Women's Soccer Readies for NCAA Tournament; Awaits Winner of First Round Matchup on Friday

Live Stats
Video
Game Program
WEST CHESTER, Pa.- For the 16^th year in a row the West Chester University women's soccer team (13-4-2, 11-4-1 PSAC) is going dancing. On Monday night it was announced that the Golden Rams NCAA Tournament streak would continue for another year as the Golden Rams have not missed the Tournament since 2003. Additionally, earning the No. 2 seed on Monday night gives West Chester the distinct honor of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row.

Tickets for adults will be $ 7 while students with ID and senior tickets will be $ 3 and tickets for children ages 2-12 will be $ 1 with children under two being admitted for free with a paying adult. Fans are reminded that parking for the games will be located in Q Lot, which is located across South New Street from the field while the lot immediately adjacent to the field will be reserved for those with handicap tags and VIPs. The first 100 West Chester Students to the game will be free with a valid, current WCU ID.

West Chester enters the Tournament after going 1-0-1 in the PSAC Tournament defeating Lock Haven in the PSAC Quarterfinals before playing to a draw with No. 1 seed in the PSAC and NCAA Tournament Atlantic Region Bloomsburg in the PSAC Semifinals. These results combined with some great statement wins from earlier in the 2018 Regular Season enabled West Chester to capture the second seed in the Atlantic Region. If West Chester can win its matchup vs the winner of Kutztown/West Virginia Wesleyan the Golden Rams will have a chance to play for the Atlantic Regional title for the third year in a row. The highest remaining seed in the Atlantic Region will be the host for Atlantic and East Regional Title games as well as the elite eight meaning that if West Chester advances the Golden Rams may have a chance with an upset on the other side of the bracket to host the next two rounds as well.

West Chester has been strong offensively this season as the Golden Rams have three players in double-digits for points on the year led by junior Madison Baxter (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) who has a team-best 23 points on the year thanks to team-highs in goals with nine and assists with five. Baxter ended the 2018 regular season on a hot streak as she scored four goals over a two game span before scoring her fifth over a three-game span in the PSAC Quarterfinals vs Lock Haven. Freshman Kendall Rich (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) is another Golden Ram that if opposing defenses fail to properly account for can cause damage as she sits second on the team in goals and points with six goals for 12 points to begin her career wearing the Purple and Gold. Senior Linzi Wolfe (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) is the final Golden Ram in double-digits for points in 2018 as she has three goals and currently sits second on the team in assists with four giving her a total of 10 points on the year.

Defense has been a strong suit of the Golden Rams once again in 2018 as they are led by First-team All-PSAC Selection Julia Kirkpatrick (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) who did not miss a beat in 2018 after her United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-America performance in 2017. Kirkpatrick is joined on the backline by three extremely talented players in Nikki Caffey (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South), Carmen Telesco (Jamison, Pa./Central Bucks East), and Kaitlyn McFadden (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) all of whom make it extremely difficult for opposing offenses to get good shots as West Chester has held its opponents to just 9.4 shots per game with only about half of these shots finding their way on goal. When the shots do find their way on goal they are normally greeted by West Chester goalkeeper McKenna Mullin (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) who has played to a record of 10-3-1 with 10 total shutouts (seven solo/three combined) and a goals against average of just 0.70 over the course of 1422 minutes of work. Brooke Myers (Middletown, Pa./Middletown Area) has also been a viable option in goal for West Chester this season as she has played to a record of 3-0-1 with five total shutouts (two solo/three combined) and an even smaller goals against average of 0.53 over the course of her 341 minutes of action.

Additionally, playing West Chester at home has not been enviable task as West Chester has played to a record of 8-1-0 at home outscoring opponents by a gaping 19-1 margin home games. The only goal West Chester has allowed was also scored in West Chester's only home loss of the season to Slippery Rock when the Rock turned a rebound off of a sprawling save by Mullin into what would be the game-winning goal late in the second half of play.

West Chester must wait and see who its opponent will be as the Golden Rams will host a first round matchup between Kutztown and West Virginia Wesleyan on Friday afternoon with the winner of that contest earning the right to play West Chester on Sunday afternoon. This is a strikingly similar scenario to what played out one year ago on Rockwell Field as last season West Chester also awaited the winner of a Friday afternoon game that pitted Kutztown against a foe from the Mountain East Conference in Notre Dame College (OH.). Notre Dame won this matchup before tying with West Chester on Sunday and losing on PKs to send West Chester through to the Atlantic Region Championship game. Rockwell field has not been a fun place for Kutztown over the last two years as the Golden Bears are 0-3 at Rockwell as they lost in the 2017 PSAC Semifinals on Rockwell, the 2017 NCAA Tournament first round, and they also lost to West Chester 1-0 in the last week of September in the 2018 Regular Season.

Kutztown (14-4-1, 12-3-1 PSAC) enters play as the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, thereby, making the Golden Bears the defacto favorite to advance past the No. 6 seeded West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats. Emily Zwiercan is the leading scorer for Kutztown as she has 11 goals and three assists on the year for a total of 25 points to lead the Kutztown offense. Kayla Argen is the other major offensive threat that teams must account for as she has 13 points on the year thanks to four goals and five assists in 2018. The ever-dangerous Maddie Mohr is also lurking within the Golden Bears leading scorers as she has seven points thanks to three goals and one assist, which is tied with Gabby Kane and just one point and assist behind Gabby Kane who is third on the team with three goals and two assists for eight points on the year.  Jenna Bracken is normally the starter in goal for Kutztown as she has played to a 12-4-1 record on the year with a slim 0.42 goals against average over the course of her 1510 minutes of action. Imani Taylor is the Golden Bears other option between the pipes as she has played to a record of 2-0-0 with a goal against average of 0.80 over the course of 225 minutes of action.

 West Virginia Wesleyan (13-1-4, 10-0-3 MEC) was the last team to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament as the Bobcats enter as the No. 6 seed, which is the final seed in the Atlantic Region. West Virginia Wesleyan did face one other PSAC opponent in 2018 as the Bobcats squared off against Slippery Rock to open the season falling to the Rock by a final score of 1-0. Offensively, WV Wesleyan has been led by the trio of Natalie Prater, MaKatlyn Tucker, and Shannon Shawgo all of whom have at least 18 points on the year. Prater is the teams leading scorer as she has eight goals and 12 assists for a total of 28 points on the year while Tucker is close behind with 21 points of her own thanks to six goals and nine assists while Shawgo is third with 18 points courtesy of six goals and another six assists. Chelsea Hubner has been a force to be reckoned with in goal this year as she has played to a record of 10-1-3 with a miniscule 0.17 goals against average. Ashlee Schumacher has also seen a considerable amount of time in goal as she has played in 14 games while earning the start in six with a goals against average of 0.28 and a record of 1-0-0 on the year.

West Chester and Kutztown have a lengthy history with one another as the teams have met since 1992 when West Chester first began its women's soccer program. Historically, the Golden Rams have had the upper hand in these matchups as they have played to a record of 27-11-3 in such games and West Chester has gone 13-6-2 against the Golden Bears under head coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley. The only situation in which West Chester has historically struggled with Kutztown has been the Golden Bears have been ranked as the Golden Rams are just 2-4 in such matchups.

West Chester has much more limited experience with the Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan as the Golden Rams have only battled the Bobcats three times in their history. All three of these matchups came under the tutelage of long-time head coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley with two out of three matchups coming in the NCAA Tournament. West Chester is 3-0 in these matchups as the Golden Rams have won each contest by a final score 1-0.

The Winner of Sunday's contest will proceed to the home of whomever the highest remaining seed in the Atlantic Region is to play for an Atlantic Region Championship and the chance to advance to the Final Four, which will be in Pittsburgh at the end of the month.