The Eastern University women's soccer team entered this afternoon's Freedom Conference match-up with Misericordia needing a win. The Eagles have not lost in conference play, but a pair of ties in league play left the Eagles in third place behind the Cougars and Manhattanville. The Eagles put together a dominating second half, but needed a pair of Jillian DiRenzo goals in the final 15 minutes to take a hard-fought 2-0 result and vault into second in the standings.

The two teams ground through a sluggish first half without a significant chances either way. The Eagles held a 5-3 advantage in shots and a 5-0 edge in corners, but most of the chances came from distance and wide positions.

The Eagles came out of the gate flying in the second half. Early restart balls from Liza O'Keefe set up several chances, but Misericordia goalkeeper Morgan Myers and her defenders were able to block the shots out for corners. The Eagles would end the afternoon with a 14-1 advantage in corners, but they were unable to finish the chances.

The Cougars had a great chance to take the lead against the run of play with 21 minutes to play, but first year goalkeeper Aly Goodman came off her line to stuff the break-away attempt. Goodman finished the day with three saves.

The Eastern bench had given the team a lift in the first half, and the non-starters again gave the Eagles a lift in the second. Eighteen Eastern players saw the field for significant minutes, and their energy seemed to wear down the visitors.  

The first goal came on a long serve from Katelyn Rittenhouse. The first year center back lofted a ball into space twenty five yards out that Tess Beckwith and a defender challenged. Neither player won the ball, but DiRenzo was on location to dispossess the final Misericordia defender just outside the box. DiRenzo pushed the ball out of her feet and struck a solid left-footed shot into the upper left corner. 

The Eagles continued to press following the first goal, but had to fight off a late Misericordia corner kick before doubling the lead in the 90th minute of play. Kori Wenger created the second goal with a great run into central space. The first year midfielder engaged a pair of defenders before poking a late pass to DiRenzo. The senior forward cracked a 20 yard one-timer into the right corner for her 13th of the year and 56th career tally. 

She is now tied with Ruth Parkinson ('02) atop the career list for goals. With the final goal, she also registered her 127th career point. That number is one ahead of Parkinson and Steph Frank ('07). Current Eastern Assistant Ashley Hackman ('09) holds the Eastern career point mark with 160.

Coach Mouw said of the day, "I was really pleased with our team's energy today. We had a discouraging result on Saturday, but the girls were committed to the events of today. Our reserves gave us what we needed today, and I think we were able to wear them down. We are starting to get healthy in some key spots, and that can only help us as we make our push toward the post-season."

He continued, "Aly was very good in goal, and I felt her ability to play with her feet and distribute the ball really helped us to solve their front-runners. We need to be more dangerous on corners."

DiRenzo reached the career mark with just one career hat-trick. She has six game-winners this year. Mouw said, "Jill has a ton of big goals in her career. She has two game-winners in NCAA Tournament play and she scored the game-winner in the PAC final as a sophomore. Today's first goal was equally as big. She earned the opportunity, and we really needed the first goal. A tie for us in this game would have really put us in trouble."

The Eagles return to action at Manhattanville in a 3:00 pm game on Saturday. In another scheduling note, the game at Elizabethtown which was originally scheduled for Tuesday night has been moved to Wednesday afternoon to accommodate a Commonwealth Conference reschedule for the Blue Jays.

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