WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a 1-0 setback at East Stroudsburg on Saturday afternoon, the West Chester University women's soccer team (2-2-0, 1-2-0) returned home on Wednesday to take on Millersville (2-1-1, 1-1-1) in search of its second PSAC win of the year. West Chester controlled possession throughout much of the match and ended the contest with a 17-6 lead in shots, but it was a seven-minute span early in the first half, which lifted Millersville to a 3-1 victory over the Golden Rams.
Millersville opened the scoring just under five minutes into the second half and added another goal two minutes later off a well-played through ball before scoring its third and final goal in the 57th minute via a header off a corner.
Today's setback is the Golden Rams largest defeat at the hands of the Marauders since 2018 when Millersville vanquished West Chester in Millersville by a 4-1 final.
In the 22nd minute, West Chester got perhaps its best chance of the first 25 minutes when
Alyson Cutter (Warrington, Pa./C.B. South) got around the Marauder defense thanks to a perfectly timed pass by
Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) but Millersville recovered well defensively to prevent Cutter from getting much on a shot. The ball slid out wide to
Victoria Pungello (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial), who played a cross into the box and found the head of Cutter, but the chance was deflected wide, going out for a corner.
West Chester was unable to score off this corner, allowing play to head the other way and keep things tied at 0-0 for a few more minutes.
West Chester continued to generate strong opportunities as the half progressed, including a shot that went high off the foot of
Jenna Fox (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) off a corner in the 42nd minute and another chance from
Lauren Reimold (Chester Springs, Pa./Downingtown East), which Millersville keeper Sabrina Zimmerman saved to keep things scoreless.
While West Chester ended the first half with a 6-2 lead in shots and a 3-1 lead in shots on goal, Millersville played well through the first half, using a high press to make it difficult for West Chester to escape its defensive half of the field throughout the first 45 minutes.
The Marauder press continued to cause problems for West Chester early in the second half, resulting in a goal in the 50th minute as Aubrey Strohecker took a touch from Aalivia Wainwright to give the Marauders a 1-0 lead.
The Marauders doubled their lead just two minutes when Isabel Coy took a pass from Strohecker to give the guests an early two-goal advantage.
The lead grew to 3-0 moments later after a Kiley Marandola header off a corner by Wainwright.
Suddenly facing its largest deficit since October 7 of last year when the team lost to ESU on the road by a 3-0 final, West Chester began pressuring the Millersville defense in search of a goal to avoid a shutout.
Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter) broke the shutout with a header goal off a free kick by Matter in the 82nd minute, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
The Golden Rams continued to pressure down the stretch. They had a few good chances but two shots by
Olivia Conroy (Toms River, N.J./Donovan Catholic) and Kianna Barber (Browns, N.J./Burlington County Institute of Technology) went high. A last chance by Haughey off a free kick was saved by Zimmerman to lift Millersville to the 3-1 road triumph.
Despite finding itself on the wrong end of the 3-1 final, West Chester ended the match with a 17-6 lead in shots, including an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal, while also finishing with a 14-5 lead in corner kicks, including a 10-5 lead in the second half.
Zimmerman was excellent in goal for Millersville, making seven terrific saves, while
Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) made one of her own in the setback.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday night at Mansfield beginning at 6 p.m.
