ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- After dropping its last two matches,
Eastern University Men's Soccer scored a pair of early goals and held on
for a 2-1 home win over Penn State-Abington (10-3). The Eagles (8-5-1) will
conclude their 2012 campaign this Saturday with a Freedom Conference
home game against Delaware Valley College.
Eastern jumped to a
great start when Brandon Beaumont found Ben Barnhart in space behind the
Nittany Lion back row. Barnhart took a touch central and beat the
charging goalkeeper with a dribble before rolling in his first career
goal with only 108 seconds elapsed in the match.
Four minutes
later, Barnhart returned the favor with a clever ball into space for
Beaumont. Beuamont's solid touch gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead and the game
seemed to be working its way toward a blow-out. That, however, never
happened. Beaumont put a shot from in close over the bar in the 23rd
minute, and shortly thereafter the visiting Lions cut the deficit in
half on a deftly played shot from Matt Howard.
The game moved into a back-and-forth affair from there.
Eastern's
Nick Policastro made the best ofhis three saves shortly after the
intermission to stop a Matt Howard chance from in close. Abington's
James Carlin kept his team within a goal with consecutive saves on in
close shots from Zach Johnson in the 66th minute.
The win lifts
the Eagles to 7-1-1 on Olson Field this year. Eastern will look to add
to that mark with its final home test of the year against Delaware
Valley College this Saturday.
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