No. 5 West Chester Heads to No. 10 Mansfield Wednesday

WEST CHESTER at MANSFIELD
Game Details: 3:00 p.m. | Wednesday, Sep. 25
Location: Mansfield, Pa. | Karl van Norman Field
Game Links: Watch | Live Stats

GOLDEN RAMS HEADS TO MANSFIELD FOR NON-CONFERENCE TILT
• West Chester (5-2), the newly anointed No. 5 team in the weekly NFHCA Division II poll, heads to North-Central PA to take on 10th-ranked Mansfield University in a non-conference affair Wednesday afternoon at Karl van Norman Field.
• West Chester is coming off an impressive 4-1 win over Indiana (Pa.) at home on Sunday that concluded a four-game homestand and a stretch that has seen the Golden Rams play six of their first seven games at Vonnie Gros Field. This is just their second road contest of the season. The Purple & Gold fell behind early in that encounter with IUP, but tied things up before halftime and used a strong second half to walk away with the win.
• West Chester will return home on Saturday where it will celebrate its senior class on Senior Day in a brief ceremony before the game.  

ABOUT MANSFIELD
• Mansfield (4-2) nearly upset undefeated Newberry College its last time out. However, the Wolves scored twice in the  final seven minutes of the game to erase a two-goal deficit and force overtime. After a scoreless extra session, Newberry emerged victorious in a shootout to take the 3-2 win. Mansfield's Sophia Vadnais recorded a defensive save near the end of the overtime to keep the Mountaineers alive. Unfortunately, the Mounties missed all four of their 1-on-1 attempts against Newberry's goalkeeper.
• Wednesday marks Mansfield's home opener following six road contests to lift the lid on the 2024 campaign. Jenna Duke leads the team in scoring with 10 points (4G, 2A) while Melanie Esh and the aforementioned, Vadnais, each have a pair of goals on the season. August Lewis has played all 380 minutes in goal and has a goals-against average just under 1.00.
 
THE GOLDEN RAMS vs THE MOUNTIES OVER THE YEARS
• West Chester is a perfect 15-0 against Mansfield in a rivalry that dates back to 2011 when the Golden Rams reclassified to Division II. West Chester is also 7-0 at Karl van Norman Field all-time.
• Though the Mounties are looking for their first win against the Golden Rams, they have been knocking on the door several times recently. West Chester escaped with an overtime win a year ago at Vonnie Gros Field while two of the last three finals have been one-goal affairs. The other was the last meeting between the two schools a year ago that ended 3-1 in favor of WCU.