College Soccer
Organized defense, good fortune guide West Chester University to win over Jefferson
West Chester University women’s soccer coach Betty Ann Kempf Townsley knew defense was going to be key heading into Tuesday afternoon’s local derby match with nationally ranked Jefferson so she was more than happy to talk about the defensive effort following a 3-0 win.
“We did a lot of training in preseason with the defense because that was one of our weaknesses last year,” Kempf Townsley said. “The defense played really well. I think the communication, the organization in the back, and just having patience, I think, with their players, they have some talented players that are fast, that can take players on one v one and we help them score this, which was huge for us.”
Rookie center back Katie Dougherty (Glenmoore, Pa.) has been a big addition to the back line and had a standout performance Tuesday paired with junior Carley Slavin (Abington, Pa.) while goalkeeper Grace Keen (Lincoln University, Pa.) made 10 saves on the day. Sophomore Kianna Barber (Browns Mills, N.J.) put in a memorable shift off the bench both contributing the second goal on a lovely shot following her own rebound and also did well to close down Jefferson star attacker Kyra Lesko (Pennsburg, Pa.).
“She’s just relentless,” Kempf Townsley said of Barber. “And she did an awesome job today.”
While the Golden Rams struggled at times to create chances going forward with so much of the traffic going one way, the breakthrough goal in the 16th minute was a credit to their work rate and effort off the ball. Barber’s goal came at the hour mark and additional depth off the bench helped to create more opportunities going forward. Maddie Mosier was the beneficiary of some of those brighter attacking moments when she was able to get free in the box, collect a pass from Brielle Zink and follow up her own rebound on a shot to seal the victory just before full time. Rookie Jordan Nguyen (Lancaster, Pa.) and sophomores Sam Versnel and Lindsey Balmer (Perkasie, Pa.) also provide quality minutes off the bench.
“We have a lot of depth this year,” Kempf Townsley said. “And we got to see a lot of that today.”
While youth mixed with experience was a theme of the day, senior midfielder Faith Matter (Middletown, Pa.) somewhat quietly reached a milestone in her career when she was credited with her 32nd career assist on Barber’s goal. Matter is one of just three players on the squad her were regulars on the team that advanced to the Division 2 national final in 2022.
“I think that our group all together is very talented,” Matter said. “We can play different positions, which is helpful and we’re really just connected going forward.”
Matter wants to end her college career on a high note and so far through three games sees some of the same ingredients on this team that existed within the 2022 squad.
“I really want to just see how far we can go as a team this year,” Matter said. “I’m hoping to end on a banger, basically.”
West Chester returns to PSAC play with road trips to Millersville and Bloomsburg next Wednesday and Saturday. They were originally scheduled to host Mansfield on Saturday, but the match was canceled after the league approved a reduced schedule for the program, which is facing limited player numbers after a coaching transition in the spring.
