West Chester - 2009 PSAC Women's Soccer Champions
Kutztown-West Chester Box
What was a scoreless tie for nearly the first 70 minutes of the game turned into an exciting match in the last 20 minutes, as all three goals in the match were scored in that time span. West Chester scored its two goals just over five minutes apart and then withstood a furious Kutztown rally late in the game and held on for a 2-1 victory in the championship match of the PSAC Women's Soccer Tournament to claim their third PSAC championship in the last four years. The Golden Rams also won the PSAC title in 2006 and 2007.
West Chester likely wrapped up the top seed in the region in the upcoming NCAA Tournament by running their winning streak to 13 games and their unbeaten streak to 19. Lara Bodenstab made it 1-0 in favor of West Chester at the 69:18 mark off an assist by Jen Gangl, who assisted on both West Chester goals. Then, a little over five minutes later, Sarah Oswald tapped home a pass from Gangl from about three yards out to make it 2-0.
Kutztown cut the lead to one at the 88:47 mark as Stephanie Barnett put home a rebound that has been saved by WCU keeper Lyndsie Bernardini, but with just over a minute left, the Golden Rams were able to withstand any further scores and hold on for the victory.
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IUP-West Chester Box
West Chester 4, IUP 1
IUP scored the first goal of the game in the 15th minute as Allison Keller scored off an assist from Sarah Romasco, but West Chester came back just three and a half minutes later to tie the game as Tara Malkiewicz scored off a corner kick and the Golden Rams scored three more unanswered goals after that en route to a 4-1 win in the Friday's first semifinal to advance to the championship match of the PSAC Tournament.
Jen Hutchinson scored two goals for the Rams and Sarah Oswald assisted in three of West Chester's four tallies. Melissa McKeary scored the other WCU goal, which was the eventual game-winner, coming at the 24:21 mark, just under seven minutes after Malkiewicz's goal. Hutchinson scored both of her goals in the second half, just over five minutes apart to make a one-goal lead into a three-goal lead.
West Chester last won the PSAC Tournament in 2007.
Kutztown-California Box
Kutztown 1, California 0
An unassisted goal by Chelsea Bressler in the 67th minute accounted for the only goal of the game and negated a decided shot advantage by California as Kutztown upset the top seed out of the West in California 1-0 in Friday's second semifinal.
Kutztown had just four shots in the game, all in the second half, as Cal outshot the Golden Bears 12-4. However, the Vulcans were unable to create any corner kicks, and had just four shots in the second half. Kutztown keeper Alyssa Hackelberg made seven saves as the Bears advanced to their first PSAC championship game since 2005.
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West Chester, Pa. - The top seed out of the PSAC East, West Chester, will serve as the host for the 2009 PSAC Women's Soccer championship, which gets underway Friday with two semifinals matches, with the championship match scheduled for Saturday.
The top two seeds in each division held in Tuesday's quarterfinals, with West No. 1 seed California topping No. 4 Gannon and No. 2 IUP defeating No. 3 and defending tournament champion Mercyhurst. In the East, No. 1 West Chester topped No. 4 Bloomsburg while No. 2 Kutztown beat No. 3 East Stroudsburg.
Check back to psacsports.org later in the day on Friday for a complete recap of the day's two semifinal matches.
(W2) IUP vs. (E1) West Chester, 11:00 a.m.
(E2) Kutztown vs. (W1) California, 1:30 p.m.