ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Women's Lacrosse claimed a big MAC Freedom victory over visiting Manhattanville on Saturday by the final score of 11-10. The Eagles never trailed and withstood a strong second-half surge by the Valiants to earn the win.

Stephanie Hogan and Anna Charlebois paced the Eastern (3-10, 1-1 MAC Freedom) scoring five goals apiece. Senior goalie Cortney Andes made 15 saves as the anchor of a solid defensive performance holding the Valiants (5-6, 0-2 MAC Freedom) to two separate scoreless streaks of ten minutes or more. The Eagles also won 15 draw controls to maintain possession throughout the game."

"Our defense was a unit, and everyone played their part," said Head Coach Kim Campbell. "Everyone contributed to our success and Andes has just been a rock for us. When you look at the game, draw controls were huge for us. It was a one-goal game, and we had extra possessions because of our success on the draw."   

Hogan got the game off to a quick start when she tallied her 21st goal of the season to give Eastern the 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game. Manhattanville came right back though to tie the score up less than a minute later. After a near five minute scoreless streak by both teams, Charlebois broke the deadlock netting her 30th goal of the season to give the Eagles the 2-1 advantage. However, the Valiants once again came back to tie the game when they netted the equalizer just under the 16-minute mark of the first half.

Eastern then went on a four goal run, sparked by Hogan, that stretched just over a seven minute period. Hogan tallied three of the four goals to help the Eagles build a 6-2 lead with eight minutes left to play in the opening half. Two of her goals came less than a minute apart during the scoring run.

"I think that putting a plug into playing for Autism awareness really inspired Hogan," continued Campbell. "It was something important to her and because of that it impacted her team. She played for something bigger than just a win today."

Manhattanville went a small two-goal run of its own to pull within two of the Eagles with less than a minute to play in the first half. Charlebois, however, netted her fourth of the game to give Eastern an 8-5 advantage heading into the locker room.

The Valiants opened the second half on a two-goal run to cut the deficit to just one, 8-7. Once again, though, Eastern responded, and Megan Petza netted her first goal of the season when she cleared the ball out of the defensive end and then finished off a Jullie Haggan pass to stretch the lead back to two, 9-7.

After pulling within two, 10-8, with over 17 minutes left to play in the game Manhattanville was kept off the scoreboard for nearly 14 minutes. During that time, Andes made three huge saves while the defense forced two turnovers to keep the Valiants at bay.

"The team as a whole wanted to maintain composure and possession, and that's what they did," stated Campbell. "Because of the success they achieved in the first half they knew they would capitalize on attack and get another goal."

Manhattanville tallied the final goals of the game, but two huge draw control wins by Hogan and Haggan helped the Eagles run out the clock and secure the victory.

"Getting a conference win was very important," concluded Campbell. "We were a unit offensively and defensively today and that will go a long way in helping us prepare for our next conference game."

Eastern hosts Delaware Valley on April 20th at 4 pm.