No. 2 West Chester Resilient in Come-From-Behind Win Over No. 11 ESU
WEST CHESTER, PA – West Chester trailed early and often in this battle between Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titans, but stuck with its game plan and rode All-America midfielder, Hannah Stanislawczyk (Mohnton, Pa./Gov. Mifflin), to a 13-9 victory over East Stroudsburg at Vonnie Gros Field Wednesday.
West Chester (14-0, 9-0 PSAC East), currently leading the Eastern Division, clinched a playoff spot in the upcoming PSAC postseason tournament next month. East Stroudsburg (9-5, 5-4) remains in third place and in the final playoff slot heading into the weekend and what will be the final week of the season next week.
Trailing by a goal at halftime, visiting East Stroudsburg opened the third quarter with a three-goal spurt to take a 7-5 lead five minutes in. That's when Stanislawczyk put the rest of the Golden Rams on her back and took control of the game. She scored five straight goals, allowing the hosts to open up a 10-7 lead, its largest of the contest to that point, and the Rams never trailed again.
ESU's Paige Moreland ended the run with a player-down goal early in the fourth quarter. But, West Chester's Sydney Wasdick (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) and Kendall Fortune (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) tallied back-to-back to push the lead back to four, 12-8.
Stanislawczyk scored six goals and finished with eight points to move into the Top 10 in goals scored in NCAA Division II history with 272. Mitarotonda, who sits in fifth place on that list with 283 career markers, was held without a goal in a game for the first time in her career, ending a 71-game goal-scoring streak in the process. Stanislawczyk upped her personal goal-scoring streak to 59 games.
It marked the 14th meeting between two of the top women's lacrosse players in Division II history. Ironically, in those 14 contests, both players have registered 43 points against one another. Stanislawczyk and the Golden Rams have come out on top in 10 of the 14 tilts.
Fortune finished with four points, adding two assists to a pair of goals on the afternoon. Amanda Wolfe (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) recorded a hat trick on the day as well. Jess Harrison (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre) picked up six draw controls, mostly in the second half, to help the Golden Rams snatch the momentum back from the Warriors, who had dominated the draws up until Harrison was inserted to take faceoffs. Mitarotonda was credited with 11 draws on the day for ESU.
Grace Frasso (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) picked up six ground balls and caused five turnovers for West Chester defensively. Kendall DiCamillo (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley), the reigning PSAC East defensive player of the week, picked up seven ground balls for the second straight contest. She also caused a pair of turnovers and was instrumental in the clearing game.
Jessica Gorr (Exton, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) made 11 saves in the cage for West Chester to earn her 49th career win. She is just two shy of the school mark. In fact, her next win will leave her as one of only two Golden Rams goalkeepers to collect 50 wins in a career. That could come as early as Saturday at Shepherd University.
Head coach Ginny Martino picked up her 399th career win with Wednesday's triumph. She is trying to become just the eighth coach at any level of the NCAA to reach the 400-win plateau.
West Chester heads to West Virginia on Saturday for a 1 p.m. conference contest against Shepherd.
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