West Chester and Shippensburg Clash In PSAC Championship Game Sunday

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SHIPPENSBURG, PA – West Chester University and Shippensburg University will share the turf for the third time this fall when the two compete for the 2021 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crown at Robb Sports Complex Sunday afternoon.
 
The PSAC could not have asked for a better championship game than the top two-ranked teams in Division II showcasing their talents on the artificial surface at Robb Sports Complex. The top three scoring leaders in the conference will be on display. The top four assist leaders too. However, scoring may be at a premium with two of the top four goalkeepers in goals-against average and the top two individuals in shutouts manning the cages at each side of the field.
 
It will mark the first time since 2015 that the two top-ranked teams in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll faceoff for the conference title. Shippensburg (17-0) brings an unblemished record and No. 1 ranking into Sunday's game while West Chester (15-3) enters ranked second in the country, but seeded third in the tournament, and looking to avenge a pair of losses at the hands of the Raiders earlier this season.
 
Freshman Valerie van Kuijck (Denbosch, The Netherlands) tipped a shot from Paige Wolfe (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) past East Stroudsburg goalkeeper Amy Supey in the first half. Then, Emma Velez (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) converted a penalty stroke in the second half to lift West Chester to a 2-0 win in the PSAC semifinals on Friday. Shippensburg scored a goal late in the contest to send the first semifinal against Millersville into overtime where the Raiders got the game-winner six minutes in to complete the comeback, 2-1.
 
No strangers to the PSAC Championship Game, these two sides met for the 2018 conference title with West Chester coming out on top, 3-1. Four Golden Rams, including two starters, remain from that championship team. West Chester has won four PSAC titles (2018, 2017, 2014, 2012) and Shippensburg one (2005). The Golden Rams are 4-1 all-time in the conference finals while Shippensburg is 1-11.
 
The NCAA Division II champion has come out of the PSAC for the last nine consecutive seasons (excluding 2020 which was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic). However, the team that has won the PSAC title has not gone on to win the national title since West Chester won both in 2012 – a string of seven straight years.
 
Shippensburg topped West Chester, 4-3, at Vonnie Gros Field in West Chester, Pa., back on Sept. 11 and then defeated the Golden Rams, 4-0, right here at Robb Sports Complex on Oct. 5. West Chester's three goals in the first meeting between the two teams are the most yielded in a single game by Shippensburg this fall.
 
WCU graduate student Caitie McNamara (Buderim, Australia) will play in her third PSAC Championship Game Sunday. She was a starter in both 2017 and 2018 while helping the Golden Rams to a pair of back-to-back titles. She is the lone remaining link to that 2017 squad that pulled off one of the most impressive postseason runs by defeating both the Nos. 1 and 2 ranked teams in the country in the PSAC Tournament en route to the championship.