WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The No. 21 West Chester women's soccer team returned to action on Saturday afternoon at Rockwell field with a pivotal PSAC battle vs rival Shippensburg. After a scoreless first half, West Chester scored a pair of goals in a two-minute span to earn the 2-0 victory and a crucial three points in the PSAC standings.
Prior to the game, West Chester honored its senior class, which included
Jenna Peters (Fairless Hills Pa./Pennsbury), Jessie Bail (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley), Dani Cady (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury), Gabrielle White (Chadds Ford, Pa./Unionville), Rebecca Margolis (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North), Madison Bowman (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport), Mikaela Berg (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun), Priscilla Walsh (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), and Kendall Rich (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional).
Early in the first half, West Chester generated consistent opportunities as the Golden Rams outshot the visiting Raiders by an 11-5 margin through the opening 45 minutes of play. Both West Chester goalkeeper
Hayley McGee (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Shippensburg goalie Kendra Barlow proved to be up to the task through the first half, making three and four saves, respectively to keep the game scoreless.
In the 60
th minute, West Chester opened the scoring when Margolis converted a PK to give West Chester a 1-0 lead. West Chester built upon this lead just seconds later when
Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter) took a cross from
Julia Raybold (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) to extend the lead to 2-0, which West Chester went on to win by after a strong defensive effort for the remainder of the contest.
West Chester ended the game with a 28-8 advantage in shots (15-6 shots on goal) while also ending with a 5-1 edge in corners. McGee ended the game with six saves while Barlow made 13 of her own in the setback.
West Chester will be back in action on Wednesday evening at Bloomsburg in a crucial PSAC East matchup with that contest set to begin at 7 p.m.
