THE BASICS

-Score: West Chester University 3, Assumption University 0 

-Records: Assumption (20-2), West Chester (17-4)

-Location: Millersville, Penn. (Biemesderfer Stadium)

-The Lead: The #2 seed Assumption University Greyhounds saw their historic season come to a close on Friday afternoon in the NCAA Division 2 national semifinals against the West Chester University Golden Rams. The first half was tightly contested, with West Chester taking a 1-0 lead into halftime. The Golden Rams kept the pressure on all afternoon getting an insurance goal in the third quarter and another in the fourth to create the 3-0 final.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-The first quarter was action packed for West Chester. keeping senior goaltender Kylie Gargiulo (Madison, Conn. / Daniel Hand) and the Greyhound defense busy, getting five shots and three penalty corners in the first stanza. 

-The Golden Rams opened the scoring in the second quarter when they won a penalty corner and freshman Valerie van Kuijck stepped up to serve it in. She played it to the top of the circle to Emma Velez who slipped a pass to Caitie McNamara who then fired a shot towards the net that van Kuijck was able to get her stick on the shot and tip it past Gargiulo to give the Golden Rams a 1-0 lead.          

-Assumptions best chance to level the game came in the second period when they won a penalty corner and senior Kileigh Hynes (Auburn, Mass. / Auburn) put a shot on net that was saved by Claire Nielsen. 

-West Chester doubled their lead just five minutes into the second half when Autumn Gager rushed up the right goal line and slid a pass to van Kuijck who fired a low shot past Gargiulo to score her second goal of the game and give the Golden Rams some breathing room.

-Ten minutes into the final frame, Taylor Orsi found herself in the circle and fired a pass that took a funny bounce and landed in front of Claudia Jaszczak who tapped it into the net to create the 3-0 final for the Golden Rams. 

-The 2021 season was a historic campaign for the Hounds, putting up an impressive 20-2 overall record, being named regular season champions, going 14-0 in Northeast 10 conference play on their way to the programs first ever conference title going 3-0 in the NE10 playoffs. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

-Gargiulo made seven saves on the day while Nielsen made two. 

-The Golden Rams put up 28 shots on the day (10 on goal) while the Hounds put up 3 shots (2 on goal)

-West Chester won 15 penatly corners while the Greyhounds won two. 

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