WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) scored arguably the biggest goal of her young career in the 82
nd minute after playing the ball around the East Stroudsburg keeper at the top of the 18 to lift top-seeded West Chester (17-0-1) to a 2-1 win over East Stroudsburg (9-7-3) on Tuesday afternoon.
West Chester trailed early in the contest, marking just the third time this season in which West Chester has found itself in an early hole, including the second time vs ESU but scored a pair of late half goals thanks to the efforts of Matter and
Maggie Lena (Santa Monica, Cal./Santa Monica) to lift the second-ranked Golden Rams over the Warriors. This comeback victory improved West Chester to 3-0 in games this season in which the Purple and Gold have found themselves behind early.
West Chester dominated possession for much of the game, ending the contest with a 22-8 advantage in shots thanks in large part to a 15-1 lead in the first half while also ending the game with a 7-2 lead in corners with all seven corners coming in the first half of action.
East Stroudsburg scored the first goal of the contest just minutes into regulation when Rebecca Kotula was fouled at the top of the box and buried a PK opportunity to take an early 1-0 lead.
West Chester applied heavy pressure for the balance of the first half, outshooting the Warriors 15-0 over the next 37 minutes of action and it finally paid dividends in the 45
th minute when
Maggie Lena (Santa Monica, Cal./Santa Monica) scored on a header off a long free kick from
Kiley Kergides (Rydal, Pa./Germantown Academy) just before the halftime break.
This tally came at the end of a first half, which had seen West Chester dominate the possession, outshooting the Warriors 1-1 while also ending the opening half with a 7-0 lead in corner kicks.
Emmy Clarkson worked hard in goal to limit the dangerous West Chester offense, making four big saves before the Golden Rams found the equalizer late in the opening half.
To open the second half, East Stroudsburg applied heavy pressure to the Golden Ram defense, keeping the ball in the ESU attacking third for much of the first 15 minutes of the second half.
As the half wore on, West Chester regained possession and began applying more steady pressure to Clarkson and the Warrior defense.
In the 82
nd minute,
Jacqueline Hug (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) sent a ball through a crowd into the top of the box, which found the waiting foot of Matter. Matter had little space to operate with Clarkson waiting just a yard away but played a hard shot off the Warriors keeper, which resulted in a deflection further into the box. Matter ran down the rebound and wasted little time in taking a rocket of a shot into the corner of the net to lift the Golden Rams to their first lead of the afternoon and send the Golden Ram bench and faithful into celebration.
Following the goal, ESU made a last push and had a good opportunity on a corner kick from just outside the box with just one minute to play in regulation but the chance went wide of the far post, resulting in a goal kick for West Chester as the Golden Rams were able to control the ball with the final seconds of regulation ticking away in the thrilling 2-1 comeback victory.
Similarly to her effort on Saturday afternoon, Clarkson was outstanding once again for the Warriors, making seven great saves to slow the West Chester offense, which has been among the top offensive units in all of Division II for much of the 2022 season while her counterpart
Hayley McGee (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) made three saves to improve to 17-0-1 on the year.
Up Next:
West Chester knows its next opponent will be Mercyhurst, who earned the second seed in the PSAC West and defeated Slippery Rock by a 1-0 final earlier this afternoon, however, the location of that semifinal match remains an open question as top-seed Gannon plays at 4 p.m. this afternoon. If Gannon defeats Seton Hill in its Quarterfinal this afternoon, West Chester will travel to Gannon for the Semifinals on Friday afternoon while if the Knights lose, West Chester will still make the cross-state trek to Erie but instead to the home of Mercyhurst for the Semifinal round on Friday afternoon.
