LOCK HAVEN, PA – After a one-year hiatus from the postseason, West Chester University's field hockey squad returned to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament by virtue of finishing 12-6 overall and 5-4 in league play and receiving the fifth seed in the postseason.
West Chester (12-6, 5-4 PSAC) missed the conference tournament for the first time last season. However, head coach
Amy Cohen was determined to get her squad back to the postseason this time around. The Golden Rams will travel to Bloomsburg (14-4, 6-3) for a quarterfinal round match Monday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m.
Tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students in grades k-12, while PSAC students with valid, current ID will be admitted free of charge. PSAC passes will be honored but there will be no complimentary tickets. All ticket sales are also cashless and must be purchased via this
link. For fans unable to make the trip, live stats will be available
here with live video available
here.
West Chester will square off against Bloomsburg for the third time this season after defeating the HUkeis by a 2-1 final on Vonnie Gros Field early in September in non-league action before falling on the road by a 1-0 final back on October 1. In the first meeting between the two teams,
Veerle Hersman (Lisse, The Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Sassenheim) and
Ella Shockley (Delmar, Del./Delmar) scored a pair of first quarter goals and West Chester made this hold up, withstanding a late fourth-quarter surge by Bloomsburg, which saw the Huskies scored once and generate three penalty corners in the late stages of the contest. In the second meeting, Bloomsburg scored the lone goal of the game midway through the second quarter and made this tally stand up, finishing the game with a 9-8 lead in shots, including a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal.
West Chester enters play with a 17-4 lead all-time over Bloomsburg after falling to the Huskies for the first time since October 2012 earlier this season. West Chester has not faced Bloomsburg in the PSAC Tournament since October 2017 when West Chester posted a narrow 1-0 victory over Bloomsburg after a first-quarter Caitlin Kelly goal on a reverse chip from the top of the circle.
With her four goals at Frostburg State last night,
Jasmine Miller (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) extended her lead atop the team scoring chart, finishing the regular season with 20 goals and one assist for 41 points, while
Adriana Palumbo (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) and
Paige Wolfe (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) finished with 16 and 15 points each, scoring four goals each, while Palumbo has eight assists and Wolfe has seven of her own. Miller enters the postseason tied with Aydan McFarland of Bloomsburg for the league lead in goals with 20 each, averaging just over 1.1 goals per game, while Agus Garibaldi of Shippensburg is close behind with 16 goals of her own. McFarland leads the PSAC in points with 49 as she has also added nine assists, which is tied for the second most in the league, trailing only Jady Van Gils of East Stroudsburg, who leads the league with 10 helpers.
The goalie battle will also be one to watch on Monday night as West Chester and Bloomsburg boats two of the top keepers in the PSAC.
Ryan Curley (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) and Jackie Nevel of Bloomsburg rank second and third in the league in a number of categories, including goals against average (Curley - .879, Nevel - .947) and shutouts (Nevel – 7, Curley – 5) as they enter with records of 12-6-0 and 14-4-0, respectively.
A win in the quarterfinals would advance West Chester to the PSAC Semifinals, which will be held at Shippensburg University. The Raiders won the regular season title and the right to host the semifinals. East Stroudsburg finished second in the standings and earned the other bye to the semifinals. Mansfield will travel to Kutztown in the other quarterfinal round game on Monday. The two winners will join Shippensburg and ESU on the weekend in Shippensburg.
Fans unable to attend the quarterfinal at West Chester can catch all the action live on the PSAC Digital Sports Network. West Chester has won four PSAC Championships (2012, 2014, 2017, 2018) with the most recent coming six years ago with a 3-1 win over Shippensburg at home.
