West Chester Set To Host Kutztown in PSAC Quarterfinal Tuesday Afternoon

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WEST CHESTER, PA – West Chester University will host Kutztown University in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference quarterfinal round match of the 2021 PSAC Field Hockey Tournament on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Vonnie Gros Field.
 
West Chester (13-3) finished third in the final regular-season standings and earned the third seed in the postseason tournament. Kutztown (11-6) finished sixth and earned the sixth seed overall. The other PSAC Quarterfinal taking place Tuesday features fourth-seeded Millersville hosting fifth-seed Indiana (Pa.). The quarterfinal round winners advance to the PSAC Semifinals on Friday, Nov. 5 at Robb Sports Complex on the campus of Shippensburg University.
 
Tickets to the PSAC Field Hockey Tournament are $10 for adults and $5 for students and can be purchased at the gate on the day of the event. Students from a PSAC member institution with a valid ID are admitted free. No comp tickets are available. Only PSAC passes will be honored.

Fans unable to attend the quarterfinal at West Chester can catch all the action live on the PSAC Digital Sports Network. Gary Erdelyi will have the call for Sports Fan Base Network (SFBN), which will be producing the game.
 
HOW THEY GOT HERE … .
West Chester earned the third seed in the tournament by virtue of a 7-2 conference record and a win over Millersville head-to-head. The Golden Rams did not finish their regular-season schedule because a postponed game was unable to be rescheduled. By PSAC tie-breaker rules, if one squad is not able to complete its regular-season, tie-breaking procedure is to compare conference wins. Both West Chester and Millersville finished with seven wins. However, West Chester defeated Millersville, 1-0, in head-to-head competition, thus giving the third seed to the Golden Rams.
 
Kutztown earned the sixth seed with its 5-5 conference mark. The Golden Bears dropped their final two conference regular-season matches to West Chester and IUP last week, but still qualified for the postseason. Kutztown and IUP both finished the year with identical 5-5 conference records. However, IUP's win over Kutztown last Saturday was the determining factor in giving the Crimson Hawks the fifth seed and the Golden Bears the sixth seed.
 
HISTORY BETWEEN THESE TWO …
West Chester leads the overall series against Kutztown by a 14-5 margin. West Chester is 6-3 against Kutztown at home. The series began back in 1979 with West Chester claiming a 6-0 victory. The two sides did not meet again until 1983 when West Chester spent one season at Division II and lost to Kutztown, 2-1. The following year, the Golden Rams jumped back up to Division I and the series was put on hold until 2011 when WCU returned to the Division II ranks.
 
This is the third meeting in the PSAC Tournament between the two squads. The first two encounters were split with West Chester winning a quarterfinal round match in 2015 and Kutztown winning a semifinal round game at Vonnie Gros Field in 2019. It is the fourth postseason meeting overall as West Chester won an NCAA Tournament semifinal against Kutztown in Millersville in 2019 en route to the Golden Rams' most recent national title.
 
West Chester has won four PSAC Championships (2012, 2014, 2017, 2018). Kutztown is in search of its first conference crown.
 
SCOUTING WEST CHESTER …
West Chester brings an experienced group, which is very familiar with postseason field hockey, into Tuesday's playoff game. A total of 13 players remain from the national championship squad in 2019 and three of those were starters with a fourth a significant reserve. They undoubtedly remember Kutztown's 3-2 conference semifinal win at Vonnie Gros that ended the Golden Rams' two-year run atop the conference. Add in the conference's third-leading scorer this fall, and West Chester would have to be considered a strong contender for the PSAC title.
 
Valerie van Kuijck (Denbosch, The Netherlands) ranks third in the conference in both goals scored (16) and points (38). Her move up to the forward line three games ago has been the spark that the offense needed to finish the regular season strong. Graduate student Caitie McNamara (Buderim, Australia) leads the league in assists. The offensive-minded back plays both ends of the field and plays them well. She has the skill set to play any of the three lines and has seen time everywhere as a result. Senior Dara Spavlik (Hockessin, Del.) ranks right behind Van Kuijck in scoring on the Golden Rams. Her move to the striker position on penalty corners was the catalyst to that unit getting back on track midway through the year. She has seven goals and 20 points on the season.
 
Defensively, McNamara and junior transfer Montana Ott (Mount Bethel, Pa./Bangor) have teamed with Spavlik to keep a lot of traffic away from goalkeeper Claire Nielsen (Wescosville, Pa./Emmaus). But, Nielsen backstopped West Chester to the 2019 national title and has that experience to draw on.
 
SCOUTING KUTZTOWN ...
Kutztown enters the postseason reeling from a pair of losses to close out the regular season. One of those losses was a heartbreaking 3-2 double overtime decision at home to West Chester. However, don't be fooled by the Golden Bears' 11-6 record. Five of the six losses came within the PSAC, which is by far the most competitive conference in Division II. Remember, Kutztown defeated West Chester at Vonnie Gros the last time these two teams met in the PSAC Tournament.
 
Alyssa Donato and Rachel Dusman are the two offensive weapons to watch. Both rank among the Top 10 goal scorers in the PSAC – and we have already covered how talented the conference is. They each reached double figures in goals scored this fall. Both combine to take on average nine shots per game. They will need to create that many, if not more, on Tuesday for Kutztown to be successful and advance to the weekend.
 
Katie Dotterweich is one of the best in the conference in the cage. She is fourth in the PSAC in goals-against average and has five shutouts on the year. She is the type of keeper that can steal a game with her stellar play.
 
The winner of West Chester vs. Kutztown advances to Friday's semifinal at Shippensburg University to play the No.2 seed East Stroudsburg in the second game of the day at 3:30 p.m. Top seed and host Shippensburg will play the first game of the day at 1 p.m. against the Millersville-IUP winner.