The goal finally came in the 56th minute. Ashley Hackman redirected a Kara Neef serve for the only goal of the match as the Eastern University women's soccer team earned a win over Ursinus College in their home opener.

The Eagles held an 8-2 edge in shots in the first half, but the Ursinus defense and Goalkeeper Lisa Clark kept Eastern off the board. Clark recorded four saves. Eastern kept much of the play in the Ursinus end through the opening half, but Amanda Daveler still had to make a pair of saves before half to keep the Bears at bay.

The best chance of the half came to the home side when Neef got behind the back line on an overlapping run and slotted a ball back into the center of the scoring area. Hackman was there, but Clark moved quickly to her left to stop the short shot just inside the near post. 

Coach Mouw said of his team's first half, "We did several things that created chances, but we fell a little short in a lot of aspects. The coaching staff challenged the team to raise their level at the break, and I thought we came out with really good pressure and commitment in the second half."

That commitment resulted in eight second half corner kicks. On the fifth corner of the half, Hackman slipped into space in front of the net as Neef burned a ball across the face of the goal. The senior All-American deftly redirected the ball into the lower corner for her third goal of the year.

Eastern continued to press the goal, but Ursinus stood their ground and began to push back late. Daveler made another pair of saves to preserve the shutout. "The game," said Mouw, "was won in the midfield. Our holders were heroes in the second half. Lauren [Roe] and Heidi [Peachey] won so many balls to keep Ursinus from escaping their end of the field. Ursinus is a good young team, and this is a big win for us to keep momentum."

The Eagles return to action next Tuesday at Moravian College. That game is scheduled for 4:00 pm.