SALISBURY, Md.-- Eastern University Women's Soccer scored twice in the last five minutes to escape Salisbury University (11-5-2) with a hard-fought 2-0 victory. Junior midfielder Kelsey Doutrich scored both goals in the match.
The first 85 minutes of the match were played primarily between the 18 yard boxes. Eastern held a 2-1 edge in shots at the intermission. Each team narrowly misfired on chances as the second half progressed, but Eastern goalkeeper Alysia Goodman made five stops and the Salisbury defense processed a trio of dangerous corner kicks to keep the game level until late.
Doutrich put away her third straight game-winner on a clever bit of passing out of the midfield. Senior midfielder Bethany Engle started the action of the play with a sharp entry pass into Tess Beckwith's feet. Beckwith turned cleanly and slid a pass in front of Doutrich at the top of the box. She pushed her first touch out of her feet and ripped a right-footed shot into the upper left corner for her 13th goal of the year.
Doutrich, the reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Week, has now scored in ten straight contests. The 86th minute would help the Eagles to avoid a sixth overtime contest of the year. The result, however, was not certain until the Eagles fought off a late push from the Sea Gulls and earned a free kick in the final minute of play.
Amy Thomas ripped the restart off the crossbar and Doutrich met the rebound at the six yard line with a clean volley for her second of the day.
Head Coach Dan Mouw was pleased with the team's performance on the afternoon.
"Kelsey had two great finishes," he said, "but they were only useful because of the hard work in the rest of field. Our back line worked very well together and our midfield worked incredibly hard all day. Salisbury is a good team and this was a great challenge for us to win on the road against a regionally ranked team."
Doutrich scored in a 1-0 overtime win against the Sea Gulls last fall.
The Eagles (10-5-2) are on the road again this Saturday for a critical Freedom Conference match at Wilkes University.Â
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