ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern Men's Soccer shut out the Cougars of Misericordia University 2-0 to round out the games on Homecoming Weekend.
Hunter Rosenberg scored both goals to help the No.12 Eagles remain unbeaten on the year and perfect in MAC Freedom Competition.
Misericordia (5-6-1, 1-1 MAC Freedom) started the game game on the attack. The Cougars fired two shots in the first three minutes The second of those two looked sure to give the visitors the lead. Misericordia midfielder Derek Antonini fired a one time shot from close range.
Jamie Stratton made a spectacular save that proved to be a turning point. The junior goalkeeper had been sliding across the box to manage the cross. When Antonini's shot came back toward the near post, Stratton was able to reverse his direction, dive, and parry the ball off the post and out.
With disaster averted, Eastern (11-0-1, 2-0 Freedom) turned to the attack. Less than a minute later, the Eagles found their chance on a long restart into the box.
Jadon Ramsing challenged for the initial header. When the ball went to the ground, Ramsing raced toward it. In reaching for the bouncing ball, the Misericordia keeper grabbed Ramsing's leg and pulled him down. Rosenberg hammered his penalty kick off the underside of the cross bar to give Eastern the 1-0 lead. It was the third penalty kick goal of the year for the senior forward.
In the 29th minute, it appeared that the Eagles had doubled the lead when Rosenberg put away a
Billy Walenda pass. The cheers of the homecoming crowd, however, were short-lived. The assistant referee had his flag up and the game remained tied.
Only seconds later, on a very similar play Rosenberg broke behind the Misericordia back row for a ball out of the midfield from
JD Saracco. Rosenberg beat the charging Misericordia keeper to the ball and flicked a floating shot toward the middle of the empty goal for his fourth goal of the year.
"Misericordia is a physical, disciplined and well organized team that presses well, challenges for everything and tests you on every dead-ball situation," Head Coach
Mark Wagner stated, "I was very pleased with our players ability to grind out a win in what was a pretty physical direct match."
Stratton finished with 10 saves. In the second half, the Cougars continued to search for a way to break down the door and get on the board. Antonioni managed to get his head on the ball off a great corner kick by Niko Amity but once again was denied by Stratton. The one time the Cougars did beat Stratton,
Colin Furlong came to his team's rescue with a headed save on the goal line.
As the half wore on, the physicality never changed as each team battled hard for possession. Wagner went on to say "We continued to see that our team can handle anything that is thrown at them: direct physical teams, possession-oriented teams, as well as games with challenging official's decisions."
Wagner concluded by saying "I think matches like today's where we really have to battle, give us more steel and confidence that we can win games in multiple ways - whether it's possessing well, or playing more direct, or winning the restart game."
The Eagles will travel to Delaware Valley University on Wednesday October 14th for a 4 PM match.
