COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The 67th renewal of the longest rivalry in field hockey saw West Chester defeat Ursinus, 6-3, in the annual Snell Cup game on Sunday afternoon at Eleanor Frost Snell Field.
West Chester, the defending national champions in Division II, fired off 29 shots and had 17 penalty corners as they stormed off to a 4-1 halftime lead.
West Chester got two goals and two assists from senior back Kelsi Lykens, while junior forward Kelsey Cheek had two assists.
The Golden Rams scored early when senior midfielder Stef Pirri scored on an assist from Lykens 1:12 in on a blast from the right side for a 1-0 lead.
Ursinus would tie the score at 1-all on a corner at 2:25 when sophomore defender Megan Keenan (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) scored on assists by sophomore midfielder Kelsey Reed and junior defender Nora Kornfeld.
West Chester then would score the next three as Cheek assisted on a goal by sophomore forward Alayna Brown at 4:12, followed by a goal from Lykens at 12:32 and then Lykens would assist on a goal by sophomore forward Alexis Versak at 17:04.
In the second half, Ursinus struck first as freshman forward Amber Steigerwalt scored off of a save at 41:12 to make the score 4-2.
West Chester would score back-to-back at Cheek assisted on a goal by freshman forward Marnie Kusakavithc at 54:54.
The Golden Rams final goal came at 61:36, on a corner that saw Lykens score on assists by Pirri and senior midfielder Nancy Stehman.
Ursinus punched one in with 3:39 left when Kornfeld scored when Keenan fed her the ball down low off of a corner.
In goal, Ursinus sophomore Danielle DeSpirito made 15 saves, while Golden Ram freshman Audree Bonavita made seven saves in 66 minutes.
West Chester now owns a 30-25-12 advantage in the series.