DALLAS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer beat the host Misericordia University Cougars, 1-0, to pick up an important MAC Freedom win on the road.
Sam Sutherland scored in the 59th minute, and the Eastern defense did the rest as the Eagles (9-2-1, 3-0 MAC Freedom) picked up their fifth 1-0 win this fall.
How It Happened:
Entering play today, in the 13 meetings between the two schools since they moved to the MAC in 2008, Misericordia had scored 13 goals and Eastern 12. Though Eastern is 5-0-1 over the past six meetings, the matches have all been tight. That, coupled with the schedule putting Eastern's two long league road trips within a few days of each other, suggested that, despite the disparity in records, that tonight's game would be a tough test for the Eagles.
Through the first 45 minutes, it was. Neither team put a shot on goal in the opening half. Easten had only two attempts at goal in the frame.
Evan Needs had a shot blocked early and
Bryce Wahinya missed high in the 44th minute. The game was set up for the Cougars (2-9-1, 0-3 MAC Freedom) to escape with an upset.
The Eagles found the goal they needed on a restart chance in the 59th minute.
Colin Furlong started the play with a dangerous serve from near midfield on the left side. His ball bent toward the back post and was headed away by a Misericordia defender.
Julio Ardon won the next ball and headed it to the feet of
Jake Sankey in the box. The junior center back settled the ball for Sutherland who ripped a left-footed shot inside the far-post for his third career game-winning goal.
The Eagles are 5-1 in 1-0 matches this year and 18-4 in such matches over the past four seasons.
Anthony Hitchcock made a single save to pick up the shutout, but the sophomore keeper played a bigger role than that in controlling his box against a late onslaught of long throws, restarts, and serves.
Coach Payne Says:
"We are happy to get a result tonight against a team that is way better than their record. It is hard to win and every game presents a challenge. I thought we worked very hard defensively to earn a shutout tonight. To hold a team to one shot on goal is great."
"The final ten minutes of the first half were important for us as we began to find some rhythm in game that did not have it for the first half hour. We made some adjustments for the second, and I thought we controlled that first 20 minutes. After we scored our goal, we lost some of our rhythm. We got a little bit too defensive and conservative after the goal. I would like to see us have some more composure and push for a second."
"Misericordia definitely pushed late and had some long throws and corner kicks. We handled our box well all game. Hitchcock was very clean in the air tonight and cut out a lot of crosses from their set pieces."
"We have three games in five days coming up. It is going to be a grind. We will need to prepare well over the next three days to get our bodies and minds ready. Obviously the most important game is Wilkes on Saturday. We hope to play our best, not just because it is homecoming, but because it is the next game on our schedule."
Up Next:
The Eagles will play three games at home. After hosting Wilkes for Homecoming this Saturday, the Eagles will play Stockton at home on the following Monday and Delaware Valley two days later. Eastern's lone remaining road match in the MAC Freedom is at DeSales. Wilkes scored in the 88th minute to beat King's this evening.
