WEST CHESTER, Pa.- For the second year in a row the West Chester men's soccer team will be playing on the third weekend in November just two wins away from advancing to the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament semifinals. To get to this point West Chester must first get through a formidable opponent in reigning 2017 National Champion University of Charleston (Wv.). West Chester will square off against Charleston Thursday morning beginning at 10 a.m.
This is also the third year in a row in which West Chester will meet Charleston in the NCAA Tournament, but this is the first year the two teams will not meet in Charleston (Wv.), which the Golden Rams hope will bring different fortunes. Additionally, West Chester may find confidence in the fact that Notre Dame College (OH.) whom they defeated by a final score of 2-1 in the Second Round took Charleston to overtime earlier this season falling by a final score of 2-1.
West Chester enters this contest coming off an emotional victory over Notre Dame College (OH.) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon. West Chester opened the scoring early in this contest as Doug Goitia (Mt. Pocono, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) found the back of the net just over one minute into the game to give West Chester an early 1-0 advantage. However, Notre Dame would not go down without a fight as the Falcons roared back to tie the game in the 23rd minute, thus, sending the game to the half tied at 1-1. In the second half, Stephen Thompson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) played the hero as he scored the game-winner in the 53rd minute after assisting on Goitia's goal to open the game. The final 37 minutes were nothing short of a defensive battle as West Chester worked to protect its 2-1 lead against a hard-charging Notre Dame offense. The Falcons had a chance to tie the game late in the second half on a penalty kick but the ball soared just wide, which allowed West Chester to retain its slim 2-1 lead. Will Marshall (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) continued to play well in goal making three big saves to slow down the explosive Falcon offense. This victory marks the second year in a row in which West Chester won its first game of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Regional Final after picking up its first win in 50 years when the Golden Rams beat East Stroudsburg 2-1 in overtime toward the end of the 2017 season.
Goitia is now the Golden Rams leading scorer with a team-best 17 points after notching his seventh goal of the year on Saturday afternoon while teammate Jason Pixley (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) remains in second with 15 points of his own with seven goals and one assist. Thompson is close behind in third with 13 points on the heels of his three-point performance in the victory on Saturday afternoon. Thompson currently has four goals to his credit to go along with a team-leading five assists on the year. The West Chester defense led by PSAC Defensive Player of the Year Kyle Hoops (Phoenixville, Pa./Great Valley) and fellow PSAC First-Team selection Sami Phelps (Yardley, Pa./Westtown School) has been tough to crack this season as the Golden Rams have allowed opponents an average of just 9.3 shots per game and an average of just 3.45 corner kicks per game. When a team does manage to get a shot off against this tenacious defense it is met by a PSAC Second Team Selection in goalie Will Marshall (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) who has played to a record of 12-1-4 after stepping into the starting role early in the season. Over the course of his 18 games between the pipes Marshall has faced 142 shots allowing just 12 goals with a solid 0.67 goals against average and 0.826 save percentage.
Charleston enters this matchup after posting its fifth consecutive shutout in a 1-0 second round victory over PSAC Tournament Champion Millersville on Saturday afternoon. Charleston scored the lone goal of the game in the 40th minute when Javier Gonzalez took an assist from Christos Charalambous to give the Golden Eagles the 1-0 lead just before the halftime whistle. UC goalie Ewen Le Gallo made three saves between the pipes, which for a team has only allowed opponents three or more chances three times this season amounts to a busy day in goal for the Charleston keeper. Charleston ended the game with a 10-4 advantage in shots although shots on goal wound up tied at 3-3. Charleston also ended the contest with a slight 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Golden Eagles have been dangerous as usual in 2018 as they are led offensively by Gabriel Cabral and Freddy Tracey who have 17 and 16 points, respectively. Cabral and Tracey have both scored seven goals this season and Cabral has three assists while Tracey two assists to his credit. Christos Charalambous is the teams assist leader and is third on the team in points as he has four goals and seven assists for 15 points on the year. Defense has been the Golden Eagles strong suit once again in 2018 as they hold opponents to an average of just 3.8 shots per game and just 0.15 goals per game as they have allowed only three goals on the season. Ewen Le Gallo and Alvaro Unanua Dean have split time between the pipes both playing to a record of 8-0-1with goals against averages of 0.10 and 0.19, respectively. If there is one knock on these two goalies it would be that they are both relatively untested as Dean has faced just 22 shots while his counterpart Le Gallo has faced 21 shots. West Chester will need to take chances and take some potentially unconventional shots to place pressure on its opponent and potentially force a mistake.
If West Chester can pull off the upset and defeat the Defending National Champions the Golden Rams will await a matchup against the Winner of the LIU Post/Adelphi game with the winner of that contest advancing to the Final Four in Pittsburgh, Pa., which will be held during the last week of November.
