WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a hard-fought loss to East Stroudsburg on Wednesday afternoon, the West Chester University men's soccer team (5-5-2, 2-3-1) has shifted its focus to an important battle against rival No. 13 Bloomsburg (6-0-6, 2-0-4) on Saturday afternoon on Rockwell Field. Kickoff against the 13
th-ranked and unbeaten Huskies is set for 12 p.m.
West Chester vs Bloomsburg
Match Details: October 25 I 12 P.M.
Location: Rockwell Field (West Chester, Pa.)
Series: 32-19-9
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Fan Advisory
Fans attending Saturday's game are advised to expect heavy traffic and to pay for parking ($10 – card only) due to the home football game across the street that is also set for a 12 p.m. kickoff against No. 4 Kutztown.
Last Time Out
West Chester returned home on Wednesday afternoon to take on East Stroudsburg in an important PSAC East clash on Rockwell Field. After earning a 1-0 victory over the Warriors on the road earlier this month, ESU returned the favor with an Ethan Flickinger goal midway through the second half to defeat the Golden Rams by a 1-0 final. East Stroudsburg ended the match with a 15-12 lead in shots and a 4-1 lead in shots on goal, despite West Chester finishing the match with a 6-2 lead in corners.
Alexi Amanatidis (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./The Shipley School) made his second consecutive start and third of the season, and made three saves in goal to slow the Warrior offense throughout the afternoon.
Flock Talk
Maksym Komperda (Whitehall, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) leads West Chester in scoring with five goals and one assist for 11 points while
Luke Newman (Mission Viejo, Cal./Santa Margarita Catholic) and
Owen Slack (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) are tied for second on the team in scoring with two goals and four assists for eight points on the season.
Peter Tichy (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom), who became the first Golden Ram to earn PSAC East Player of the Year honors since 2005 last fall, is third on the team in scoring with two goals and three assists for seven points.
In goal,
Jaden Howard (Townsend, Del./Middletown) started for much of the season and has a record of 4-4-1 with one shutout and a 1.78 goals-against average in 810 minutes of work. Amanatidis, who made his first start of the year in a road win over Southern Connecticut State, has started in each of the last two games. He is 0-1-1 in these games, allowing just one goal in each, resulting in a 1-1 draw with Shippensburg on Saturday and a 1-0 loss to ESU on Wednesday. Amanatidis has a 1.00 goals-against average and has made eight saves (.727 save percentage) in his 270 minutes of action.
The Playoff Picture
West Chester dealt its playoff chances a bit of a blow on Wednesday afternoon as the Golden Rams fell to East Stroudsburg by a 1-0 final to split the season series with the Warriors and move into fourth in the league standings. With four league games yet to be played, there is still ample time for West Chester to go on a run and punch its ticket back to the PSAC Tournament for the ninth season in a row. Millersville, who West Chester defeated earlier this season, defeated Shepherd by a 3-2 final in West Virginia yesterday to take a slim 13-10 lead over Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg in the league standings. Bloomsburg is tied with East Stroudsburg for second in the standings after playing to a scoreless draw with Shippensburg on Wednesday for its sixth draw of the season.
Know the Foe
For assistant coach Matt Goodall, Saturday's game will be against a very familiar foe for the Maryland native. Goodall, who joined West Chester after coaching at Goldey-Beacom College for the last few seasons, was a four-year starter for Bloomsburg on the backline during his collegiate career, which spanned from 2016 to 2019. Goodall scored a goal against West Chester during his time as a Husky, with that tally coming in September 2017.
Sibling Rivalry
Junior captain
Ian Alicea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) will match up against his older brother Braden at least two more times this season, as Braden, who has two assists on the year, is also a starting member of the Husky backline.
Series History
West Chester is 32-19-9 against Bloomsburg all-time after falling to the Huskies in Bloomsburg earlier this season. This setback marked the second year in a row in which Bloomsburg bested the Golden Rams at home, after defeating them in Bloomsburg for the first time since 2019 a season ago. Despite these two recent road losses to the Huskies, West Chester continues to hold steady control of the series on Rockwell Field, leading it 21-8-4. West Chester has not lost to Bloomsburg in West Chester since September 2011, which was part of a four-game winning streak for the Huskies over the Golden Rams. The closest Bloomsburg came to halting this winless streak in West Chester was in October 2023, when the Huskies scored a pair of early goals to take a 2-0 lead before West Chester roared back to earn a 2-2 Senior Day draw against its rivals.
Scouting Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg, the defending PSAC Tournament Champions, has climbed to 13
th in the latest United Soccer rankings as one of the few remaining unbeatens in Division II men's soccer. While the Huskies have yet to suffer a loss this season, they have played to draws in six games, including four conference draws. The Huskies enter play on Saturday after another draw —a second scoreless draw with Shippensburg —halting a two-game winning streak that had seen them defeat Roberts Wesleyan (1-0) on October 15 and Shepherd (3-1) on Saturday afternoon.
Yesterday's result was not for lack of chances for the Huskies, as Bloomsburg outshot its guests by a 12-4 margin and held a 7-1 lead in corners, but only two of the 12 shots found their way on target, and Ryan Krumenacker handled both as the Raiders returned home with another draw.
The Husky offense has been less than prolific this season, scoring just 13 goals on the year, but the defense has been even better, limiting teams to just four goals through 12 games. Jake Pacacha leads the team in scoring with three goals and an assist for seven points, while Sam Blumberger (two goals/two assists) and Caleb Sitler(three goals) are second on the team in scoring with six points. Peter Punchello has been a star for Bloomsburg this fall, posting a record of 5-0-6 with a 0.36 goals-against average and 24 saves (.857 save percentage) to keep his side unbeaten.
Up Next
Saturday is West Chester's final October home game as the team will head to East leading Millersville next Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. start before visiting Shepherd on November 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. West Chester has three home games remaining on its calendar, including Saturday as the team will conclude its regular season with home games on November 3 and 6 against Holy Family (2 P.M.) and Shippensburg (1 P.M.).
