It is never easy to beat a team twice in a one-week period. To advance to their first Freedom Conference Championship game, the Eastern field hockey team would have to earn their second victory over Misericordia University in five days. To try to improve their chances, the 2nd seeded Eagles practiced penalty corner execution in the days between games. That work paid off as Eastern scored three penalty corner goals en route to a convincing 5-0 win.
Interestingly enough, the two teams met twice in a nearly identical situation in their final year in the PAC last year. Eastern earned the second seed and hosted Misericordia in their regular season finale and Conference Semifinal. Eastern beat the Cougars 3-1 on Saturday, but Head Coach Camrin Azzarano was concerned with her team's lack of production on penalty corners. "We needed to be better," Azzarano said, "and the girls responded very well to our practices. We scored three really nice goals on those set pieces."
Eastern's first goal came in the run of play with a Yvonne Herbster goal in the eighth minute. The first-year midfielder's unassisted tally would prove to be the game-winner. It was her eighth goal and fifth game-winner of the year.
In the 23rd minute, Eastern scored on their eighth and final penalty corner in the first half. Lindsay Moyer scored on a double-assist from Herbster and Sarah Garber. The Eagles held a 2-0 lead and an 8-0 advantage in shots at the break.
"We felt like we could seal up the game with an early goal coming out of halftime," said Azzarano. Her team responded with a beautiful penalty corner goal from Kim Campbell just three and a half minutes after the break. The senior forward scored her 13th of the year at the end of a neat sequence of three quick passes. Herbster picked up the assist on the goal.
Olivia Derr scored an a five yard blast to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead in the 49th minute. Elya Troup set up the goal after she dug a rebound out of traffic and pushed the ball to Derr on the left side of the cage.
The Eagles closed out the scoring with Moyer's second of the day on a penalty corner. The junior standout scored her 16th of the year on a pass from Campbell. Laura Ressler managed her circle well, but did not have to make a save as the Eastern defense held the Cougars without a shot to earn their sixth shutout of the year.
The Eagles advance to Saturday's noon final at Wilkes University. The Colonels also finished 7-1 in Freedom Conference play. They earned the top seed with a 2-1 win over the Eagles in mid-October.
Azzarano and her players are looking forward to the challenge. "We will have to bring our best game to play with them up there," said Azzarano, "but we have really been getting better through the last weeks of the season, and I believe our team will be ready to compete."
The winner of Saturday's game will earn the Freedom Conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
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