ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Eastern Field Hockey scored twice in the final two minutes of Saturday's homecoming game against Wilkes University, but the rally came a little too late as the Eagles fell 4-3.
Eastern sophomore Danielle Frasca scored a goal in each half. Megan Bolton scored her team-best 12th goal, hitting her fourth penalty stroke of the season in the 70th minute.
The Eagles fell behind in the first minute when Wilkes earned a penalty corner and scored on a hard shot right after the insert. The Colonels earned four unanswered corners over the next 15 minutes and then tallied their second goal of the game in the 16th minute with a finished rebound.
Eastern put their first score on the board in the 18th minute. Bolton threaded a ball from the right wing, near the 25, through traffic to find Frasca near the left post for the finish.
Wilkes, however, responded with a breakaway goal in the 21st minute and extended their first-half lead to 4-1 in the 24th minute.
The Eagles earned their first penalty corner of the game in the end of the 28th minute. Eastern earned four penalty corners to end the half, but were unable to convert. Wilkes' keeper Alexis Reed saved three hard corner shots by Bolton that other teams have struggled to stop. Reed stood on her head, finishing with 11 saves.
In the second half, the Eagles started with four more penalty corners and had six in the half to Wilkes' zero.
With two minutes left, Frasca finished a shot from Sarah Webb to make it a 4-2 game. With time running out, Eastern came right back down the field, earned a penalty corner and a penalty stroke after an illegal defensive save. Bolton cashed in the penalty stroke with a swift upper-90 shot. Only 40 seconds remained in the game, and the Eagles tried to earn one more penalty corner but were denied.
The Eagles dropped to 6-8 while Wilkes improved to 3-9. Both teams are 1-2 in the conference. Just above Eastern and Wilkes in the Freedom Conference are five teams at 2-1.
On Saturday Eastern Field Hockey will play at Misericordia University for a 1:00 p.m. start.
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