West Chester vs Millersville
Game Details: Wednesday, March 19 I 4 P.M.
Location: Vonnie Gros Field (West Chester, Pa.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Video
Series: 57-1 (W49)
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
VILLE Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester overcame a slow start on Sunday afternoon to roll to a 22-7 victory over Shippensburg and remain unbeaten in PSAC East play. Shippensburg jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and held an advantage over West Chester for nearly the first 11 minutes, which was the longest the Golden Rams had trailed all season. Once the Golden Rams tied the game at 2-2, it was off to the races as the team scored eight of the next nine goals to take a 10-3 lead late in the half and led by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter in the 15-goal victory.
Keri Barnett (Glenolden, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) led the team in scoring with five goals and one assist, while Kendall Fortune (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) added four goals and an assist. Sydney Wasdick (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) and Lila McMahon Skates (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) scored four and three goals, respectively. Morgan Koons (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) got her first start in goal and made five saves while allowing seven goals for her second victory in as many games.
West Chester ended the game with a 45-15 lead in shots and a 35-12 lead in shots on goal while also finishing the contest with a 17-15 lead in draw controls and a 24-14 lead in ground balls. The Golden Rams were just 3-for-10 on free positions, as the majority of their goals came during the run of play on Sunday afternoon. Wasdick led West Chester in draw controls with nine while Piper Hammond (Tucson, Ariz./Southridge) scooped a team-best four ground balls, tying with Koons for the team lead in GBs. The Golden Rams were also a perfect 19-for-19 on clear attempts, while Shippensburg was 14-of-19 on its clear attempts.
Flock Talk
After her five goals on Sunday, Barnett remains first on the team in scoring with 30 goals and eight assists for 38 points on the season. Barnett is second in the PSAC in goals on the year and second in the league in goals per game, averaging 5.00, while also coming away with 24 draw controls and nine ground balls, along with 18 caused turnovers. Hammond is first in ground balls with 17. Fortune is second on the team in scoring with 18 goals and eight assists for 26 points, while Wasdick is third with 17 goals on the season while also leading in draw controls with 29. Madeline Edinger (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) and McMahon Skates have also provided good depth for head coach Ginny Martino’s squad this year, scoring seven and 11 goals, respectively, along with five and seven assists for 10 and 18 points on the year.
West Chester is 24-for-46 (52.2 %) on free positions this year, while opponents are just 7-for-14 through six games. The Golden Rams also hold a 147-97 lead in ground balls, a 125-83 lead in turnovers (84-44 in caused turnovers), and a 104-75 lead in draw controls. West Chester is also 107-for-118 (90.7 %) on its clear attempts, while the defense holds opponents to a 70.2 % (80-of-114) success rate.
Filling The Shoes
Koons and Hannah Cornelius (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) have done an admirable job filling the void left by the graduation of multiple-time All-American Jessica Gorr. Cornelius is 4-0 with an 8.11 goals-against average after earning the start in the first five games of the season. Koons earned her first win in relief of Cornelius vs ESU last Wednesday evening and got her first start and complete-game win against Shippensburg on Sunday. Cornelius is now 2-0 in goal with a 7.16 goals-against average.
Rank and File
West Chester remained third in the latest Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll this week while climbing to third in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Top-20 poll after a two-week residency in fourth.
We Are Honored
Keri Barnett (Glenolden, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season after a pair of great games a week ago.
Home Sweet Home
West Chester is 6-0 overall and 2-0 in league play to open the season, with all six victories coming on Vonnie Gros Field. The Golden Rams have two more home games in the next two weeks to conclude their eight-game homestand before venturing out on the road for the first time in 2025 with a visit to Shepherd on March 29.
Flexing the Muscle
West Chester is outscoring opponents 115-46 through the first six games of the year, including a 39-21 advantage in league play.
Series History
West Chester is 57-1 all-time against Millersville and is currently riding a 49-game winning streak against the Marauders. West Chester has not lost to Millersville since 1989 and outscored the Marauders 39-16 over the two games a year ago, winning the first meeting 21-8 and the second 18-8.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville (5-1, 1-0) enters play following a 17-12 loss against New Haven last Wednesday afternoon, which saw the 22nd-ranked Chargers storm out to an early 6-1 lead and ride this advantage to a 17-12 victory. Ashlyn Simonetti and Rachel Keeney led the Marauders in scoring with four and three goals each as two of five Millersville players to score in the loss. KC O’Neill suffered her first loss of the season in goal despite making nine saves to slow her nationally-ranked guests.
Millersville is 1-0 in league play after posting a dominant 21-10 victory over Bloomsburg in its PSAC East opener at home on March 8. In this victory, Simonetti and Keeney led the team in scoring once again, with five and four goals, respectively. Mary Moraca and Kaleigh Funk each added three in the victory, which saw the Marauders outscore their guests 13-6 in the second half to open up a tight 8-4 game at the midway point. O’Neill made nine saves in 55 minutes to earn the win, and McKenna Billie made one stop of her own in the final five minutes.
Wednesday afternoon will be Millersville’s first road game since a 10-9 road win over Indiana (Pa.) back on March 1, but the road is not totally foreign to the Marauders as they are 2-0 away from home, including a 21-0 win over Caldwell on February 26.
Offensively, Funk leads the team in scoring with 16 goals and 10 assists, while Keeney is second with 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points of her own. Keeney is one of three Marauders with 15 goals as Moracca and Simonetti have both scored 15 and added four assists for 19 points on the year. Defensively, O’Neill has been the starter between the pipes throughout the season, playing to a record of 5-1 with a 9.58 goals-against average and 38 saves (43.2 % save percentage) in 314 minutes of action.
As a team, Millersville is outscoring opponents 93-53 through its first six games with 12 of those 93 goals coming on free positions as the Marauders are 12-for-29 (41.4 %) on free-position attempts. Millersville also holds a 122-112 lead in ground balls, a 105-82 lead in turnovers (71-41 in caused turnovers), and a 100-66 lead in draw controls. Millersville is 86-for-100 (86.0 %) on its clear attempts this year while holding opponents to just 77.0 % (77-of-100) through six games.
