credit Stonehill. They took advantage of two mistakes we made outletting the ball and scored. We needed to create some (penalty) corners and win the 50/50 balls to give ourselves better scoring opportunities.  think we did that in the second half."
 
Goalkeeper Sarah Krause (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) made five saves in the cage to pick up her second win of the season. She shut out the Skyhawks in the second half to give her teammates an opportunity to come back.
 
West Chester opens up play in the PSAC on Wednesday at Shippensburg with a 3 p.m. start.