WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) and
Lindsey Balmer (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) scored two goals each to help guide the 24
th-ranked West Chester University women's soccer team (8-1-3, 6-1-3) to a dominant 4-0 victory over Shippensburg (2-6-3, 1-6-3) on Saturday afternoon.
West Chester got out to an early lead when Matter scored just over a minute into the game to give the Golden Rams an early 1-0 lead.
In the 11
th minute, Balmer got her first goal of the game as the sophomore accepted a feed from
Kianna Barber (Browns Mills, N.J./BCIT) to give the hosts an early 2-0 lead.
Matter scored her second of the half in the 26
th minute off a well-placed pass from
Victoria Pungello (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) to give the Golden Rams a commanding 3-0 lead late in the first half.
West Chester ended the first half with a 12-3 lead in shots and a 7-0 lead in shots on goal, along with a 1-0 lead in corners.
Balmer scored her second of the day and fifth of the season in the 55
th minute when she capitalized on a Raider turnover and scored on a shot from the top of the box to give the Golden Rams a comfortable 4-0 lead early in the second half.
With a commanding lead, head coach
Betty Ann Kempf Townsley was able to turn to her bench in the second half, using 20 different players off the bench to finish off the victory, including senior keeper
Sam Hollish (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham), who entered in relief of
Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) and played the final 33 minutes without allowing a goal in the shutout victory.
Keen made one save to earn her eighth win of the season in 58 (57:15) minutes of action.
Playing its first game of the season as a ranked team, West Chester ended the afternoon with a 27-8 lead in shots, a 14-1 lead in shots on goal, and a 5-0 lead in corners.
Kirstin Brown played the first 64 minutes in goal and made seven saves for the Raiders, while Hannah Cline finished the match, making three saves in 27 minutes.
Before the game, West Chester honored the late Valerie Ackerman, the mother of Maggie, Carly, and the Golden Rams' #27
Lena Ackerman (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford), who passed away last winter after a courageous battle with kidney cancer.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action on Wednesday night at Kutztown, beginning at 7 p.m., before hosting Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 in the second game of a doubleheader on Rockwell Field.
