GLENSIDE, Pa.– After eighty minutes, Becky Howard slammed home a loose ball to lift Eastern University Field Hockey to a 1-0 overtime win at Arcadia. Howard's game-winner came on the Eagles' fourteenth penalty corner of the match.

The two teams spent much of the early part of the opening period in the midfield before the Eagles picked up a run of penalty corners. Eastern had five penalty corners in the final 13 minutes of the period. The final penalty corner came as time expired in the period. Eastern had an 8-2 edge in first-half penalty corners and a 9-3 edge in shots, but Arcadia goalie Maya Stern made five of her ten saves in the opening period.

Both teams had three penalty corners in the second half, but the Eagles had an 8-5 edge in shots. Alison Hoag earned a penalty corner as time expired to give the Eagles another chance with time expired. Hoag had 12 shots and put six of those on goal in the match.

Head Coach Camrin Azzarano was not pleased with her team's execution on corners in regulation, but noted that the fatigue of the team's tough match at Stockton on Saturday.

"To be honest," Azzarano said. "I feel a lot of them are still recovering from Saturday. It was so hot [at Stockton], it was almost like we were melting. I am proud of the way we competed. This win was huge."  

From the start of overtime, the Eagles controlled field position and possession, but the Knights (4-3) had a few dangerous moments in transition. Alexis Gooch cut away numerous chances and helped keep the Knights from generating a shot in the 7-on-7 overtime.

The Eagles (2-5) had several good chances off their first two corners, but Stern made a stop and an Eastern attacker was called for a foul on another chance, and the game stayed level through the first ten minutes. Eastern scored the game winner on the team's third penalty corner of overtime.

While it was fitting that the game-winner came on a penalty corner, the tally came on a broken play. Howard aimed for GIna Miller on the insert, but the pass was off line and stayed in the circle. Miller ran from her starting point and picked up the ball inside the circle.

"I think they [the Arcadia defenders] might have been a little surprised," Miller said. "I just knew I had to get to the ball first. If they got to it first, it could have been bad."

With teams playing with only six position players in overtime, Penalty corners are dangerous opportunities to score, but also leave the offensive team vulnerable to counterattack. Once she won the ball, the senior midfielder had to pull the ball out of the circle against the pressure of a charging defender. She spun away and served a cross toward goal.

Howard found her way to the ball off the goalkeeper's pads and slapped home her second goal of the year. It is her second goal this year. The sophomore forward scored twice in the game against Arcadia last year. The goal is her third career game-winning goal.

Nicole Berger made four stops to pick up her first shutout of the year.

The Eagles open MAC Freedom play with a home game against Wilkes University on Saturday.