WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Eastern University Men's Soccer scored a pair of first half goals to beat top-seeded King's College and claim the 2015 MAC Freedom Championship. Jacob Myers scored the first goal and was named the Championship Most Outstanding player.

As the third seed, the Eagles (15-2-2) had to take the hard road to the title. Their two games in the MAC Freedom Championship came on the road against the two teams that beat them in the regular season. The Monarchs (16-4-1) beat Eastern 1-0 in October and also topped the Eagles in last year's Freedom Conference Championship match.

This year's championship match started at a deliberate pace. Neither team threatened the goal until JD Saracco fired a pair of shots from distance in the 17th minute. The first shot from the MAC Freedom Offensive player of the year bounced wide, but his second shot from 30 yards out knuckled on the way in and tested Monarch goalkeeper Owen Geedey.

Midway through the period, the Eagles pressed forward, and the results came quickly. The pressure in the front half forced a King's defender to clip a ball out of play deep in his own end.

As they have done all year, the Eagles played the restart well. John Remsberg came forward for the throw and heaved a toss to the edge of the six-yard box. Jadon Ramsing, his fellow center back, skimmed the ball toward the back post. Myers shook free from his mark and powered the free header into the upper corner of the goal for his fifth goal of the year.

"For the entire first part of the year," Head Coach Mark Wagner said, "we played well, forced restart opportunities and converted enough of them to win games. In the last couple weeks of the regular season, our level dropped and we stopped scoring on restarts."

Up a goal, the Eagles did not pause. Cade Harmon, whose 109th minute heroics lifted the Eagles past FDU-Florham into today's final, beat a pair of defenders and earned the box on the dribble. The last Monarch defender tangled with the freshman forward. Harmon went down. Ramsing converted the penalty kick for his fifth goal of the year.

Up 2-0, the Eagles sat back and waited for chances. All told, Eastern had an 8-1 advantage in shots in the first half.

After the break, the Monarchs had to take even bigger steps to carry the action of the game. The Eagles picked their spots to go forward and, for the most part, kept the Monarchs from finding chances in close. King's had a pair of shots from distance in the opening two minutes of the half. The first from Chris Nygren drifted wide right. The second effort, a 25 yard blast from Erik Foster hit the top of the crossbar and went out of play. Quentin Keibler appeared to have the shot covered.

Keibler, a sophomore goalie who missed nearly all of the league season with injury, managed his box well, but was not credited with a save in the shutout win.

"I am so happy for our players coaches and program," Wagner concluded. "They've worked so hard - not just for 3 months - but for a year. Last year left a really bitter feeling in our players and staff - they've had a singular focus for 12 months - to get back to the final - and win it this time. And tonight it paid off. I'm so proud of all of them."

The Conference Championship is the first for the Eagles since joining the Freedom Conference in 2008. The Eagles were playing in their fourth championship game in the last six years.

The Eagles, who started three freshmen and four sophomores, earn the MAC Freedom's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The team will learn the time, opponent and location of its first round game on Monday at 1:30. Follow @EUEagles on Twitter or check goeasterneagles.com for immediate updates.