ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer scored a pair of first-half goals and held on for a shutout win over the visiting Penn State Abington Nittany Lions. Quentin Keibler picked up his fourth shutout of the season in goal.

The Eagles had chances from the start. In the seventh minute, Jake Sankey took a nifty pass from Cade Harmon in the box, but Abington goalkeeper Kevin Sykes was in position to smother the shot.

The Eagles finally broke through on a clever slip pass from Sean Dougherty. Sam Sutherland had his run timed perfectly and he met the pass behind the Abington back row and dribbled around Sykes before pushing home his second career tally. Billy Walenda nearly doubled the Eastern lead moments after the Sutherland tally, but Sykes was quick off his line and saved the breakaway attempt at the top of the box.

Nine minutes later, Cade Harmon headed home his third goal of the year. The 2016 MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Year met a Cole Lesher throw in on the back post. The Eagles had several great chances to add to the lead in the final twelve minutes of the half, but Sykes made two more saves and the Abington defense blocked several shot attempts. Sykes had six saves in the opening half.

Eastern had a commanding 14-2 edge in first-half shots, but the game remained within reach for the visitors.

The Eagles continued to pressure the goal after intermission, but a third goal never happened. Sutherland had the best chance. The freshman winger cut between a pair of Abington defenders on the right side and cracked a left-footed shot off the far post int he 77th minute.

"The good news," Head Coach Jeremy Payne said, "is that we generated a ton of chances today. Our center backs [Jadon Ramsing and Jacob Myers] controlled the tempo of the game and we kept the ball. We were missing that extra bit of creativity in the attacking third to put the game away. It was good to get a shutout and create chances, but I think we need continue to get healthy and get better."

Keibler only needed to make one save, but with the lead stuck at two goals, the save was a big one. Thomas Vessels had overlapped into the attacking end, and the Abington centerback had a chance from a tight angle twelve yards out that Keibler smothered.

"We are looking forward to Saturday," Payne concluded. "The Cabrini game has a lot of meaning and we anticipate that our guys will be up for it. We have done a good job getting results in these last three games, but there is another level for us to get to."

Eastern plays Cabrini on Saturday at 3:00 pm