Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/7/16
From Press Release
Hannah Cowan (Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Academy) scored with 33 seconds left in the game to lift seventh-ranked West Chester to a come-from-behind 12-11 victory in the PSAC semifinals Friday evening at Tullio Field on the campus of Mercyhurst University.
West Chester (17-1), which led for only the last 33 seconds of the contest, outscored No. 11 IUP (13-6) by a 7-1 margin over the final 18 minutes to erase a five-goal deficit and advance to the PSAC Championship Game for the 27th time in school history.
The Golden Rams’ defense still had to come up with one more big stop as IUP’s Kim Hooven had her potential game-tying shot blocked, and Sarah Gebre (Central Bucks West) scooped up the ever-important ensuing ground ball to secure the win.
“Gebre face-guarded the conference player of the year (Amy Weinberg) and did a great job on her,” WCU head coach Ginny Martino said afterwards. “She didn’t allow her any goals, and just one assist, all game. That took away (IUP’s) feeder and forced them out of what they are comfortable doing.
“We just stepped up in the second half and took control once we started burying shots. We made smarter decisions with the ball and were able keep possession of the ball.”
The Golden Rams scored the final four goals of the game with Kristen Vath (Milford, N.J./Delaware Valley) scoring twice and assisting on another in that run.
Cowan and Sami Barnett (Interboro) each registered a hat trick on the day with Barnett adding an assist. Ashley Pyle (Garnet Valley) scored twice and assisted on two others.
Paige Mitros (Garnet Valley) made six saves in the contest to improve to 17-1 on the year as West Chester upped its winning streak on the season to 12 games.
“Paige played great today,” Martino added. “She stepped up when we needed her to in the second half.”
West Chester will play No. 8 Mercyhurst on Sunday in the conference finals at 2:30 p.m. Mercyhurst defeated Lock Haven, 16-6, in the other semifinal. It will be the first time that these two schools have met in the championship game. Mercyhurst will be making its third straight appearance in the finals and fourth in the last five years while West Chester will make its first appearance in the title game since it last won the crown in 2013. Mercyhurst is 0-3 in its previous championship games. West Chester is 21-5.
