The following is a press release from the West Chester University Athletic Department.
West Chester University baseball head coach, Jad Prachniak, and field hockey head coach, Amy Cohen, were honored at the 109th annual Sports Awards Dinner sponsored by the Philadelphia Sports Writers’ Assocation on January 28 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Prachniak led the baseball team to its first NCAA championship title in school history. The title was only the second NCAA championship for a men’s sport at West Chester University with the first being the men’s soccer crown in 1961. The 2012 campaign was Prachniak’s first year as head coach, and the team tied the single-season record for wins with 46 that was established in 2009. The Golden Rams finished 46-10.
The Golden Rams shut out Delta State (Miss.) in the championship game with a 9-0 victory on June 2, 2012. The team was also the first team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference to win a national title. Prachniak and the No. 1-ranked Golden Rams start off their season in a couple of weeks and plan to defend the NCAA Division II national title.
Cohen led West Chester University’s field hockey team to back-to-back NCAA national titles in each of the past two seasons. The Golden Rams shutout out UMass-Lowell, 5-0, in November to claim the school’s second straight NCAA championship and sixth national title overall. The team finished with a record of 20-2 that tied the single season record for wins.
The Golden Rams have now won two national titles in their first two years competing at the Division II level. Cohen’s overall record is an outstanding 37-6 with one conference championship as well as two NCAA national titles since taking over West Chester’s field hockey program.
