ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer continued its success in 1-0 matches with a hard-fought home win over MAC Freedom rival King's College on Senior Day. Eastern's ten seniors are 21-4 in 1-0 matches over the past four years. Eastern (15-2-1, 7-0 MAC Freedom) is 8-1 in 1-0 matches this fall.

How it Happened:
The Eagles honored their ten seniors before the match. With a loss to Wilkes early in the league season, King's came in to today needing to win to earn the top seed in the upcoming MAC Freedom Tournament. The Eagles would claim the regular season title with a win or a draw.

The Eagles found the only goal they would need on a five pass combination in the tenth minute. Jake Cahill played a give-and-go with Sam Sutherland on the right flank before playing a ball into the feet of Billy Walenda. The senior forward pushed a ball out to the right flank. Sutherland met the ball and curled a serve into the scoring area and Cade Harmon played the ball of his body and into the corner of the goal from a few yards out. Twelve of Harmon's 25 career goals have stood as game-winner. Most of those are in one goal games.

The Eagles had a golden opportunity to double the lead on a tremendous combination in the 21st minute. Julio Ardon found Sutherland on angled run to central space about 25 yards from goal. Sutherland left a blind pass behind him for Cade Harmon running out the midfield. Harmon's one-time effort rang off the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

The Monarchs forced the issue with the wind for the final 25 minutes of the half, but the Eastern defense was able to defend corners and restarts and Anthony Hitchcock made a pair of saves to keep Eastern in front.

The teams played the second half with a strong breeze behind the Eagles and a steady rain falling on both sides. The teams combined for 27 fouls after the half. With 11 free kicks, a pair of corners, and numerous long throws the Monarchs peppered the Eastern box with serves. Colin Furlong, Jake Sankey, and Jacob Myers won header after header to limit the danger. Hitchcock made two saves in the second half. The first came early on a long range effort, and the second came late on a shot from a tight angle by Fabio Massa in 89th minute.

King's had a 9-4 edge in second-half shots.

With the win, the Eagles become the first MAC Freedom Regular Season Conference Championship. This is the first year, the MAC is recognizing regular season champions. They also claim the top seed in the tournament. The top seed has not won the tournament since 2012. Eastern will host Misericordia in the opening round. The Cougars slipped to fourth with a 1-0 loss at Manhattanville today. 

Coach Payne Says:
"I told the team that today was an important game for a variety of reasons. We were obviously playing to finish the season undefeated in conference play, to earn the #1 seed for the conference tournament, and to continue to build our resume. But the biggest reason it was important was because it was the next game on our schedule and we want to approach every game as a big game. We want consistency in every game we play."

"The first 35 minutes was some of the best soccer that we have played in a long time. Our speed of play was great and we were able to play a lot of penetrating balls during that time Our goal was great. We were able to penetrate before finding Sammy on the wing. He hit a great one-touch cross and we were able to get in the box to finish."

"It is great to see Cade score. He has been really dynamic in conference play but hasn't been on the score sheet. He does a lot more for us than score and has value for us in many ways."

"We knew they would go to two forwards at some point. They did with about ten minutes to go in the first half and we were on our heels during that time. They stuck with two forwards for the rest of the game. We wanted to see if our starters could impose their will against their shape, but the first 20 minutes of the second half was a lot more end to end than we would like. We fouled too much in second half. It is hard to win the territory battle and play in the other team's half when you are constantly trying to win balls in and on top of your box. We switched to three in the back with 25 minutes to go and I felt that gave us more stability at the back and allowed us to be more settled on the ball."

"Today was an interesting game. I felt like we could have won 3-0 but we could have also given up a goal and been 1-1 and playing in OT. We got another shutout today and that is our 4th game in a row. We take pride in getting a shutout and I believe that is a team effort."

Up Next:
The Eagles host Misericordia on Tuesday at 2 pm. Both teams are coming off tough tests today. Eastern and Misericordia have a long history of close matches and postseason play. This will be the eighth tournament test between the two programs going back to 1997. None of those games have been decided by more than a goal and two, including the most recent in the 2016 MAC Freedom Championship Game have gone to penalty kicks. King's will host Manhattanville in the other semifinal.