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Dobbs Ferry, N.Y..-The West Chester University women's soccer team is in to the NCAA Elite Eight for the 2
nd time in the past four years after defeating East Stroudsburg 2-0 on Friday afternoon. The Golden Rams will be facing host institution Mercy on Sunday afternoon with that game scheduled to get underway at 12 pm.
The game opposite East Stroudsburg was the third meeting between these two teams this season and the Golden Rams took the season series as they won two out of the three matchups. The first half was relatively quiet as each team had chances but neither team could capitalize sending the game to the half tied at 0-0. West Chester broke through just over two minutes into the second half when normally surehanded ESU goalie Jules Harris lost the handle on a
Linzi Wolfe (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) shot which led to a goal from
Nikki Zaso (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East)  as she knocked in the loose ball. This lead grew to 2-0 in the 65
th minute when Wolfe scored a goal of her own off a cross from
Julia Kirkpatrick (Brick, N.J./Brick Twp.). Mckenna Mullin (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) recorded four big saves and with the help of her defense managed to keep East Stroudsburg off the scoreboard leading West Chester to the 2-0 victory.
This Atlantic Regional title was the seventh Atlantic Regional title for West Chester and it was the fifth title for Head Coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley. This was also the seniors second title as the last Atlantic Regional title came in 2014 during their freshman year. West Chester will be looking to overcome some previous challenges in the NCAA Elite Eight as they enter play on Sunday with a 1-4 record in this round with that lone victory coming in 2006 when the team advanced to the Final Four.
In the East Regional final Mercy defeated LIU-Post by a score of 2-0. Mercy scored their first goal in the 12
th minute when Haley Noble was left all alone on the left post after a ball got past the keeper to give them the 1-0 lead. This lead grew in the 81
st minute when Heidi Serna headed in a cross from Noble giving the Mavericks a comfortable two goal lead with under ten minutes to play. Melissa Torres worked hard in goal all day as she faced 15 shots and recorded seven saves in the shutout victory. LIU-Post did outshoot Mercy by a 15-7 margin including a 7-3 advantage on shots on goal but it was not enough to pull off another upset on Friday afternoon.
This is the first meeting between West Chester and Mercy in program history.
The Winner of this contest will advance to the NCAA Final Four which will be held in Kansas City on November 30
th with the championship game being played on December 2
nd.
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