West Chester at Shippensburg
Game Details: September 25 I 6:30 p.m.
Location: David See Field (Shippensburg, Pa.)
Links: LIVE STATS I VIDEO
Series: 31-10-6
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
SHIP Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester bounced back from a disheartening loss at Mercy in non-league action last Wednesday in a big way with a dominant wire-to-wire victory over Bloomsburg at home to open PSAC East play on Saturday afternoon. PSAC East Athlete of the Week, Peter Tichy (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom), opened the scoring just over 13 minutes into the match before Maksym Komperda (Whitehall, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) stretched the lead to 2-0 with a stellar goal of his own just two minutes later. Bloomsburg cut the West Chester lead in half just before the halftime break, but Tichy scored again just under three minutes into the second half off an assist from Komperda to make it a 3-1 West Chester lead. Alex Fedor (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) extended the lead to 4-1 a few minutes later, and while Bloomsburg scored once more in the 57th minute, it was not enough to come from behind and top the Golden Rams. West Chester ended the game with a 6-5 lead in shots on goal, and Alexi Amanatidis (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./The Shipley School) made three solid saves in the victory.
Restart the Streak
After seeing its season-opening winning and unbeaten streak snapped last Wednesday afternoon, West Chester successfully avoided a losing streak with its win on Saturday and will look to spark a winning streak on Wednesday night with a road win over Shippensburg.
Road Warriors
West Chester has looked almost as comfortable away from home as it has on Rockwell Field this year, playing to a mark of 2-0-1 at home and 2-1-0 on the road, including a 5-0 win over Holy Family and a 4-2 win over Wilmington. With Saturday’s victory, the Holy Family win remains West Chester's top-scoring output of the year, while Wilmington is now tied with Bloomsburg for the second-best.
We Are Honored… Again
For the second time in three weeks, the West Chester University men’s soccer team has earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors. Komperda was the first Golden Ram honored, receiving this recognition after scoring a pair of goals in the first week of the season, while Tichy became the latest honoree on Monday afternoon.
My Turn
West Chester has employed a two-goalkeeper system to great success this year as Amanatidis and Jaden Howard (Townsend, Del./Middletown) have split time in goal. Amanatidis is 2-0-1 on the year with a 1.67 goals-against average, while Howard is 2-1-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average.
Series History
West Chester holds a 31-10-6 lead in the series vs Shippensburg, dating back to October 1984. The Golden Rams split the season series vs the Raiders a year ago, falling in a 2-1 stunner on Rockwell Field for the team’s first loss against Shippensburg since the 2011 season. West Chester is 14-6-4 against Shippensburg on the road and 29-6-5 against them in PSAC regular season games. The Golden Rams have not fallen to Shippensburg in Shippensburg since that October 2011 loss, although the Golden Rams have played to a draw on the road against the Raiders twice since that setback.
Scouting Shippensburg
Today is the middle game of a three-game homestand for Shippensburg that began on Saturday afternoon when the Raiders played their first home game of the 2024 season after being on the road for the first two weeks. Shippensburg opened its season with a 3-0 win over Chestnut Hill but has hit tough times since, falling to Jefferson and Millersville by 3-0 finals on the road and Slippery Rock by a 5-1 final in its home opener on Saturday.
Luca Heusser leads Shippensburg offensively, entering play with three points (one goal and one assist). Heusser is one of four Shippensburg players to score a goal in 2024, with each of the four notching one so far. Ryan Krumenacker remains the starting keeper for the Raiders, playing to a mark of 1-3-0 in goal with a 2.75 goals-against average and 70.3 % save percentage.
