ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- For fifty minutes, the plan worked. Eastern University Women's Soccer held the top-ranked Messiah Falcons scoreless throughout he first 50 minutes of the match, but the Falcons (6-0-1)  found the goal three times in a ten minute stretch and pulled away to a 4-0 win. Freshman goalkeeper Leah Lozzi made 18 stops in her collegiate debut.

Throughout the first half, the Eagles battled to keep the high-scoring Falcons from dangerous spots on the field. On the occasions that the Falcons did find chances, Lozzi stepped up and made several key saves. She finished the first half with 10 saves. Her biggest save of the game came on a breakaway in the 25th minute.

"I was so proud of the way we competed today," head coach Dan Mouw said after the game. "We wanted to force them to be great to beat us and to do everything we could to keep them from being great. We brought great heart and emotion into the match. We broke the game down into 15 minute stretches, and we had three really good ones to start the match."

The Falcons turned the table with three goals in the first fifteen minutes to grab control of the game. Marissa Weaver connected on the first in the 51st minute. Her shot from the right side curled into the upper left corner from 22 yards out. Seven minutes later, Weaver bent in a corner for the second goal.

"That goal," Mouw said, " is the one that kind of hurt. I was unclear in my communication and pulled players into spots where they could not help Leah out. It was a good tight corner and a challenging play for any keeper, but we can fix that. Their other goals were really great shots."

Three minutes later, Kyele Bridel put away her fourth of the year in the 76th minute off a pass from Nikki Elsaesser to make it 3-0. Erin Sollenberger put away the final goal for Messiah.

"We want to win every time we play." Mouw concluded. "The bigger goal for us is to get better every time we step on the field. We had to do some things today that will prepare us for the road ahead. We got better today."

Eastern's four losses are to teams with a combined record of 20-1-4. The Eagles face another tough test on Saturday at Stockton University.