BLOOMSBURG, Pa.- After playing to a scoreless draw against Bloomsburg a week ago, the West Chester women's soccer team (11-4-2) returned to Bloomsburg (13-4-2) for a PSAC Quarterfinal clash against the second seeded Huskies. West Chester battled throughout but it was an early first-half goal by Bloomsburg, which proved to be the difference maker as the Huskies never trailed en route to the 1-0 victory over the Golden Rams.
While offense was at a premium in the last meeting between the two rivals, it did not take long for the scoring to begin on Tuesday evening as Bloomsburg opened the scoring in the 14
th minute when Abby Groff converted a pair of blocked shots to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
In the first half, West Chester took just one shot as
Maggie Lena (Santa Monica, Ca./Santa Monica) took the first shots of the contest in the 9
th minute but it was handled by Bloomsburg goalkeeper Alexa Ryan to keep West Chester off the scoreboard early.
Bloomsburg carried the 1-0 lead into the halftime break, while also ending the first half with a 3-1 edge in shots and a 2-0 advantage in corners.
Nearing the midway point of the second half, Bloomsburg began to apply pressure as the Huskies looked to extend their lead but West Chester stood tall defensively to keep the score locked at 1-0 entering the 70
th minute of action.
In the waning moments of regulation, West Chester got its second shot of the contest as
Mikaela Berg (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun) had her shot in the 83
rd minute blocked. West Chester continued to pressure the Huskies defense, searching for the equalizer as
Jenna Peters (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) took the Golden Rams first corner of the contest in the 87
th minute but Bloomsburg cleared it away to keep the Golden Rams off the scoreboard en route to the narrow 1-0 victory.
Shots were are a premium for both sides on Tuesday evening as Bloomsburg ended the game with a slim 5-2 edge in shots and a 3-1 advantage in shots on goal while also ending the game with a 4-1 edge in corners.
Hayley McGee (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) worked hard between the pipes, making two saves while her counterpart, Ryan made one save of her own in the victory.
With this setback, West Chester has been eliminated from the PSAC Tournament and will now await the NCAA Tournament Selection show scheduled for Monday evening to learn its NCAA Tournament fate.
