College Soccer
Ian Alicea goals lead West Chester to convincing spring win over Goldey-Beacom
Returning captain Ian Alicea scored early in each half and set the tone defensively for the Golden Rams as they made it two wins and two clean sheets out of two spring matches with a 4-0 win over Goldey-Beacom on Friday afternoon.
Alicea is known more for his defensive bite than his goal scoring but his goals – one off a half-volley inside the box and the other with a strong header off a corner kick – lifted his team when they were struggling to find a final ball. Coming off a 2-0 win at the University of Delaware and playing at Rockwell Field for the first time since a PSAC quarterfinal win in November, the Golden Rams spent a lot of time in their end of the field during the first half. But after Alicea’s second half goal made it 2-0, the attack came alive and looked threatening with wave after wave of attack.
With pressure mounting Maksym Komperda found the back of the net off an assist from Danny McGonagle and co-captain Sean Duffy set up Peter Tichy on a clever pass off a free kick from close range to make it 4-0.
“We’ve been putting a lot of work in and the guys are working really hard to get these two results,” Alicea said post-game. “It’s definitely good for team morale but it’s just a building block.”
After a 10-win season that ended in a semifinal loss to PSAC champions Gannon on the road, West Chester graduated just three seniors so a lot of the core – Alicea and Duffy included – are returning.
“We’re gonna be pretty experienced, so hopefully that experience we can start quick in the fall and not be behind come preseason.”
Komperda scored twice against the Blue Hens and now has three in the spring after leading the team with 7 goals in the fall.
“I feel like those goals have come from practice and training,” Komperda said. “And I think we’ve been working hard to really accomplish that.”
Head coach Michael Benn has led the Golden Rams to winning seasons in all but one of his seasons at the helm since 2013, to double digits in wins in 10 of his 12 seasons and to a Division II national title game but a PSAC tournament title continues to elude the program.
“I’ve been really pleased with our group through the whole spring,” Benn said. “They’ve been training with the right mentality and right approach. I thought they carried that over into the second half. I thought in the first half we were fine, but just didn’t quite play with the same intensity and same mental speed recognition of what we needed to do that we did in the second half. So I was pleased that they made that adjustment at halftime.”
West Chester is back at Rockwell Field on Saturday against Chestnut Hill College at noon, visits Muhlenberg College at 6 p.m. on April 17 and wraps up their spring schedule with a visit to Lehigh on April 23 at 6:30 p.m.
