Women's Soccer Ranked 12th in Final United Soccer Coaches Poll of 2023 Season
Full Rankings
KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The United Soccer Coaches Association released its final Division II women's soccer coaches poll of the season on Tuesday afternoon, and West Chester (16-3-4) ended the year ranked 12th in Division II after making its sixth Atlantic Regional Championship game appearance in the last seven years in 2023.
West Chester was the second of two PSAC teams ranked in the final United Soccer poll of the season, trailing only Atlantic Region Champion Gannon, who was ranked fifth. National Champion, Point Loma Nazarene (17-3-1), was ranked first in the poll, followed by national runner-up Washburn (21-4-1) in second, Florida Tech (17-3-3) in third, Adelphi in fourth (15-4-5) and Gannon (17-5-3) in fifth to round out the top five. Colorado-Colorado Springs (15-5-3) checked in sixth, with Grand Valley State (14-4-6) in seventh, while Lenoir Rhyne (16-1-5), The College of St. Rose (20-0-2), and Ashland (19-1-4) rounding out the top 10.
West Chester ended its 2023 season with a record of 16-3-4, falling to PSAC rival Gannon, who ended the year ranked fifth in Division II on PKs by a 5-4 final after playing to a 1-1 draw against the Golden Knights in the Atlantic Region Final. Prior to this, West Chester captured its second consecutive PSAC Tournament Title with a 2-1 victory over Gannon, hoisting the Championship trophy for the sixth time in program history.
West Chester entered the NCAA Tournament as the fourth seed in the Atlantic Region and logged a pair of shutouts to open the Tournament, defeating Frostburg State by a 1-0 final before downing top-seed Kutztown by a 1-0 final in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, setting up the PSAC Championship game rematch with Gannon on the first Friday in December.
The Golden Rams saw five players earn United Soccer All-Atlantic Region honors in 2023 as Kaitlynn Haughey (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter), Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) earned First Team honors, while Jacqueline Graham (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North), Julia Raybold (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown), and Alyson Cutter (Warrington, Pa./C.B. South) secured Second Team honors. Haughey and Matter later earned United Soccer All-American recognition as Matter was a First Team All-American for the first time in her career, while Haughey was a Third Team All-American in 2023.
Matter ended the year as the team leader in scoring with 12 goals and 11 assists, finishing the year with 35 points, which is the eighth most in single-season team history. This effort also moved the sophomore forward into a tie for 10th in program history in career points, finishing the year with 58 career points. Haughey, the MVP of the PSAC Championships, finished the year fourth on the team in points with five goals and three assists to her credit, while Cutter was second with eight goals and four assists, and Jacqueline Hug (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) was third with three goals and eight assists on the year.
In goal, Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) turned in an excellent rookie season, finishing the year with a record of 16-3-4 with 12 shutouts and a 0.73 goals-against average with 101 saves to her name.
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