CLEVELAND, Ohio- After completion of the fall 2021 season, West Chester University stands in 24
th place in the Division II Learfield Directors' Cup Fall standings, released on Thursday morning. West Chester ended another strong fall season with 154 points, thanks in large part to a 90-point contribution from West Chester field hockey, after appearing in the Division II field hockey National Championship game once again in 2021.
In addition to the 94 points secured by West Chester field hockey, the West Chester women's soccer team (12-5-3) advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 18
th-year in a row and knocked off fourth-seeded Charleston and top-seed Kutztown to advance to the Atlantic Regional final at Concord on December 2
nd. This NCAA Tournament run gave West Chester another 64 points to help the Golden Rams land just inside the top-25 in the year's first Learfield Directors' Cup rankings.
West Chester is the second-ranked team from the PSAC in the Learfield Directors' Cup rankings after the fall season, trailing only Gannon, who sits in 23
rd in the standings just eight points ahead of the Purple and Gold entering the Winter season.
Colorado School of Mines and Grand Valley State secured the top two spots in the rankings with 373 and 368 points, respectively, followed by West Texas A&M in third with 252 points. American International, whom the Golden Rams women's rugby team faced in the NIRA Division II National Championship game to conclude its fall season, earned the fourth spot in the rankings with 226 points, while Lenoir-Rhyne rounded out the top five with 223 points of its own.
The last time a full year of standings were released by Learfield was the 2018-19 season (the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were both impacted by COVID-19, which led to Final Standings not being released), and West Chester finished eighth in these rankings with 640.50 total points. This eighth-place finish served as the highest-ranking ever by the Golden Rams, topping their previous high-finish of 12
th, which they had registered on two other occasions.
The Winter Learfield Directors' Cup standings are set to be published beginning on March 31st.
In addition to the 24
th-place ranking in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings, West Chester also currently resides in fourth-place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Dixon Trophy race, with an 11.19 average, thanks in large part to 16 points from field hockey's PSAC Championship game appearance. Let's take a look at West Chester University athletics fall 2021 by the numbers:
1010: Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) ended the year with 1,010 assists, which already ranks her 10
th all-time in career assists and also helped her to earn First Team All-PSAC East honors.
657: The West Chester women's volleyball team was the first fall sport to return to home-game action in 657 days with its 3-0 victory over Goldey Beacom to open its annual Ramfest tournament.
200: Coaches
Amy Cohen (field hockey) and
Bill Zwaan (football) earned their 200th career victories this season. Zwaan defeated Edinboro by a 41-35 final while Cohen downed Millersville in thrilling fashion, winning by a 1-0 final score.
148: Coach Zwaan also became the all-time winningest coach in team history, picking up his 148
th win at West Chester in the Golden Rams 21-20 Homecoming victory over Bloomsburg.
75: The Golden Rams ended the fall 2021 season with a record of 75-31-5 for a 69.8 % winning percentage.
70.1 %: West Chester continued to be hard to beat at home in 2021, ending the year with a 70.1 % home winning percentage with a record of 38-16, thanks in part to women's rugby going unbeaten at home once again, ending the fall with a perfect 4-0 home record.
66: Doug Goitia moved into second place all-time West Chester men's soccer history in points (66) and goals (29) with a pair of goals at Bloomsburg on November 3
rd.
29: West Chester earned 29 PSAC All-Conference honors this year, including 14 first-team honors. In addition to the 29 all-league picks, West Chester also had four major award winners as
Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter), and Van Kuijck each earned Rookie of the Year honors while
Craig Potts (Stewartstown, Pa./Kennard Dale) and
Jackson Taylor (Glenside, Pa./Abington) each earned Defensive Player of the Year recognition.
23: West Chester earned 23 weekly awards this Fall, earning 22 weekly honors from the PSAC, while newcomer
Valerie Van Kuijck (Denbosch, The Netherlands/Pierson School) also earned National Field Hockey Coaches Association DII Offensive Player of the Week honors.
21: Van Kuicjk led West Chester field hockey in scoring this year with 21 goals and 50 points, which was good enough to rank her third in the PSAC in each of these categories at the end of the 2021 season.
18: The West Chester women's soccer team remained tied with reigning National Champion Grand Valley State for the longest active streak of making the NCAA Tournament, with its 18
th appearance this year. This 18-year streak is just one year shy of tying the Division II women's soccer record for the longest such streak, currently held by Franklin Pierce, who qualified for 19 consecutive years (1992-2010). West Chester also had 18 different players score goals this season, to help the team to its 18
th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, led by six goals from PSAC East Rookie of the Year Haughey.
7: West Chester earned seven DII CCA All-Atlantic Region honors, and West Chester men's soccer led the way with three All-Region picks as
Doug Goitia (Mount Pocono, Pa./Pocono Mountain East), Daniel Good (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East), and Potts all earned All-Region honors.
6: West Chester celebrated six coaches association All-Americans as Goitia,
Mikaela Berg (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun), Caitie McNamara (Buderim, Australia/Nambour Christian), Van Kuijck,
Emma Velez (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), and
Dara Spavlik (Hockessin, Del./Conrad) all earned Coaches Association All-American honors.
5: Five different Golden Rams earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 honors as Good,
Hayley McGee (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), Grace Whitney (Glenside, Pa./Abington), Michael Gobora (Newtown, Pa./Pennsbury), and
Jacob Colby (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) all earned All-District honors. Gobora was later honored by CoSIDA as a Second Team Academic All-American, marking the first time since the 1986 season that the West Chester football team has celebrated an Academic All-American.
4: West Chester men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and women's volleyball all qualified for the PSAC Tournament at the conclusion of their 2021 seasons, with West Chester field hockey advancing the furthest, as the Purple and Gold returned to the PSAC Championship game at Shippensburg before falling to the Raiders.
3: West Chester had three opportunities to compete for a National Championship this fall. West Chester field hockey and women's rugby both played for National Championships vs Shippensburg and American International, respectively while
Sarah Supplee (Orefield, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) qualified for the Division II Women's Cross Country National Championship, after finishing fifth in Regionals. While field hockey and women's rugby both returned to the Championship game, looking to defend their 2019 crowns, Supplee was the first women's cross country runner to qualify for the Championships since Amanda Eisman in 2015.
About Learfield Sports:
The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships.
An industry leader for more than four decades, Learfield has a deep presence in the college athletics landscape nationwide. It manages the multimedia and sponsorship rights for nearly 130 collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas, and supports athletic department's at all competitive levels as title sponsor of the prestigious Learfield Directors' Cup. Learfield also provides its collegiate partners access to professional concessions and ticket sales; branding, licensing and trademark consulting; digital and social platform expertise; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue and technology systems through its affiliated companies.
