Millersville, Pa. – For the fourth time in a row, the Millersville-West Chester field hockey matchup was decided by one goal. This time it was the Marauders that came away with the victory at home as Alexis Gazzio scored to help the Marauders take down the No. 6 Golden Rams in yet another showdown between the PSAC rivals.

The win ends a two game slide for Millersville (4-3) and helps the Marauders to improve their PSAC record to 1-1 after last Saturday's loss to IUP.

Gazzio scored her second goal of the season with 17:43 left in the first half. It was the only goal of the game even though the Marauders were able to total eight shots on goal from the 12 shots they took over the course of the game.

Gazzio's goal was preceded by a beautiful pass from Erica Tarsi. Gazzio stopped, set, and fired off a screamer that hit the back of the cage and echoed throughout the field.
The Marauders were on top with their one and only goal.

It was an evenly matched game in several aspects. West Chester took seven corners whereas Millersville took six. The Rams also took the same number of shots as Millersville (12) but were only able to put four of those shots on goal.

Kylee Bair got the start in goal for Millersville. Bair saved all four shots she faced, including a late effort from WCU to tie the game.

With less than two minutes remaining, Bair faced three shots within 30 seconds. West Chester's Rachel Toppi put a shot on goal that Bair was able to block, holding off the final Rams attack of the game.

Bair was aided by a Marauder defense that just kept getting in West Chester's way. With 10:01 remaining in the first half, Kaitlyn Hatch got the ball off the corner. Hatch, who was wide open, took a shot that seemed destined for the back of the goal. Jordan Goddard had other plans, stepping in the way and blocking the ball of what could have been a game-tying goal.

It was exactly what a field hockey fan would expect in a matchup like this. There were several opportunities for each team, such as when Aliza Mizak stole the ball and smacked a shot from the top of the circle. West Chester goalie Marissa Elizardo made a fully-extended diving save, one of her seven saves in the game.

Erica Tarsi put pressure on West Chester too, firing off five shots and adding an assist.

West Chester suffered its third straight loss to fall to 5-3 (0-2 PSAC); it was the first time since WCU entered Division II in 2011 that the Rams have lost three consecutive games.

It was also the ninth time in 11 games that Millersville and West Chester were separated by only one goal in the past few seasons.

Millersville's next game comes this Friday at Mercyhurst, as the Marauders hit the field at 3 p.m.