A muggy and cloudy afternoon could not put a damper on the Eagles' field hockey team as they returned home for the first time in over a week. After a tough week of road play, Eastern was eager to return to their home turf. They did not disappoint, as they extended their winning streak to three games, defeating visiting William Paterson University 4-2 on Tuesday afternoon.

As of late, the EU offense has been overwhelming to opponents. Over the last four matches the Eagles have recorded double digits in shots as well as penalty corners in each match, but nothing compared to the offensive onslaught that Eastern poured on the visiting Pioneers. Eastern outshot WPU 26-14, and had the advantage in penalty corners 16-4.

Hope Donnelly highlighted the Eagles offense scoring the first goal for the Eagles ten minutes into the match. Elya Troup pushed the ball up the right side line. After beating her defender and finding a little bit of daylight, Troup fired a cross the circle where Donnelly was waiting to deposit the ball in the right corner of the cage, giving the Eagles a 1-0 advantage.

The lead would be short lived for the Eagles. The Pioneers responded ten minutes later when Chelsea Winkelspecht redirected Ally Hartman's cross past Eastern goalie Laura Ressler to knot the game up at 1 goal apiece. 

William Paterson proceeded to take the lead seven minutes before the half. Christina Ayusa ripped a shot from the top of the circle. After Ressler's initial save, Ayusa lofted her next shot. Jodi Feriod put the goal away as she redirected the shot to the left corner of Eastern's cage. The first half would end 2-1 in favor of the Pioneers.

It did not take long for Eastern to come up with the equalizer. Two minutes into the second half, Lindsay Moyer fired off of a Yvonne Herbster penalty corner. WPU's goalie Christina Auger stepped in to save the shot, but Herbster hustled in from the left side and pushed the ball back to the middle where she found the stick of Christin Haas. Haas squeezed her shot between the stretched out Auger and the left post, evening the score at 2-2.

Three and a half minutes later Eastern would take the lead and never look back. Herbster started the attack with a penalty corner pass to Donnelly at the top of the circle. Donnelly slipped the ball down to the left, where once again Moyer took a powerful shot. Auger kicked the ball away, but right back into the awaiting stick of Moyer. Moyer returned the pass back to Donnelly who pushed the ball into the back of the cage, giving Eastern a 3-2 lead.

Eastern was able to pick up and insurance goal with 19 minutes remaining in the match. Sarah Garber picked up the fourth and final goal for the Eagles after her penalty corner pass to Brittany Moyer was crossed back down to the left side of the cage. Garber stepped into the field of play, charged the cage and pushed B.Moyer's pass into the left side of the cage.

Ressler, the reigning Goalie of the Week in the Freedom Conference stepped up big once again, picking up 11 saves. Also rising to the occasion defensively was Danielle Danser who picked up a defensive save in the first half.

"We are doing a great job of getting our shots and forcing penalty corners," said head coach Camrin Azzarano. "We've really been focusing though on waiting and taking a well-advised shot. Its fun to score off of the hard shot at the top of the circle, but its difficult. We're learning how to find our shots."

The Eagles return to action on Saturday, September 26 at home against Wilkes in their first Freedom Conference action of the 2009 season. Match time is set for 12:00 PM in St. Davids, Pa.