and Erin Fries each scored twice for Eastern, but it was the Eastern defense that made the difference on the day.

The Eagles fell behind by a goal in the opening ninety seconds, when Haverford's leading scorer Josie Ferri scored her 40th goal of the season. The Eagles responded when Erin Reimel found a cutting Katie Choquette in front of the goal. Choquette tucked home her 18th of the year. Ferri put the Fords up with 22 minutes to play. From that point on, the Eastern defense shut down Haverford's leading scorer. Assistant Coach Rachel Lenzo said, "We put Liza [O'Keefe] on her, and occasionally switched [Courtney] Reinhold and [Courtney] Brennan on her, but our defense did a great job taking that away for the rest of the game."

Basch then scored two straight to put the Eagles up 3-2. That lead lasted for four minutes before the hosts pulled level with 10:44 on the clock. Basch controlled the ensuing draw and set up Fries for her nineteenth of the year, but the Eagles were still unable to gain separation. Haverford tied the score at 4-4 before Kristin Brownett put the Eagles up 5-4 on a free position goal with 7:49 play.

The Eagles converted on just two of fourteen free position attempts on the day. Coach Azzarano said, "We put a lot of pressure on them, and we really needed to convert their fouls into goals on those opportunities. We did a great job at the other end to only allow only one free position attempt, but we need to work on converting those chances."

The half ended with the Eagles up 5-4. Eastern held a 16-11 advantage in shots and  a 7-3 edge in draw controls. The two teams continued their defensive struggle through second half. The Eagles claimed a two goal edge just minutes in when Reimel set up Grifftih for her 27th tally of the year. The scored remained at 6-4 for an improbable 19 minutes of action. Kim Campbell made four of her seven saves for the game in the second half, and the Eastern defense continued to deny the Haverford attack access to the area in front of the goal.

Lenzo remarked, "Kim played great today, and we had really good communication throughout. Our defenders played well, but we also got really good defensive efforts from our attacking players in keeping the ball in the zone. Our attackers worked really hard to cause turnovers close to their goal." The Fords found the net with nine minutes to play to close the gap to 6-5.

Basch and Fries connected again at the end of a sustained possession. The important insurance goal was Fries' 20th of the year, while Basch picked up her team-high 25th assist. Haverford controlled the draw and earned a shot at goal that Campbell turned away. Eastern advanced the ball and held possession for nearly three minutes before the Fords collected a turnover with 3:30 to play. The Eagles then settled in to try to turn away the Fords last push. 

The Eastern defense held their hosts at bay for just over two and a half minutes before Nora Proops scored to close the gap to one once again. Linnea Davis earned the important final draw control and the Eagles held on for their sixth win of 2009.

Azzarano said after the game, "It was a great physical battle. We had several players really play well at the defensive end, and we were able to execute enough to come away with the win. It will be good for all of us to have a couple days off."

The Eagles return to Freedom Conference action with an away game at Alvernia College on Tuesday.

Box Score