ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Women's Soccer scored 13 minutes into Tuesday afternoon's contest and held off the King's College Monarchs the rest of the way to earn the 1-0 Freedom Conference win.

Eagles' sophomore forward Emily Cole tallied the game-winner, her team-best eighth goal this year. In the 13th minute, Eagles' right back Courtney Davis lobbed a pass from midfield aimed towards the Cole who was pressing against the Monarchs' back line. After the pass bounced off a King's defender, Cole back-tracked, recovered the ball and cut towards the top of the penalty arc and snapped a shot past the Monarchs' diving keeper and inside the right post.

“The early goal from Emily Cole put us in a good spot,” Eagles' head coach Dan Mouw said. “Then we had to work every second of the way to make it stand up.”

Both teams placed four shots on goal; Eastern took 11 shots total and King's took seven. Much of the play Tuesday was decided in the midfield. Coach Mouw noted the leadership from his upperclassmen as being key to controlling play and keeping King's away from goal. “Emily [Roquemore] and Steph [Le] were the glue that kept the game together, and Laura [Martin] and the rest of the back row were solid throughout,” he said. "Their attitudes and work rate set the tone that the team followed.” He also commented that he thought his non-starters took advantage of their time on the field and kept the intensity level high throughout the game.

Eastern goalkeeper Jules Leco recorded four saves in the win. Leco stopped a powerful, open shot in the 36th minute, and came up big again early in the second half when she got a hand on a shot that glanced the bottom of the crossbar and would have gone in had she not touched it.

The Eagles picked up their second Freedom Conference win and remain alive in the conference playoff picture with two conference games to play. Eastern plays at DeSales University on Saturday at noon.

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