Eastern University Athletics

The 2008 Women's Soccer team became the first Eastern University team to reach an NCAA National Quarterfinals.

With eleven seniors on the roster, the Eagles won the Freedom Conference in the team's first year in the league. Eastern outscored Freedom conference foes by a 30-2 margin.

After earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the team earned first weekend wins at Rowan University over Wheaton (Mass.) and the host Profs. The Eagles rallied from a halftime deficit to hand Rowan their only loss of the year Ashley Hackman Clark '09 scored both second-half goals in the 2-1 win.

The following weekend, the team beat Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday afternoon at Messiah College before falling to the eventual National Champions on Sunday afternoon. The final game of the year took place nearly a month after the team celebrated Senior Day on Oct. 25.

The season came together after a rugged start. The Eagles began the year 0-3 and were 2-4 after six matches. The team finished 17-6 with the only two losses in the last 17 matches coming to Messiah at Messiah.

Twenty members of the team and two coaches were on hand for the induction ceremony. Head Coach Dan Mouw introduced his team and Jillian DiRenzo Prichett '10 and Lauren Roe Leitzel '10 accepted the recognition in person on behalf of the team. Corie Brant Thuma '09 sent a video from her home in Zambia.