LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) released its women's soccer preseason coaches' poll on Tuesday afternoon, and West Chester was picked to finish second in the East with one first-place vote.
Shepherd, who took the league by storm a year ago en route to a PSAC Tournament crown, was picked as the favorite to win the PSAC East once again with seven first-place votes, while Kutztown followed West Chester in third with the remaining first-place vote. Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg rounded out the top five. Millersville, Shippensburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield rounded out the Eastern Division.
In the Western Division, Gannon is the preseason favorite once again with seven first-place votes, while Slippery Rock was picked second with the remaining first-place vote. Indiana (Pa.), Seton Hill, and Pitt-Johnstown rounded out the top five, followed by California, Edinboro, and Clarion in sixth, seventh, and eighth.
West Chester, the 2022 and 2023 PSAC Tournament Champions, enter the 2025 season looking to return to the top of the PSAC and ensure that missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years is a one-time occurrence and not the beginning of a trend.
As always, the Golden Rams appear well-positioned to make a deep postseason run in 2025 as the team is expected to be led offensively by 2022 PSAC East Rookie of the Year, 2023 and 2024 PSAC East Player of the Year,
Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown). A year ago, Matter earned PSAC East Player of the Year honors for the second year in a row and her third major award after earning PSAC East Rookie of the Year honors in 2022. With this latest Player of the Year honor, Matter found herself in elite company as one of three players to accomplish this feat. Entering her senior season, second all-time at WCU in career assists (31), fifth in points (89), and sixth (29) in goals, Matter is chasing Mani Brueckner of Gannon for the chance to become the only other player to be a three-time Conference Player of the Year. In 2024, Matter led the Golden Rams in scoring with a team-high 11 assists and nine goals, which trailed only
Alyson Cutter, who turned in one of the most impressive senior seasons in recent memory, becoming the first Golden Ram to record two hat tricks in the span of three league games in the final weeks of the 2025 season.
West Chester returns a host of talented players all around the field, including a two-year starter in goal in
Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove), who the Golden Rams will look to see take the next step in her third year as a starter in 2025. Last season, Keen went 10-7-1 in goal with six shutouts and a 0.86 goals-against average. In just two seasons, Keen has already cracked the top-10 in both career wins and shutouts, moving into ninth in career wins last fall with 26, while her 17 shutouts are tied for eighth most in program history entering her junior season.
West Chester will open Preseason Camp next week ahead of their first game of the 2025 season on Thursday, September 4 on Rockwell Field against West Virginia State beginning at 3:30 p.m. When the Golden Rams open their season against the Yellow Jackets, the squad will be looking to improve to 20-0-4 in season openers dating back to 2001.
