Economopoulos

That inspirational song was the highlight of a motion picture that featured athletes running along an oceanside beach. Shepherd University’s repeat champion women’s soccer team ran on the Rockwell Field synthetic turf at West Chester University on Sunday, when they defeated Kutztown, 4-1, to win their second straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship in convincing fashion.

This conference championship qualified the Rams for another NCAA Division II national tournament that begins play today at many various sites all across the land.

The defeat of Kutztown only came after the once-beaten Rams (now 11-1-6 overall) had won two other games in the PSAC Tournament.

Shepherd never played at home in the post-season event — first stopping Gannon on its home pitch, then downing West Chester on its Rockwell Field turf, before ousting Kutztown on the neutral field in the tournament finals.

Beezel

The Rams had also won the 2024 conference tournament that led them all the way to Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire, before they fell in last season’s premiere event.

This season’s conference tournament featured a 10-school field that meant the eventual winning team had to win three times to be crowned champions.

The star-studded journey began at the home of once-beaten Gannon in Erie, Pa. Shepherd posted a 2-0 win over the host Golden Knights on Nov. 11. Shepherd’s 1-0 lead at halftime came on Reagan Ackermann’s goal at the 39:43 mark. It came on an assist pass from Adrianna Morales.

The score remained unchanged until near the close of the by now nerve-jangling happenings. It was at the 86:18 mark when Josie Beezel scored an unassisted goal to push the Shepherd lead to 2-0.

Goalkeeper Hannah Wilt had six saves in posting her sixth shutout of the season.

Wunderlich

On last Friday, the Rams traveled to West Chester to face a Golden Rams team they had already played twice with both games ending in ties.

Nothing had been decided even by halftime as both teams took a break in the 0-0 game.

Shepherd would outplay the home side in the last half to post another convincing shutout win — this time by a 3-0 count.

Beezel broke the scoring ice with her goal at the 50:33 mark. Ackermann was credited with an assist on that game-leading goal.

Anaya Lozano helped improve the Ram advantage with her goal at the 78:31 mark, lifting Shepherd to a 2-0 lead. Ackermann had an assist on that score as well.

Ackermann

Shepherd would complete the day’s scoring very late at the 88:09 mark when Olivia Gardner scored on an assist pass from Adrianna Morales to finally extent the widening margin to 3-0.

Wilt had 10 saves in her seventh shutout of the season.

The tournament finals had the Rams facing the only team with a win over them this season in Kutztown. Shepherd also defeated Kutztown in Kutztown.

Sunday’s game was dominated early by the Rams, who had a 3-0 lead by halftime and then finished the joyous afternoon with a 4-1 victory.

Erika Moore’s goal came near the beginning at the 2:34 mark. Just minutes later at the 7:11 mark, Beezel scored from an assist pass by Lozano. Before the first half closed, Gable had scored after receiving an assist pass from Ackermann to up the count to 3-0.

Kutztown avoided being shut out when it scored first in the second half, but that goal was countered by a Gable goal that came after an assist from Annabelle Wunderlich.

Wilt had three saves as the Rams had 24 shots and Kutztown only seven. Shepherd had a 12-4 advantage in shots on goal and 11-7 lead in corner kicks.

The league announced player honors before the tournament and Shepherd had first team East Division honorees in Ackermann and Morales and second-team honorees in Sarah Peternel, Katelyn Economopoulos, Beezel, Moore and Wunderlich.

In winning a second consecutive conference tournament, the Rams qualified for the NCAA Division II national championship tournament that begins play today at scattered sites all over the country. The field for that event was not announced until after the deadline for this article. Shepherd will no doubt be placed in a first-round game close to home and could possibly even host that game.

Queens’ “We Are the Champions” continues to ring through the streets of Shepherdstown, as the Rams venture into another much-watched national event.