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WEST CHESTER - Julia Kirkpatrick scored the game-winning goal with 11:50 remaining in regulation, pushing West Chester past East Stroudsburg University, 2-1, in the second round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Atlantic Regional on Sunday afternoon at Rockwell Field.
ESU (16-5-2) ends its season as the three-time PSAC champion and made its third straight appearance in the second round of the Atlantic Regional. The Warriors advanced with a 2-0 win vs. Notre Dame (Ohio) on Friday after winning its first-ever regional title last fall.
West Chester (19-0-1), the region's No. 1 seed and ranked No. 4 in this week's NSCAA Division II poll, advances to the regional final next weekend.
WCU took a 1-0 lead on a goal by right back Carly Henry 12:53 into the game, which held up until early in the second half when junior forward
Molly Vicari leveled the game in the 48th minute for the Warriors.
Kirkpatrick's goal, on the continuing action after a corner kick (which included a header by Kirkpatrick off the crossbar), put West Chester back in front in the 79th minute.
Henry's opening goal came shortly after WCU forward Kara Parvel hit the post on a point-blank opportunity in front of the ESU goal. Lexi Brown hit the post on a similar opportunity for the Golden Rams about 15 minutes into the second half after the Warriors tied it.
Vicari's goal, her third of the season and the fourth of her career, was assisted by senior back
Liia Carpenter, who lifted a cross to the back post where Vicari finished to make it 1-1 just 2:03 into the second half.
West Chester finished with an 11-10 edge in shots. ESU forced seven saves from WCU goalkeeper Alex Srolis. Warriors junior goalkeeper
Jules Harris was credited with two saves.
ESU made its fifth appearance in the NCAA DII Tournament in program history (1997, 2008, 2014-16). West Chester, in the field for the 13th straight year, has won six of the past 12 regional titles (2005-07, 2010, 2012, 2014).
Eight Warriors seniors finished their careers - Carpenter, back
Hannah Gombos, forward
Brielyn Hackett, back
Kelly Howiszak, midfielder
Shea Neal, back
Laurel Neira, back
Andrea Polanco and midfielder
Alyssa Simeone.
Neal (74th minute) and Hackett (76th) scored the goals in Friday's 2-0 win over Notre Dame (Ohio) in the first round.
Carpenter, a first-year starter, started all 23 games at left back and had one goal and two assists. Gombos, a four-year starter and All-PSAC first team selection as a senior, had three goals and a PSAC and Atlantic Region-leading 11 assists. She had nine goals and 19 assists while making 77 career starts. Howiszak, a transfer from Mansfield, made two starts as a junior in 2015 and missed this year due to injury.
Hackett made her 50th career start Sunday and had 16 goals and nine assists, including three goals and five assists this season. She was ESU's top scorer (8 goals, 3 assists) on the 2014 team which went 20-1-1 on its way to the PSAC championship and region's No. 1 seed. Simeone made eight starts as a senior and scored one goal.
Polanco, a two-year starter (47 starts), started 45 of ESU's 46 games over the last two seasons and was named the PSAC Champion Scholar as the student-athlete with the top grade-point average (4.0, Public Health) at the PSAC Final Four last weekend.
Neira, who missed the final 10 games due to injury, was a three-time All-PSAC second team selection and is a two-time All-Region selection at center back. She made 74 career starts, contributing 11 goals, and was named to the D2CCA All-America second team as a sophomore in 2014.
Neal was the initial first team All-America selection in program history in 2014, earning a spot on the NSCAA All-America first team. She was a four-time All-PSAC selection, including three times on the first team (2013, 2014, 2016), is a three-time D2CCA All-Region first team selection, and finished sixth in school history in career goals (27) and points (70) while adding 16 assists. She had five goals and five assists as a senior, including both goals in the 2-1 win vs. Kutztown in the PSAC championship game, and was a three-time PSAC Tournament MVP.
ESU had advanced in 17 of its previous 24 postseason games under head coach
Rob Berkowitz, including an 11-1-3 record in its last 15 over the past three seasons.
The Warriors were the lower seed for the 11th time in their last 12 postseason games and won last year's regional as the No. 6 seed. They were the No. 5 seed this fall.
ESU's senior class finishes with a school-record four-year mark of 58-20-7, besting the previous mark (56-21-2) held by the 1994-97 team with All-America forward Terri Meierhofer the only four-year letterwinner.
The Warriors are 50-13-5 in the last three seasons, compiling three straight PSAC titles, the 2014 PSAC regular season title and the 2015 Atlantic Region title.