The West Chester East girls' soccer team has been on a high scoring run after it suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday, a 3-1 stunner against Central Bucks South.
Wednesday night, the Vikings, ranked 10th in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer, blanked visiting Avon Grove, 6-0, behind Carly Gulasarian's three goals for their second straight shutout.
Kathleen Brown made two saves in goal to record the shutout for East, which has scored 12 goals in its last two games.
"I thought we played very well tonight," Gulasarian said. "We play our best when we keep the ball on the ground, not in the air."
The victory moved the Vikings' record to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the National Division of the Ches-Mont League. The Vikings had rebounded from their Saturday loss by thumping Ches-Mont American Division rival Octorara, 6-0, on Monday.
In beating Avon Grove, the more experienced Vikings kept the ball in the Red Devils' end of the field for extended periods.
"We battled tonight. We have some big games coming up," East coach John Barry said.
The Vikings will play Unionville, the makeup of an earlier game that was rained out, on Saturday, and then face National Division rival West Chester Henderson on Wednesday.
The Red Devils had entered the game with a 0-4 record, but coach Pete Rohall said they were working hard to improve. They lost, 3-2, to usually strong Unionville in double overtime Saturday night. They lost another one-goal decision to Villa Maria.
"We're the best 0-5 team I've ever had," said Rohall, who made Henderson a PIAA power in the 1990s.
Rohall has had two more stops, Villa Maria and Bishop Shanahan, before ending up at Avon Grove this season.
Under his direction, the Warriors reached the state championship game from 1995 to 1999, coming out a winner four times.
At Villa, Rohall turned the program around in three years. The year before he came aboard, the Hurricanes did not win a game.
After leaving Villa, Rohall went to Bishop Shanahan, and the team reached the District 1 playoffs in his second season.
"It's a new program with a new coach," he said, referring to his first season at Avon Grove.
Avon Grove 0 0 – 0
West Chester East 4 2 – 6
Goals: WCE-Carly Gulasarian 3, Caroline Dwyer, Stephanie Lobb, Kayce Pitt.
Saves: AG-Brianna Moran 8; WCE-Kathleen Brown 2.
Contact staff writer Don Beideman at 267-815-0733 or dbeideman@phillynews.com.
