KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- West Chester is where Kutztown aspires to be, currently sitting at the top of the IWLCA Division II national rankings. The upstart Golden Bears got their first shot at No. 1, Wednesday, but a six-goal spurt spanning the late second and early third quarters broke the game open for the Golden Rams in a 19-8 PSAC East victory at Keystone Field.
KU is off to a fantastic start this season under second-year head coach
Kristen Nicholson, having won six of its first eight games to squarely enter the postseason discussion. There's still work to be done, however, as the Bears found out against the powerful and unbeaten Golden Rams.
West Chester (9-0, 5-0 PSAC East) scored the game's first four goals and never trailed, using their speedy offense and smothering defense to control the pace at both ends of the field.
Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) broke through for Kutztown's (6-2, 3-1 PSAC East) first goal at the 5:39 mark of the first quarter, but the Golden Rams responded with two goals in the final 71 seconds of the quarter to extend their lead to 6-1.
The two teams traded goals during the first half of the second.
Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) scored off a great pass from
Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) at 12:20, before setting up a
Morgan Hurd (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) goal at 10:39. When Graf collected the rebound of a
Katie Yocum (Hanover, Pa./South Western) free position attempt and fired it past WCU goalie Jessica Gorr with 6:38 to go, the Bears still trailed by just four, 8-4.
West Chester ended the half on a 5-0 run, however, opening its lead to 13-4 to seize control. Keri Barnett, Hannah Stanislawczyk and Lindsay Monigle all contributed goals during the run. Together the trio combined for 15 of West Chester's 18 goals on the afternoon.
Monigle added a player-up goal at 8:25 of the third to make it 14-4 WCU. Kutztown fought back to within eight on goals from ElBouazzaoui and Graf as the third quarter wound down, but the Golden Rams flexed their muscle and netted the next five to make it 19-6 midway through the fourth.
Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) (player-down) and
Kayla Brooks (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) rounded out the scoring for KU in the fourth, with Meakim assisting on both goals.
Meakim, who went over 100 points for her career in last Wednesday's win at Bloomsburg, became the program's single-season assist leader with three more against the Golden Rams. She moved past Kim Irvine (29 assists in 1988) with her second helper of the day and now has 31 in just eight games. The Hatboro, Pa., native is also up to 53 assists in her career, two shy of Irvine for second all-time and four back of career leader Sarah Gabriele.
Graf led the Golden Bears with four points (three goals, assist) against WCU and the sophomore is now just two points shy of 100 in 25 career games. Graf also had a game-high six draw controls. ElBouazzaoui joined Graf and Meakim with a three-point effort behind two goals and an assist.
Monigle paced the Golden Rams with eight points on four goals and four assists. Barnett added six goals and an assist, and Stanislawczyk had five goals.
Gorr was also a difference maker in goal for West Chester, turning aside 14 shots. Shots in the game favored the visitors by two, 31-29, and KU won the turnover battle with 14 to WCU's 17. Draw controls favored the Golden Rams, 18-13.
Kutztown will look to get back into the win column and honor its 2023 senior class when it faces Millersville at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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