WASHINGTON--Eastern University Field Hockey's season came to an end Wednesday night with a 2-5 loss to the Catholic University Cardinals in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Three unanswered second half goals by the Cardinals undid the Eagles' upset bid.

Eastern struck first, when Kelby Bolton scored an unassisted goal in the sixth minute, her seventh goal of the season. 

The Cardinals responded in the seventh minute with a goal by Kim Hermann, but Eastern regained the lead in the 29th minute when Yvonne Herbster scored her 12th goal of the season off an assist from Brittany Moyer. Exactly three minutes later, Catholic's Hermann scored her second of the game to even the score. Both of Eastern's goals came after penalty corners

After halftime, the Cardinals pounced early, scoring 54 seconds into the half. They added another goal in the 39th minute and put the final nail the proverbial coffin in the 66th minute.

All evening, the Catholic offense beleaguered Eastern's defense. Catholic fired 31 shots to Eastern's four. All four of Eastern's shots were on goal while Catholic put 19 on goal.

With the loss, the Eagles finished the season 12-9 and missed the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2007. Eastern Field Hockey will miss seniors Yvonne Herbster and Dani Danser next season as they look to win another Freedom Conference Championship and return to the NCAA tournament next season. Coach Camrin Azzarano commented about the play of her two seniors over their careers. 

"Dani is a very fiery passionate player," she said. "She has always provided strength and consistency. She has great composure and command in the backfield. It will be interesting to see who steps up as the defensive leader. Yvonne is quite simply a super skilled player. It is unlikely that her stick skills can ever be replaced. She has carried the ball for us and served up so many balls into the goal circle. 

"These two started out in a group of eight freshman and are the two remaining. They did a wonderful job of leading their team this year."