GARDEN CITY, NY –
Sydney Wasdick (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) scored a game-high five goals and finished with eight points to lead 10th-ranked West Chester to a 16-15 road win over No. 13 Adelphi at Motamed Field Saturday.
West Chester (1-1) earned its first career win over Adelphi (0-3) in five tries while sending the host Panthers to their third straight loss for the first time since the turn of the century. But it was not without its tense moments.
Adelphi opened the fourth quarter with a three-goal run to take its first lead of the game, 15-14, since scoring the first tally of the contest. However, West Chester blanked the hosts over the final 11:36 while converting a pair of free positions by
Kendall Fortune (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) in the final eight minutes to close out the victory. Fortune's free positions ended nearly a nine-minute scoring drought that helped the hosts crawl back into the contest.
After Adelphi opened the scoring 49 seconds into the contest, West Chester managed to score five of the next six markers to take a 5-2 lead after one period. Freshman attacker,
Marissa Herring (Landenberg, Pa./Kennett Square) was responsible for two of those goals. She finished the day with a hat trick and an assist.
A pair of 3-0 runs in the second quarter powered West Chester to a 12-7 advantage at halftime. Golden Rams keeper,
Morgan Koons (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) was outstanding over the first 30 minutes making six saves in the first quarter alone to backstop the purple & gold to a four-goal lead at one point. Koons finished with a career-high 11 saves as West Chester evened its record on the season. Wasdick was instrumental in both three-goal outbursts putting up three of her game-high five tallies in those stretches.
Madeline Edinger (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) had a hat trick by halftime and finished with four goals and five points on the afternoon.
The second half saw the Golden Rams playing back on their heels a bit as the Panthers dictated the pace out of the locker room. However, West Chester collected itself late in the fourth quarter when it mattered most, capitalizing on a pair of fouls inside the eight-meter arc and causing four turnovers in the final five minutes to come away with a huge road win.
Wasdick added 11 draw controls to her eight-point afternoon while
Lila McMahon-Skates (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) scored a goal and assisted on three others for four points. Freshman
Ava Sheeran (Linwood, N.J./Mainland Regional) scored the Golden Rams' other goal on the afternoon.
West Chester heads to Millersville next Wednesday at 4 p.m. for its conference opener at Biemesderfer Stadium.
