CENTER VALLEY, Pa.- Eastern University Men's Soccer beat the No. 24 DeSales University Bulldogs 3-0 to advance to Saturday's Freedom Conference Championship. Mitch Osterhouse scored a pair of goals and Jon Crowder made seven saves to earn the shutout. 

The match was nearly the complete inverse of the early season meeting between the two squads. On Oct. 8, the Bulldogs scored against the run of play early and used restart chances to escape Eastern with a 3-1 win. On the super-saturated surface at DeSales, the Eagles took advantage of a turnover in the midfield in the 17th minute to build a 1-0 lead. Braden Gross picked off a ball and after a couple aggressive dribbles into space slotted a ball behind the DeSales back line in front of Osterhouse. Osterhouse curled his touch around the charging goalkeeper for his fifth goal of the year.

After the game, Osterhouse acknowledged that Gross earned more than the one assist on the play. 

"He played a perfect ball," he said, "I was wearing Braden's shoes. I usually pack my bag in the gym, but I brought it from my room. I might have to wear his extra pair from now on."

The Eagles fought off several DeSales chances as the half progressed. The Bulldogs had a tremendous chance in the 27th minute, but Crowder made an enormous diving save on a point blank shot from Derek Long. 

DeSales held a 13-5 edge in shots in the first half, but the Eagles led 1-0 in the only statistic that counts. 

The hosts had several chances right at the start of the second half, but they were unable to put a pair of great chances on frame. 

Nine minutes into the second period, Eastern took advantage of a restart opportunity from 45 yards out. James Le floated a serve into the space directly behind the DeSales back line. With Alex Schweitzer pressuring, the DeSales goalkeeper and defender collided and the ball popped loose. Brandon Reichart hit the center of an empty net for a 2-0 lead.

Osterhouse nearly made it 3-0 on a corner kick in the 65th minute, but a DeSales defender headed his bicycle kick attempt off the line. 

Up 2-0, the Eagles prepared for the Bulldogs to commit numbers forward, but Crowder and the Eastern defense stood their ground. Crowder turned away several chances and several other opportunities went either wide or high.

DeSales' Matt Metzler seemed sure to pull the home team within one on a point blank chance with thirteen minutes to play, but Crowder closed up the five-hole just in time to keep the shot from getting to the goal line. Immediately off that save, the senior punted the ball over the entire Bulldog back line and in front of Osterhouse. The sophomore made slipped his shot in to give the Eagles a much more comfortable cushion.

DeSales held a 24-14 advantage in shots for the match. 

"Our seniors were huge for us today," Osterhouse said, "we are looking forward to playing on Saturday."

The Eastern coaching staff was effusive in their praise for Crowder and for Austin Stover and James Le. Stover and Le spent the day limiting chances of DeSales' top two scorers, and Crowder made several huge plays dealing with long throws and restarts.

Eastern will play the winner of this evening's Manhattanville vs. Misericordia match on Saturday. The Bulldogs, who are ranked 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic region, will now hope to secure a Pool C bid to the NCAA Tournament.