After a draw against Kean in the middle of the week, Eastern University Men's Soccer battled to earn a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Manhattanville. Today's tie felt much better than Wednesday's.
The game had a pair of lengthy delays and took over three hours to play in near monsoon conditions. The first delay came with lightning at the half, and the second came late in regulation as a power outage hit a bank of lights atgovaliants.com field. Though the temperatures stayed in the mid 60's, heavy rains fell throughout.
The Eastern staff asked their charges to raise the intensity level following Wednesday's home tie. From the start, the Eagles matched Manhattanville's physical play shoulder for shoulder in a foul-plagued first half. Jon Crowder made just two saves in the opening period, but his first of the day was an absolute gem as he dove left and snared a James Lavery blast from in tight in the seventh minute.
From that point on, the Eastern team defended through the first half. Manhattanville held a 5-0 edge in first half shots, and a 16-2 edge for the game. Crowder made seven saves to secure his fifth shutout of the year.
The Eastern staff expressed satisfaction with their team's commitment to working hard and mental toughness. Coach Wagner commented, "It was a tough day to stay focused, and there were obviously distractions with the delays and with bad weather, but our guys stayed mentally tough through the game, and that is a big step or us."
Manhattanville goalkeeper Jason Torres recorded his seventh straight shutout. The Valiants have outscored their conference opponents 10-0. The Valiants (10-4-1, 5-0-1) clinched the top seed in the Freedom with today's draw.
The Eagles entered play today knowing that they needed six points and a win over Misericordia on Wednesday in order to ensure a spot in the Freedom Conference playoffs. The draw today does not change the fact that the Eagles will most likely have to win both their games next week to earn a spot, but it does mean that if they do win out there is a probable scenario wherein they could host a first round game.
As Manhattanville has secured the top spot, five teams are now in contention for the next three spots. Four of those teams could get to 4-2-1 (13 points) in league play. Two of those teams, King's and Misericordia, play each other on the final Saturday of the regular season. Should Eastern finish in a three way tie with Misericordia and Wilkes, they would take the tie-breaker and second seed by virtue of this evening's draw.
The Eagles return home to Olson Field for both games next week. Wednesday's critical game against Misericordia is scheduled for a 3:00 pm start.
