Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
WCU dumps Millersville for key PSAC win
West Chester dumps Millersville for key PSAC win
EAST BRADFORD » The last time the West Chester men’s soccer team won its first five PSAC contests was either a very long time ago, or perhaps never. The record books are a little sketchy, but the implication is the same either way.
The Golden Rams are already on the verge of securing a postseason berth midway through the season, and now have to be considered legitimate contenders for the conference title. On Wednesday, WCU registered one of the most impactful regular season triumphs of head coach Michael Benn’s tenure -- which started in 2013 – with a tense 3-2 decision over a Millersville at Rockwell Field.
“We are in the middle of my fifth season, and this was a big win,” Benn agreed. “It was probably the biggest on here on this field. Millersville is a very good team.”
The Marauders came in ranked 11th the nation, but West Chester jumped on them early, scoring three times in the opening 37 minutes of action, and then held off a late Millersville assault. It avenged a WCU loss to MU in the semifinals of the PSAC Tournament in 2016.
“We wanted to prove that we play on the national level, and I think we did that,” said junior forward Jason Pixley, who scored what wound up the game winner.
“This was huge, especially after last season,” added junior midfielder Kyle Hoops. “We wanted this game and we’ve been think-
ing about it for a while.”
At 5-0 in the league (7-2-1 overall), the Rams are the only team in the PSAC without a loss or a tie. Gannon (5-0-1) has a one point edge in the standings, however, due to a game in hand. The two will tangle on Oct. 13 in WCU’s next home game.
“The last two games our guys have come out with improved mentality at the start,” Benn said. “To be able to jump on them by three goals is massive. When you are at home, sometimes the away team is still on the bus mentally. If we can continue to do that, this will be a tough place for other teams to beat us.”
The Rams nearly scored in the opening five minutes when Brett Miller’s header nearly got past diving Millersville goaltender Darian McCauley. Soon after that, Hoops tallied his first goal of the season off a near perfect free kick by freshman teammate Danny Grindrod.
“We are taught to crash the next until the play is over,” Hoops explained. “I headed (the free kick), their goalie made the save but there was a rebound and I just beat the defender to it.”
About eight minutes later, freshman forward Doug Goitia made it 2-0 when he got behind the defenders, juked past the keeper and fired into the open net. It was his teambest fourth goal of the season.
“That’s Doug – he’s just a bull, especially for a freshman,” Benn said. “He’s relentless, he’s strong and powerful, and he is a lot for anyone to handle. That was just all effort on is part.”
Pixley’s game-winner came with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. He split two defenders to get to a pass from freshman Stephen Thompson and calmly knocked it in.
“It was a great pass from Stephen. Once I took my first touch, all I had to do was finish it. It was all instinct from there,” Pixley said.
“Jason got into a great seam, it was a great delivery to him and he was very composed to finish it,” Benn added.
As expected, however, the Marauders (3-2, 7-21) quickly rebounded and pushed back. Millersville’s Nathan Maynard ended the shutout with a goal just before the intermission, and then Marcus Frangakis made it 3-2 on a penalty kick relatively early into the second half following a WCU hand ball.
“We knew the start was just a temporary hiccup for (Millersville),” Benn said. “They have quality players and we knew that they would come back with a lot of fight because there was so much time left.
“I was really proud of my guys with the way their responded after the penalty kick. It would have been easy for us to lose the momentum, but we showed a great deal of maturity and leadership.”
Although MU had the territorial advantage in the final 31 minutes of action, it never really came close to tying it up. That doesn’t mean, however, that the last few minutes weren’t a bit nerve-racking on Benn and his players.
“The last 10 minutes seemed to take forever,” Benn admitted. “But when you have tight one-goal lead between two good teams, it always feels like an eternity.”
Pixley added: “(Millersville was) coming at us and we were just fighting to the finish.
“We’re playing great, but we know we haven’t reached our full potential. We let up two goals, so we are not perfect, but we’re getting better every day.”
West Chester had a slight edge in shots (10-9), but Millersville doubled up on the corner kicks, 6-3.
“What I like about our team is we have a lot of depth and we have players with different qualities,” Benn explained. “So depending on what the day calls for, we can go to some different people.
“To get to 5-0 in the league is a big step, but we have to move on. We at are at California (Pa.) Saturday, so we can’t relax. We are kind of on the cusp of being able to clinch a playoff spot, which is really our first goal. But we obviously have goals beyond that.”