ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer scored four second-half goals to pull away to a 5-2 win over the visiting Misericordia University Cougars in the MAC Freedom Semifinal. With their 11th win in a row, the Eagles advance to the MAC Freedom final for the fifth consecutive season. Liam Harmon had a goal and an assist to help the Eagles rally from down a goal early.

How It Happened:
Eastern had only allowed three goals in the team's last ten matches and had not allowed a goal in nearly 400 minutes of action, so when Misericordia's Joseph Crisafi collected a missed clear and poked it home in the 24th minute, the Eagles found themselves behind for just the third time this season.

The Eagles (16-2-1) had most of the play in the early going and responded with even greater pace and urgency toward the Cougar goal. They found the equalizer on a pretty six-pass sequence following a short Misericordia clear in the 35th minute. Jake Cahill and Bryce Wahinya earned assists on the Cade Harmon goal, but Liam Harmon and Colin Furlong also had touches in the quick sequence. The goal is the sixth of the year and 26th of his career for Cade Harmon. The Eagles had a 13-2 edge in first-half shots, but they played the opening frame with a breeze at their backs and the sun low in the sky behind them as well.

The Cougars had the first two chances of the second half, but Anthony Hitchcock was in position to stop the two long-range efforts.

Billy Walenda put the Eagles in the lead on a good finish in the 49th minute. As he did for much of the first half, Liam Harmon forced the action with an aggressive dribbling run from a wide position. Coming off the left flank, Harmon collapsed the Misericordia defense before dropping a nice cut pass into Walenda's path. Walenda, who was running off the right side, finished with his left for his fourth of the year. Less than two minutes later, Walenda created another chance. This time, the senior forward ran out of the middle onto a well-weighted forward ball from Dennis Cosgrove. His one-time serve to the back post seemed destined for goal, but a lunging save by a Misericordia defender knocked the ball over the endline for a corner kick.

The Eagles have had six different players score on corner kicks this fall. Colin Furlong provided the serve and Julio Ardon converted on the header at the near post for his second of the year. No team had scored three goals against Eastern this year, so a 3-1 lead seemed safe until the Cougars took advantage of another rebound in the box to cut the Eastern lead to 3-2 with over 36 minutes to play.

Misericordia carried the play for the next few minutes. Things looked like they were going in the right direction for the Eagles when Walenda was fouled in the box on a transition effort, but Cade Harmon's penalty kick hit the post and the lead stayed at 3-2.

With a tough sun in their eyes and constant pressure from long balls into the area, the Eastern back row had to battle to hold the lead. The home side finally secured some margin after a Misericordia foul outside the box in the 74th minute. Colin Furlong bent a cross into the box. Jacob Myers tried for a diving header and missed, but Jake Sankey was at the back post to tap home his fourth goal of the year. Sankey scored a game-tying goal in the 89th minute at Misericordia in the 2016 MAC Freedom Championship match. He and Myers have combined for 12 goals and five assists from their center back position this fall. 

Liam Harmon closed out the scoring with a composed finish of an Andrew Fenstermacher cross in the 77th minute.

Coach Payne Says:
"Today's game was the most interesting 5-2 win that I have ever been a part of. I thought we played very well in the first half. I know we scored four goals in the second half,  but I thought we were sloppy. We scored two quick goals and were playing welll, then we lost our rhythm and composure for a bit. Both goals we let up were mistakes on our part. We have to do better on first and second balls and keep track of guys on restarts. Our clearances must be better, and we must take care of stuff in our box. That will be an emphasis in training before Saturday."

"Liam was very special today. His ability to break guys down and create for our team is so valuable, he was able to unbalance them throughout the game. I am very happy to see him have the impact that he did today and get on the scoresheet."

"Cade was great even though he was up at 5 am for a nursing clinical clinical. That's one of those things that sometimes gets overlooked on these midweek games. He was trying to get a 20 minute nap an hour before kickoff. That first goal was a great finish ona  really beautiful sequence of passes. We are a no excuse kind of team, but I think today was hard. We had to play the semifinal for our conference at 2pm on a Tuesday. Our guys needed to go to class and sort all that out. Misericordia got to take the whole day to focus and prepare for the match. I think our result today is impressive."

"We are excited to get our 16th win. We look forward to hosting the conference final on Saturday. We will be prepared for whoever we have to play."

Up Next:
The Eagles will host the winner of tonight's contest between the third-seeded Manhattanville College Valiants and the second-seeded King's  College Monarchs on Saturday. At this time, that match is slated for a 2:00 pm start.