SHIPPENSBURG, PA – No. 11 West Chester overcame a slow start and erupted during a dominant second half to claim a 21–9 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division victory over Shippensburg Tuesday afternoon at Robb Sports Complex.
Shippensburg (4-7, 1-5 PSAC East) jumped out to an early 5-4 lead after the first 15 minutes. West Chester's offense came alive in the second quarter, however, scoring five unanswered goals to seize control before the half. From there, the Golden Rams (9-2. 5-1) never looked back, outscoring the host Raiders, 12-3, over the final two frames to walk away with the conference win.
Marissa Herring (Landenberg, Pa./Kennett Square) scored a team-high five goals in the win.
Sydney Wasdick (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) tallied four times while
Lila McMahon-Skates (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) finished with a team-best nine points (4G, 5A).
Trailing 5-4 after one, Shippensburg opened the second quarter with another marker to equal its largest advantage of the game at 6-4. That is when West Chester went on a five-goal run on the strength of two player-up goals on the same yellow card in the final 90 seconds of the half to take the lead for good. McMahon-Skates book-ended the spurt with goals from
Ava Sheeran (Linwood, N.J./Mainland Regional),
Kendall Fortune (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) and
Avery Roberts (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) to lead 9-6 at halftime.
Shippensburg opened the second half with a goal to pull within two. However, West Chester strung together six unanswered tallies to open up some breathing room at 15-7. McMahon-Skates scored two in that cluster as well while Herring notched a pair and
Audrey Miller (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and Fortune each scored.
After Shippensburg tallied again for just its second goal of the third quarter, Wasdick scored all four of her goals consecutively to give the Golden Rams a 19-8 lead.
Sophomore transfer goalkeeper
Korrigan Sweeney (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) made 12 saves to pick up the win in her first start in the purple and gold.
West Chester returns home on Saturday to welcome in Millersville for a 1 p.m. PSAC East battle.
