ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - On a beautiful Homecoming Saturday, Eastern University Field Hockey beat the King's College Monarchs, 3-2, to claim a crucial MAC Freedom victory. The No. 20 Eagles used an overwhelming attack and solid defensive effort to earn the win.
Eastern forced a penalty corner just over three minutes into the contest.
Gina Miller played a perfect ball into the arc and off a deflection
Megan Bolton knocked in the loose ball to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.
Just four minutes later however King's got right back in the game when they received a penalty corner. Alyssa Monaghan was able to receive a clean pass and fire it past a sprawling
Nicole Berger to knot the game at 1-1.
Eastern was not intimidated one bit though as they came right back less than six minutes later. At the 13:45 mark
Danielle Frasca ripped a shot past Monarchs goalie Paige Tedik to give Eastern the lead again at 2-1, a lead that they would not relinquish.
As the first half wore on King's peppered Berger and the Eagles defense trying to find the game tying goal. With 15 seconds left to go in the half the Monarchs came flying down field and managed to get two shots off before the clock ran out. Both times however Berger was equal to the task and kept the Eagles on top as they headed into the break.
Head Coach
Camrin Azzarano said of the game "I think we continue to see a few areas of our game we know we need to solidify. Some time management details not so much on the offensive end but when not in possession of the ball. We continue to show the ability to get penalty corners, and we just have to start getting better shots on goal."
The second half started off with a bang as Eastern tallied a goal just over a minute in.
Lauren Gay capitalized on a beautiful pass from Frasca to extend the Eagles lead to 3-1. Eastern continued to keep the pressure on but were not able to deliver the knock-out punch.
At the 67:47 mark King's was awarded a penalty stroke giving them the opportunity to get back in the game. Monaghan buried it to cut the deficit to 3-2 with just over two minutes left to play. However, Eastern was able to hold on and secure the victory.
The win moved the Eagles to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the MAC Freedom. Coach Azzarano went on to say "Tough opponent and tough game coming off the TCNJ game. We asked our girls to be resilient and we felt like they were. They really came together and played more to what we are used to seeing out of this team."
Eastern will play at Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday Oct. 14th.
