WEST CHESTER, Pa.-Julia Raybold (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) scored the first goal of the game midway through the first half, and the West Chester University women's soccer team (10-3-2, 10-3-1) never looked back en route to an impressive 3-0 victory over rival Bloomsburg (6-5-5, 6-4-4) on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm so excited for this team and proud of what we accomplished today," opened head coach
Betty Ann Kempf Townsley when asked about the victory. "Today was another big step for us, and I think we did a great job as an entire unit to earn the victory."
Kempf Townsley was also highly complimentary of the efforts of
Olivia Conroy (Toms River, N.J./Donovan Catholic), who filled an essential role in the back for West Chester today, saying, "We are in a position right now where we are certainly a bit banged up late in the year, but we have people continuing to step up and fill big roles for us, today is was Conroy who did a tremendous job for us in the victory."
With this victory, West Chester strengthens its grasp on second place in the Eastern Division entering the final week of the season, getting to 31 points on the year, which is enough for a four-point lead over East Stroudsburg, pending the outcome of the Warriors game at Shippensburg later today.
"Today's win was huge and a long time coming for us," acknowledged Raybold. "Earlier in the year, we struggled a little bit up top with finishing our chances, and I thought we did a great job of that today. This win was truly a full-team effort all over the field, and Bloomsburg is a great team, so this win feels even better."
Bloomsburg applied early pressure through the first 10 minutes of play, getting an early corner chance, which led to a pair of goal-line clearances for the Golden Rams, which kept things scoreless early.
West Chester began mounting a counterattack, which eventually led to an early goal by
Julia Raybold (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) on a ball that had leaked its way out of the box, giving the Golden Rams the early 1-0 lead.
When asked about the game-winning goal, Raybold said, "I saw the ball clear out, and the defender in front of me couldn't fully control it, so I was able to get my foot to it, saw an opportunity, went for it, and it paid off," explained one of the Golden Rams senior captains.
After this goal in the 27
th minute, West Chester doubled its lead just 10 minutes later when
Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) scored her team-best seventh goal of the year off a long pass from midfield off the foot of
Jacqueline Hug (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) giving the Golden Rams a 2-0 lead before the halftime break.
At the half, West Chester held a narrow 7-6 lead in shots and a 4-2 lead in shots on goal despite trailing 2-0 in corner kicks at the end of the first 45 minutes of action.
Just two minutes into the second half, Bloomsburg sent a dangerous cross into the box and eventually got a shot from just outside the box off the foot of Alivia Gallardo, but the chance went high to keep the Huskies off the scoreboard.
Bloomsburg continued to apply pressure, but West Chester was first to find the back of the net once again;
Olivia Conroy (Toms River, N.J./Donovan Catholic) sent a beautiful cross into the box, which found the head of
Alyson Cutter (Warrington, Pa./C.B. South), extending the lead to 3-0 in favor of the Golden Rams in the 63
rd minute of action.
Following this goal, which gave the Golden Rams a commanding lead late, Bloomsburg continued to apply pressure to the West Chester defense, but
Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) and company were equal to the task, keeping the Huskies off the scoreboard for their fourth clean sheet of the month and eighth of the season.
When asked about picking up her fourth shutout of the month and eighth of the season, Keen said," I've certainly gotten more comfortable as the season has gone on. I started the year a bit nervous and maybe a little shy, but I think I've started to come out of my shell more and more and have been playing the way that I know I can."
Keen also quickly acknowledged the talent on her backline, saying, "We've had some changes with injuries as the year has progressed, but I think we play extremely well together back there. Carley (
Carley Slavin (Abington, Pa./Abington) does a great job in the middle being vocal and helping to get things cleared out, and
Jacqueline Graham (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) is so fast, she gets to so many balls for us as well," finished Keen.
West Chester ended the contest with an 8-3 lead in shots, while the Huskies finished the matchup with a slim 14-13 edge in shots overall to go along with a 4-0 advantage in corners, earning two in each half.
Keen registered three saves in the victory, while her counterparts, Riley Spingler and Julia Wilbekaitis, finished the game with two and three saves, respectively.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Tuesday in its regular season home finale against Millersville, beginning at 1 p.m.
