WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown Area) scored a goal off a corner and assisted on another to lift the West Chester University women's soccer team (7-3-1, 7-3-0) to a 3-0 victory over Shippensburg (1-10-0, 1-8-0) on Wednesday afternoon.
Matter scored the game's first goal in the 31
st minute, scoring on a corner kick, which arced over the outstretched hand of Shippensburg keeper Morgan Molyneaux, giving the Golden Rams an early 1-0 lead.
This early advantage came after an intense stretch earlier in the first half, which saw Molyneaux make a pair of saves in the 19
th minute before a final chance by
Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter) went wide to keep things scoreless early.
In the 44
th minute, West Chester doubled its lead when Matter sent a pass through the middle to the feet of
Kelli Collins (Lawrenceville, N.J./The Pennington School), who took a perfect shot from the top of the box past a diving keeper to make the score 2-0 heading into the halftime break.
At the half, West Chester held a 9-2 lead in shots and a 4-0 lead in corner kicks after controlling possession for much of the first 45 minutes of action.
Just a few minutes into the second half, West Chester extended its lead one goal further when
Alyson Cutter (Warrington, Pa./C.B. South) notched her fifth goal of the season on an assist from
Kiley Kergides (Rydal, Pa./Germantown Academy) and
Mia Amen (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) after a nice display of passing immediately following a Golden Ram corner.
In the 57
th minute, Shippensburg nearly cut the lead in half following a corner of its own, knocking the ball around in the box, but the West Chester defense cleared it away to keep the visitors scoreless.
Shippensburg generated two more strong chances in the 83
rd and 86
th minutes, but
Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) was equal to the task both times, making a pair of saves to keep things scoreless.
West Chester ended the game with a 15-5 lead in shots, including a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal, to go along with a 7-1 lead in corner kicks. Keen ended her day with five saves, making two in the first half and three more in the second half to keep the Raiders off the scoreboard, while her counterpart, Molyneaux, made seven big saves to slow the dangerous West Chester offense.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. on what will also be Senior Day for the Golden Rams. Fans are encouraged to arrive early as heavy traffic is expected, with football also kicking off across the street at 12 p.m.
