ALBANY, N.Y.- Following a thrilling win over West Virginia State on Saturday afternoon, the West Chester women's soccer team (20-0-1) has shifted its attention to its next opponent in old PSAC East rival Kutztown (11-5-4), with an Atlantic Region Title on the line. When West Chester and Kutztown square off on Friday afternoon at 12 p.m., both teams will be in search of their first Regional Championship in over five years as the last time West Chester won was 2017 while the last Kutztown win came in 2016, which was also the last time a PSAC team advanced to the Final Four.
Fan Information
Friday afternoon's contest will be played at the Christian J. Plumeri Sports Complex in Albany. Ticket prices are set at $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID and seniors while children ages 12 and under will be admitted free of charge.
For fan's unable to make the trip to Albany this weekend,
live stats and
video will be also be available via these links.
Series Information
West Chester holds a 30-13-3 lead in the all-time series between the two rivals. After sweeping both regular-season meetings by a combined 3-0 score line, coupled with a PKs advancement by West Chester in the NCAA Tournament vs Kutztown a year ago, the Golden Rams enter on a three-game unbeaten streak against their Division Rivals.
Despite significant familiarity with each other and many PSAC Tournament meetings over the years, West Chester and Kutztown have met just three times in the NCAA Tournament with the first meeting coming during the 2013 season with a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Golden Bears. In the three NCAA Tournament meetings between the two teams, West Chester has never beaten the Golden Bears, entering play on Friday afternoon with a record of 0-2-1 against them after snapping a two-match losing streak a year ago.
How They Got here
For West Chester, this weekend is the result of a tremendous 2022 season, which has seen the Purple and Gold play to a mark of 20-0-1 under the tutelage of longtime head coach
Betty Ann Kempf Townsley. The lone blemish on what is otherwise a perfect record for West Chester came on the last day of the regular season when East Stroudsburg, escaped Rockwell Field with a 1-1 draw against the Golden Rams.
Last Saturday in the Atlantic Region Semifinal vs West Virginia State, the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets attempted to employ a similar strategy to that of ESU a few weeks prior in hopes of pulling the upset. The Golden Rams had other ideas, as
Jacqueline Hug (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) scored her team best ninth goal of the year off a cross from
Alyson Cutter (Warrington, Pa./C.B. South) with under two minutes to play to lift West Chester to the victory.
Offense has not been an issue for West Chester this season, posting a team scoring average of 2.57 with 16 different Golden Rams finding the back of the net, including eight different players with two or more goals on the season. Hug leads the team in goals with nine while PSAC East Freshman of the Year and DII CCA All-Region honoree
Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) is tied with her for the team lead in points with eight goals and eight assists.
Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter), who was named PSAC East Player of the Year after garnering Rookie of the Year honors a season ago, has also had a great season, entering the Tournament with seven goals of her own to help bolster the Golden Ram offense. Team's must also be keenly aware of the danger that Cutter poses with great speed down the right side for West Chester, entering the Tournament with six goals and five assists. Cutter has been particularly dangerous in the postseason, as she has scored at least a point in each of the last three postseason games for West Chester, registering a goal in both the PSAC Semifinals and Championship match while also providing the game-winning assist last Saturday afternoon.
Defensively,
Hayley McGee (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) has been steadily putting together one of the best seasons in recent memory while also ranking among the top keepers in all of Division II women's soccer. Entering play on Friday, McGee has a record of 20-0-1 with 14 shutouts, both of which rank second in single-season team history while her goals against average of 0.29 and .935 save percentage both rank atop all of DII women's soccer. After a nearly perfect month of soccer in October, which saw her surrender just one goal in eight matches, McGee has picked up where she left off in November, so far allowing just one goal in four matches, riding a 270-minute shutout streak into the Atlantic Region Championship on Saturday afternoon. McGee has of course has help by her backline, which has been headlined by First Team All-Conference and All-Region pick
Kiley Kergides (Rydal, Pa./Germantown Academy) and senior captain
Deanna Lebotesis (Feasterville, Pa./Neshaminy).
Scouting Kutztown
For Kutztown, the Golden Bears enter play riding a shutout streak of their own, working a pair of shutouts last weekend to open the NCAA Tournament and earn a spot in the Regional Title game as the seventh seed. Kutztown opened its 2022 NCAA Tournament vs Frostburg State on November 11
th, capturing a 3-0 win over the second-seeded Bobcats, who were making their NCAA Tournament debut before dispatching Gannon by a final of 1-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Kayla Argen, who was the Golden Bears lone All-Region honoree, enters the game as the team's biggest offensive threat, posting eight goals to go along with 10 assists for a total of 26 points on the year. Isabella Rosetti is second on the team in scoring, scoring seven goals for a total of 14 points on the year. In total, Kutztown has logged 34 goals this season from 11 different goal scorers, with seven of those 11 scoring multiple goals on the year.
Defensively, Emme Wolfel has been stout for Kutztown in goal throughout the season, playing to a mark of 11-5-3 with eight shutouts and a 0.76 goals against average, including a pair of shutouts to open the NCAA Tournament.
If Kutztown earns a victory over the Golden Rams on Friday afternoon, it will be its first NCAA Tournament win over West Chester since the 2016 season, which was also the last time Kutztown or any PSAC Institution for that matter advanced to the National Semifinals.
With a Win
With a victory on Friday afternoon, West Chester would secure its first Regional Title since the 2017 season and earn the right to play the winner of St. Rose/Franklin Pierce on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the winner of that match advancing to the National Semifinals in Seattle during the first weekend in December.
