Fifth-Seed West Chester Blanks Fourth-Seeded ESU, 2-0, in NCAA Quarterfinals

PHOTO GALLERY

EAST STROUDSBURG, PA – Senior Ella Shockley (Delmar, Del./Delmar) and Allison Patel (Mickleton, N.J./Kingsway Regional) scored goals, and West Chester put on another defensive clinic to shut out host East Stroudsburg, 2-0, in the quarterfinals of the 2025 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Tournament at Whitenight Field Saturday afternoon.
 
West Chester (14-6) advances to the national semifinals for the eighth time since 2011 and first time since 2022 with the win over East Stroudsburg (16-5). The Golden Rams improved to 13-6 in the Division II Tournament with the win and will take on Newberry College (19-0) on Friday in Bloomsburg, Pa., at Steph Pettit Stadium on the campus of Bloomsburg University. The game will be a rematch of a regular-season encounter between the Golden Rams and Wolves, won by Newberry, 3-0, on Sept. 20.
 
"Everybody played extremely well today," 15th-year head coach Amy Cohen said afterwards. "We got a lock-down defensive performance from the backs, and the outside middies were just spectacular today. And, of course, (goalkeeper) Alina Burger (Koenigs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany) played awesome."
 
It didn't take long for the visiting Golden Rams to jump on top as Shockley scored off a penalty corner in the first three minutes of the contest. Erin O'Donnell (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) picked up an assist on the insert. That's when West Chester's defense kicked into high gear until the Golden Rams picked up an insurance tally in the final 10 minutes of the game.
 
"I think the key was our ability to play a calm, cool and collected game," junior Sofia Brown (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) commented afterwards. She was one of those outside middies that Coach Cohen was boasting about. "We played a possession game and worked the ball out of the back. We were able to connect on our passes and get the ball up field."
 
West Chester's defense yielded just three shots on goal in the entire game, and Burger (2-1) was able to steer all three of them aside – making one particularly spectacular save in the second half.
 
"Burger was great back there," Brown said. "Her communication is phenomenal. Everyone just pulled together today."
 
Patel picked up that insurance tally late in the contest off a rebound from a shot by Veerle Hersman (Lisse, The Netherlands).
 
West Chester held a 14-9 advantage on overall shots. Seven found the cage for the Golden Rams. East Stroudsburg goalkeeper, Sydney Pope, made five saves in the contest.
 
West Chester also showed a 10-6 margin in penalty corners on the afternoon.
 
The other quarterfinal round games saw top-seeded Newberry defeat eighth-seeded Bentley, 4-1, and third-seeded Shippensburg defeated sixth-seed Saint Anselm, 3-0. The other quarterfinal featured second-seeded Kutztown vs. seventh-seeded Assumption. That final was too late for print.
 
West Chester will play Newberry on Friday in one semifinal while Shippensburg takes on the Kutztown-Assumption winner in the other semifinal. The 2025 NCAA Division II National Championship Game will be played on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Steph Pettit Stadium.