WEST CHESTER, PA – Valerie van Kuijck (Denbosch, The Netherlands) had a hand in all three goals, and host West Chester came back from an early two-goal deficit to defeat visiting Mansfield, 3-2, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) field hockey contest Saturday afternoon at Vonnie Gros Field.
West Chester (13-3, 6-3) concluded its conference slate on Senior Day Saturday. Mansfield (8-9, 2-6) has dropped three of its last four.
"We just dug ourselves in a hole," WCU head coach
Amy Cohen said. "We just had to stay composed. I think there was more frustration than panic because we put so much work in the offensive end and wasn't rewarded with a goal (in the first half)."
Mansfield jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a tally in each of the first two quarters with both coming off penalty corners. Kelsey Robertson put the Mountaineers on top in the fourth minute with a strike from the top of the circle off a feed from Hannah Meyer. Meyer then scored one of her own in the 22nd minute to give the visitors a two-goal lead.
Van Kuijck dribbled through the Mounties' defense two minutes before halftime for a nice reverse-chip following a stellar individual effort that cut the lead in half, 2-1, heading into the break.
West Chester settled down after halftime and dictated much of the action in the third quarter outshooting the Mounties by a 12-1 margin.
Claudia Jaszczak (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown West) tipped in a shot from van Kuijck in the 32nd minute to knot the game at 2-apiece. Van Kuijck batted in a loose ball right in front six minutes later for the eventual game-winner.
"Honestly, it was fixing our press and changing up things at center forward," Cohen added. "We need to make sure our forwards were still making runs."
At halftime, Cohen also went to freshman goalkeeper,
Tess Garchinsky (Allentown, Pa./Parkland), to mix things up a bit. She only faced one shot – not on goal – but helped with the little things to make sure Mansfield didn't see any good looks. With the come-from-behind victory, Garchinsky (1-0) earned her first college win in the cage.
"I just wanted to focus on defensive positioning because if they can't get a shot off, then they can't score," Garchinsky said. "(Mansfield) had some people trying to cherry-pick and get in behind. We needed to be aware of it."
West Chester puts a lid on its regular season next Wednesday with a non-league home match against Millersville at Vonnie Gros Field.
