Eastern University Men's Soccer picked up an important win in their Freedom Conference opener at Misericordia University. The Eagles scored a pair of second half goals to earn a 2-1 win over the two-time defending league Champions.

The match, however, did not get off to a good start for Coach Wagner's side as the Cougars got their Homecoming crowd into the game with an eighth minute goal on a restart. Andy Bush scored off a long serve from Greg Korhonen. Off the goal, the Cougars had much of the play for the next ten or fifteen minutes. 

"Again," Wagner stated, "we started slowly. I was really pleased with the way we battled back, but we have to figure out a way to stay out of the early holes." Dexter Lamparter nearly brought the Eagles to level just after the half hour mark, but, in what would become a bit of a theme for the day, his shot banged off the crossbar. Off that near miss, the Eagles gathered momentum for the final fifteen minutes of the half. In the 44th minute, Lamparter banged a rebound off the bar yet again.

The match swung in the visitors' favor in the 59th minute when Lamparter guided a well-weighted ball in behind the Cougar back line that put Braden Gross in alone on the Misericordia goal. Misericordia goalkeeper Mason Astaneh charged the play and upended Gross for a yellow card and free kick outside the box. 

Senior center back Kyle Hurst made the restart count when he crushed a low shot of a little pass from fellow senior Ben Faro to level the match. "Kyle worked on that for a long time yesterday," Wagner related, "by the end of the practice he had simplified his thinking to 'finish forward' and that little detail made all the difference. I had forgotten about until after the game when he told me that all I was thinking was 'finish forward.'" The tally is the second of the year for Hurst.

With momentum on their side, the Eagles continued to press forward. In their eagerness to go forward, the Eastern squad left a momentary opening, but John Crowder was at the ready to turn away a Bryan Kulbacki shot only seconds after the equalizer. After that chance, the Eagles settled in and began to move the ball with efficiency. The ball work resulted in a 79th minute game-winner as Phil Mantua gathered a pass in the midfield and earned the penalty box with a powerful dribbling run. Mantua's blast caromed off a Cougar leg and fell right at the feet of first-year forward Brandon Beaumont. Beaumont left no doubt with a squarely hit finish.

Up a goal, Eastern shifted into a slightly more direct approach for the final ten minutes. Even with the tactical change, the game seemed more likely to go to 3-1 than 2-2. Mantua, Beaumont and Gross each had near misses over the final five minutes. Gross dispossessed a Cougar defender deep in Misericordia territory and cracked a final shot off the crossbar.

"This was a great win for our young team," Wagner stated, "any road win in the conference is a big win, and with where they are and have been, this is even bigger."

Eastern (5-3-1, 1-0 Freedom) will host Ursinus College in a non-league game on Tuesday.