St. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern Women's Soccer lost a tough 3-1 game to No. 14 Misericordia University in a hard fought effort.
The two teams battled for possession and field position through the early going. Neatither team, however, was able to break through in the early going. The Cougars finally got on the board when Nicole Palanza finished at the back post on a nice cross from Jeanna Orafanos.
Just over a minute later Misericordia struck again after a foul just deep in the Eastern end. Jacqueline Stevens hit her left footed shot just under the bar for a 2-0 lead.
Head Coach
Dan Mouw said "We had a really bad two minutes in the first half that put us behind. We know that good teams will take advantage of mistakes. Misericordia took advantage of a couple mistakes with good plays."
The Eagles came out firing in the second half.
Emily Cole got a great look just over two minutes in but could not capitalize. At the 60 minute mark, Cole got another opportunity and this time she delivered. The junior forward intercepted a pass in the Misericordia back row and drove a 20-yard shot just over the goalkeeper to cut the deficit in half.
Despite creating several good opportunities, the Eagles were unable to find the game-tying marker. With just over 10 minutes to pay the Cougars netted the final tally of the game on a long ball over the top.
Mouw concluded his thoughts by saying "I was proud of the way we battled back. We had some good chances down 2-1, but we were not able to convert. It is a disappointing result, but we feel that we are making steps forward. We have to keep getting better. We have no time to be down. We have a big week in front of us."
The loss dropped Eastern to 5-7-1 overall on the season and 1-1 in the MAC Freedom. They will play at Delaware Valley University on Tuesday evening.
