Eastern University Women's Soccer used a pair of late goals to pull away from the Manhattanville College Valiants for a 3-1 home win in a rematch of the 2009 Freedom Championship game. It was, interestingly enough, a sophomore who was nowhere near Purchase last fall who ultimately made the difference in the important league win for the Eagles (9-3-1, 3-0 Freedom).

Amy Thomas, who transferred into Eastern this fall, provided the spark with a goal and pair of assists. Thomas broke a 1-1 tie with an aesthetically pleasing goal in the 73rd minute. To start the play, Tess Beckwith broke free on the right side. The junior forward carved a little space for herself before driving a bending cross to the back post. Thomas was in the right spot for a smashing volley that did not give Manhattanville backstop Ali Bromson  any time to react.

"We needed that goal," Eastern Head Coach Dan Mouw stated, "She [Bromson] was not going to give away a cheap one, and she had just made a couple really nice saves on earlier efforts. Amy has really been working to try to get a read on how the ball is going to arrive, and she made the right decision and a fantastic strike."

With the one goal lead, the Eagles continued to press into attacking space as they had been throughout the second half. A foul in the attacking end created the important insurance goal two minutes later. Thomas had rattled the crossbar from a similar distance in the first half, but she made a good read on the situation and slotted a ball into wide space for Cara Dembrosky on an overlap. Dembrosky served a first time ball into the scoring area that Kelsey Doutrich lifted over Bromson for a 3-1 edge.

"I don't know that Amy could have made a bad decision the way she was striking the ball today," Mouw commented, " but it was great to see her make that read and deliver the ball with the perfect weight."

The two late goals came after an extended period of frustration for the defending champion Eagles. Eastern saw chance after chance go begging through the first half hour of the second half and gave up a game tying-goal to Brittney Smith in the opening minutes of the second half.

"At the break we said that the game was about the second goal," Mouw said, "when we gave up that goal against the run of play, they gained confidence in a way that made me nervous." First year goalkeeper Megan Polulak made a big save prior to Thomas's heroics to keep the game tied. She was credited with a pair of saves in picking up her second win in as many contests.

The Eagles held nearly all the play in the opening half, but the Valiants were dangerous in the counter. After Kara Lofton smashed a 10 yard header on frame on a corner kick in the seventh minute, Smith nearly put the Valiants up a goal with a tight angle shot that hit the back post.

Michelle Brown nearly broke the tie for the Eagles in the 28th minute with a 12 yard blast that hit the underside of the crossbar. That shot began what seemed to be an uninterrupted flurry of activity in front of Bromson for the final 15 minutes. Bromson and the Valiant backs held the final line together until early in the 42nd minute when Alli Inch took a pass at the edge of the six yard box from Thomas and ripped a curling left footed blast inside the far post. 

Krisitine Zeiset just missed finishing the rebound off the crossbar of Thomas's blast a minute later with a header, and shortly after Bromson made the save on her shot from in close.

The win lifts the Eagles into a tie for first in the Freedom with FDU-Florham after three games. Eastern, who started their eighth starting line-up in 13 games has wins over each of the playoff teams from 2009 in that three game stretch. 

Eastern returns to action Saturday afternoon at DeSales University.