Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/31/25 – From Press Release
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) released its women’s lacrosse preseason coaches poll on Thursday afternoon and West Chester was picked as the preseason favorite to win the PSAC East with five of seven available first-place votes.
Following its 26th PSAC Tournament crown last May, West Chester is the preseason favorite to earn PSAC Tournament hosting rights once again this Spring with first-place votes followed by Kutztown and East Stroudsburg in second and third with one first-place vote each. Bloomsburg and Millersville rounded out the top-five, while Shepherd and Shippensburg completed the Eastern Division.
In the PSAC West, Seton Hill is once again the favorite to win the regular-season crown with four first-place votes, while Slippery Rock was picked to finish second with two first-place votes. Lock Haven, Indiana (Pa.), and Gannon rounded out the top five, while Edinboro was picked sixth to finish out the Western Division.
In 2024, West Chester captured its conference-best 26th PSAC title with a 12-11 victory over Kutztown before earning the top seed in the Division II women’s lacrosse Atlantic Regional Tournament. West Chester won its opening game of the regional 19-3 over Seton Hill before falling victim to a frantic late game comeback by ESU, which saw the Warriors escape with a 13-12 victory over the rival Golden Rams.
West Chester will need to replace some key pieces from that PSAC Championship squad, including Hannah Stanislawczyk, who led the offense with 92 goals and 30 assists for 122 points on the year and Jessica Gorr, who started in all 21 games and played all but 93 minutes, finishing the year with a record of 20-1 and a 8.20 goals-against average as she concluded her stellar Golden Ram career.
The Golden Rams can look forward to the return of Keri Barnett (Archbishop Carroll), who missed 20 of 21 games a year ago after scoring four goals and adding an assist in the season opener against Jefferson on February 21. In her first two seasons, Barnett ranked second on the team in goals with 78 in her rookie season and 82 as a sophomore, earning First Team All-PSAC East and First Team All-Region honors, while also securing Second Team All-America honors both seasons. Entering her senior season, Barnett has 165 goals and 201 assists to her credit along with 203 career draw controls as well heading into her senior season with the Golden Rams.
West Chester also returns Sydney Wasdick (Pottsgrove) and Madeline Edinger (Pennridge) who ranked third and fifth in points last year with 53 (48 G 5 A) and 47 (36 G 11 A) points, respectively.
West Chester will turn to a young goalkeeper in 2025 in either sophomore Hannah Cornelius (Shawnee) or rookie Morgan Koons (Crestwood), however, they will have experience in front of them as the Golden Rams return a number of talented, experienced defenders, including Katie Byrne, Kendall DiCamillo (Garnet Valley), Lauren Rush (Pennridge), Kara Stewart, Kerry Seiler (Salisbury), Fiona Shadis, Alexa Urbanski (Charter School of Wilmington), and Natalie Goldsmith.
2025 PSAC Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Polls (# of first-place votes in parentheses)
Eastern Division
1. West Chester (5)
2. Kutztown (1)
3. East Stroudsburg (1)
4. Bloomsburg
5. Millersville
6. Shepherd
7. Shippensburg
Western Division
1. Seton Hill (4)
2. Slippery Rock (2)
3. Lock Haven
4. IUP
5. Gannon
6. Edinboro
