Eastern University Women's Soccer emerged with a 2-0 home win over Delaware Valley College Tuesday afternoon. Ashley Hackman scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute of action and moments later Jill DiRenzo added a second goal to lift the Eagles to an important Freedom Conference result.

The visiting Aggies, ranked 10th in the most recent NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region poll, spent much of the first half defending and looking to counter through Elise Dauber. The Eastern back line was able to contain the 2007 Freedom Conference Player of the year and hold her without a shot on goal through the match. The Aggies nonetheless kept the Eastern attackers in front of them and seemed to always have an extra defender on the field to thwart any Eagle forays into the box. The Eagles held a 9-1 advantage in shots through the opening 45 minutes of action, but Courtney Bower was up to the challenge with four of her eight saves in the first half.

The best chance of the first frame came early as Kara Neef made an overlapping run and was able to earn the end-line with a good cutback move.  The senior back drove a low cross to the near post that Hackman directed back toward the near post. Bower made a leaping save to push the ball wide for a corner.

“We knew that they were going to defend well,” Eastern Head Coach Dan Mouw said, “and they are playing with good confidence in front of their goalkeeper. For us, we really stressed patience in our halftime talk. We needed to make some better possession decisions to force their backs to move. We were much more patient in the second half.”

That patience paid off, but not before a couple nervous moments in the second half. In the 76th minute of play, the Aggies were able to generate a breakout on the right side to Dauber. The senior forward drew the attention of the Eastern back line and played a good ball in behind for Sam Loeber in space. The Eagle defense sprinted in recovery, but Loeber had time to release a shot from 15 yards out that appeared to be marked for the inside of the left upright. Eastern goalkeeper Amanda Daveler dove to her right and parried the ball around the post for her only save of the match.

“That save,” said Mouw, “was a huge moment in the match. Amanda got a good read on the shot and kept the game alive.

The Eagles renewed their energy in attack as Neef and Corie Brant continued to fire serves into the scoring area and the Eagles earned several close chances in front of the goal. It looked as though the Eagles were going to take the lead shortly after Daveler's save when Hackman got on a loose ball behind Bower. Delaware Valley's Dana Gentile made a desperate lunge at the ball and was somehow able to keep Hackman's shot from getting to the goal.

Hackman found the net early in the 83rd minute. After a partial clear from the Aggies on a dangerous ball in the area, DiRenzo knocked a one-time lateral pass toward Hackman on the left side. The All-America midifielder cracked her first touch high and just inside the far post to give the Eagles the important first goal of the match.

Four and a half minutes later, DiRenzo doubled the Eastern advantage on a beautiful combination with Hackman on the right side. DiRenzo found Hackman in a central position and ran off her pass. Hackman slipped the return pass behind the Aggie defense and DiRenzo knocked home her seventh of the season.

DirRenzo's one time shot clipped the inside of the far post as it hit the side-netting on the back side. Going back to last year, DiRenzo has socred in 12 of her last 13 conference games. The goal was her sixth goal this year off a pass from Hackman.

“The game,” said Mouw, “came down to making a couple big plays. I thought our central defenders did a very good job on their forwards, and we scored two very nice goals. Delaware Valley had a good game plan, and we had to adjust our ideas to match what they were giving us.'

"This new conference,"  he continued, "is going to be interesting because every day will bring us into uncharted waters. I am pleased that the team responded with the big plays that we needed"

Eastern (7-5 3-0) returns to action at FDU-Florham in a 3:00 pm game Saturday. Delaware Valley (9-2-1 3-1) plays at Manhattanville College Saturday.

Box Score