ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Soccer scored a goal in each half and held on to beat the visiting Nittany Lions of Penn State Harrisburg, 2-1. Alondra Cervantes and Melanie Witter each had a goal and an assist for the Eagles.

With temperatures moving into the 90's, the Eagles hoped to jump out to a quick lead. Witter connected on her third goal of the year thirteen minutes into the match. Her tally came after a Harrisburg foul near midfield. Courtney Davis lofted the ball into the box where Cervantes won the initial ball with a skim header to Witter. The first-year forward chopped the ball back to her left foot before scoring from close range.

The Lions (5-2) equalized in the 48th minute on an individual effort from Erica Hile. The senior midfielder blocked an Eastern clearance attempt at midfield and scored in transition after the ball off her body went behind the entire Eastern back row. The Eastern back row would allow only one more shot over the final 42 minutes of action. Adrianna Rowlands finished with four saves in the game while managing her box well behind the back four.

The Eagles grabbed the lead in the 54th minute. Marisa Iannelli won a ball near the edge of the box and pushed it wide. Nicole Weenink collected the ball on the left flank and drove toward goal on the dribble. The sophomore winger slotted a ball back to Witter on the near post. Witter felt a mark and a second defender stepping and slipped a quick pass central for Cervantes who ripped home her second goal of the year from close range.

The Eastern defensive group saw the game to completion.

"I thought our back four played great." Head Coach Brandon West said of the game. " Z [Ashley Zemeski], Alex [Imperatore], Courtney [Davis] and Carli [Sitkowski] played a lot of minutes in the heat and did a good job helping us keep the ball as well as clear anything that was dangerous."

West also pointed to the work done by Cervantes, Iannelli, Amy Radcliffe, and Alyssa Sheaffer in the midfield. He noted that the group switched the play well and and were vey solid defensively.

"Overall, " West concluded, "We have a group who will fight for 90 minutes. When you have that, you have a chance of staying in every game. We did that today."

The Eagles (2-3-1) will play at Stockton on Wednesday before returning home against Lancaster Bible next Saturday.