The Eastern University field hockey team returned to Freedom Conference action on a cold, wet, and windy Saturday afternoon. The elements would not put a damper on the Eagles offense as they walked away with a 3-1 win over visiting King's College to remain unbeaten in conference play.
The Eagles did what they do best on Saturday afternoon: force penalty corners, force shots, and make them count. Eastern make the most of 22 penalty corners and 26 shots, keeping the Monarchs on their heels for most of the afternoon.
Five and a half minutes into the game, the Eagles converted on their third penalty corner of the game. Sophomore, Hope Donnelly took the insert from Yvonne Herbster and ripped a bullet toward the Monarchs' cage. Keeper, Erin McGinley made the save, but Donnelly picked up the deflection and passed across to Elya Troup for the goal.
King's picked up the equalizer quickly as Jenera Quinones drove the length of the field for a break away goal that just slipped by Eastern's keeper, Laura Ressler. Eastern responded quickly and pelted the Monarchs' goal with shot after shot, but it wasn't until five minutes left in the first half that the Eagles would be able to break the dead lock.
Eastern forced a penalty corner with five minutes remaining in the half. Sarah Garber inserted the ball into play. The ball bounced around between several Eagles players until Garber found the ball on her stick again on the left corner. The junior drew the goalie out of position and found Kim Campbell streaking toward the cage for the goal, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Eagles.
The hosts would tack on an insurance goal just before the end of the first half. Senior All-American Lindsay Moyer sent one of her infamous power shots toward the goal off of a penalty corner, however the Monarchs' keeper came up big again making the save. The Eagles continued to pressure the ball and King's could not clear it out of the circle. Freshman Brittany Moyer would eventually find the back of the cage for the Eagles and a 3-1 lead going into the half.
The Eagles and the Monarchs squandered several penalty corner attempts in the second half, as both teams stepped it up defensively. For the Monarchs' Holly Mannucci stepped in front of the cage picking up a defensive save four minutes into the second half, while Shannon Graybill helped preserve the two goal lead for the Eagles with a defensive save with two minutes remaining in the contest. Time would eventually run out on King's as Eastern extended their win streak to five games.
Next up for the Eagles is another Freedom Conference affair as the squad travels to FDU-Florham on Tuesday evening. The match is set to begin at 7:00 PM.
