GREENSBURG, PA –
Keri Barnett (Glenolden, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) tied her season high with seven goals, and
Hannah Stanislawczk (Mohnton, Pa./Gov. Mifflin) added four more, as No. 4 West Chester cruised to a 17-8 victory over Seton Hill in the semifinals of the 2022 PSAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament at Dick's Clothing & Sporting Goods on a rain-soaked Friday afternoon.
West Chester (16-1) advances to the PSAC Championship Game for the fourth straight year and will play East Stroudsburg (16-1) on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Warriors defeated Mercyhurst in the other semifinal. Seton Hill falls to 14-4 and will await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to see if its season will continue. They were ranked third in the last Atlantic Region poll. Mercyhurst was ranked fourth. The top four teams in the final rankings will qualify for the Atlantic Regional.
The Golden Rams got off to a fast start with three goals in the first three minutes.
Lindsay Monigle (Rehoboth Beach, Del./Cape Henlopen),
Meg O'Donnell (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) and Barnett got things going right away. Monigle finished with six points on the day (2G, 4A).
West Chester scored the first four goals of the game. Seton Hill responded with its first two tallies near the end of the first and looked like it was back in the contest. However, the Golden Rams opened the second quarter with six straight tallies to jump on top 10-2 and the rest was history.
The Purple & Gold dominated the faceoff circle and won the majority of the draws, including a 9-2 advantage in the second half that severely limited the Griffins' ability to try to mount a comeback. Draws were 18-11 overall in favor of West Chester.
"Winning draws was the key," West Chester head coach
Ginny Martino said. "Those first four or five in a row that we won at the beginning of the game got us off to a very good start."
Seton Hill scored a goal with four minutes left in the first half to draw within six (11-5) and that's how the game went into the break. Barnett made sure no momentum was gained by the hosts when she registered a natural hat trick out of the gate in the third with three unanswered goals in just over a three-minute span that made it a 14-5 contest.
WCU goalkeeper
Jessica Gorr (Exton, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) made 10 saves to pick up her 12th win of the season without a setback. Freshman
Kendall DiCamillo (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) and Barnett led the team with four caused turnovers each in front of Gorr at the defensive end.
"Collectively, our defense did a fantastic job shutting down their top scorer, Frank," Martino added. "I thought they did a pretty good job of keeping the ball out of her hands."
NOTES: West Chester advances to its 30th PSAC Championship Game ... WCU is 24-5 in the conference championship game ... head coach
Ginny Martino is 13-5 in the PSAC Championship Game ...
Keri Barnett now has 70 goals on the year, ranking her ninth on the school's single-season chart … it is the most goals by a freshman in school history and the most by any Golden Ram since Jackie Baker scored 89 in 2008 … Barnett also has 79 draw controls on the year and ranks fifth all-time in a single season at WCU …
Grace Frasso has 74 draw controls on the year and ranks tied for seventh in a single season at WCU …
Hannah Stanislawczyk has 69 goals on the year and is 10th all-time in a single season at WCU.
