WEST CHESTER, PA – Host West Chester came back from three goals down and later from two goals behind to stun visiting Millersville, 5-4, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) field hockey contest at Vonnie Gros Field Wednesday.
West Chester (7-2, 2-0 PSAC) remained unbeaten in conference play after engineering the largest comeback victory since the school made the transition to Division II in 2011. Millersville (4-4, 1-1) dropped its first conference game of the year with the setback.
"That was probably one of the best wins I've had here in 15 years," West Chester head coach
Amy Cohen said afterwards. "I don't ever remember winning after being down two goals, let alone three, and then giving up that fourth goal."
Millersville came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the contest. Faith Bollinger tapped in a shot on the goal line off a feed from Emma Ruley 50 seconds into the tilt. Alex Kern then scored the first of her three tallies in the game eight minutes later to double the Marauders' lead. Her second of the night 40 seconds into the second quarter gave the visitors what seemed to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead and chased West Chester starting goalkeeper
Audra Szymborski (Furlong, Pa./Central Bucks East).
"It's a true testament to this team," Cohen added. "They never quit on each other. Relentless – the word on the back of their warmup shirts is the only thing that comes to mind."
Cohen pulled Szymborski, who had been anointed the NFHCA national defender of the week earlier in the day, in favor of junior
Alina Burger (Koenigs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany) looking to give the team the spark it needed.
"Alina did a great job settling things down," Cohen said. "This team is mentally fit. That win was true grit."
Burger was named the player of the game by the coaching staff afterwards for the job she did in the second quarter to keep Millersville at bay while the Golden Rams mounted their comeback.
Senior
Caitlynn Szarko (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) finally got the home team on the board when she banged home a rebound in the 19th minute.
Erin O'Donnell (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) shaved the deficit down to one nine minutes later, and the home crowd started to sense something special brewing in the air.
But, when Kern finished off her hat trick with 1:19 left in the first half, it seemed the Marauders had weathered the storm. That's when West Chester's
Sofia Brown (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) scored with 31 seconds left in the half to breathe new life into the hosts and send them to the break with the momentum pendulum swinging in their favor.
Cohen started the second half with her 11 starters on the field – that included goalkeeper
Audra Szymborski.
"I just had to calm down a little bit," Szymborski said. "I know that Alina is more than prepared. I just had to go back in there after my 'reset' and start communicating better. We worked together, we played together, and we won together."
"Audra just needed to come out and take a breath," Cohen described of her decision to go back to her starter in the second half. "We needed Alina to go in there and do what she did. Alina is a wonderful leader, and she did what we needed her to do in that moment."
Veerle Hersman (Lisse, the Netherlands) scored her team-leading eighth goal of the year off a penalty corner in the 35th minute, and
Nina Scott (Schwenksville, PA Spring-ford) tipped in a long blast from Brown right in front in the 55th minute to give the Golden Rams their first lead of the game and close out the scoring.
It marked the most goals allowed in a win by West Chester since the season opener in 2016 against Limestone College – another 5-4 triumph for the Golden Rams.
Hersman, Szarko, Scott and Brown each scored a goal and registered an assist. Millersville got the hat trick from Kern and led for all but 6 minutes, 35 seconds in the game but could not close out the win.
Szymborski made two saves and improved to 7-2 on the year in the cage while Burger made one save in the win. Millersville starter Sarah Crysler made five saves before being pulled at halftime. Addy Arkhurst made three saves, but fell to 0-2 on the year in the cage.
West Chester will need some more of that grit on Saturday when the Golden Rams travel to top-ranked and undefeated Shippensburg for a very important early-season conference showdown at Robb Sports Complex at 1 p.m.
