CRESSON, Pa.– It took nearly an hour, but the No. 15 Eastern University Men's Soccer finally solved a tightly organized defensive effort from the host Mount Aloysius Mounties. Julio Ardon redirected a Matthew Mitchell shot in the 59th minute, and that goal turned out to be the difference as the young Eagles (2-0) earned their second road win of the year.

How It Happened:
Perhaps with last year's 7-1 Eastern win in mind, the Mounties (1-1) came into the match committed to defending. The hosts played with a deep restraining line and forced the Eagles to beat 11 players in order to score. With their restraining line set so low, the Eagles had the vast majority of possession and a decided advantage in field possession through the scoreless first half. 

Eastern had a 5-1 advantage in shots and a massive 8-1 edge in corner kicks, and yet, the game remained tied. Eastern's best chance of the opening half came after a Mountie defender dragged down an Eastern player on a corner kick, but the Eagles were unable to convert on the penalty kick.

Despite the edge in shots, possession, and position, the Eagles were just a single miscue from falling behind. The center back tandem of Alex McGlynn and Jake Sankey kept the space in front of Anthony Hitchcock clear.

The goal finally came on a move up the left side. Derek Buhrman picked up the ball on the flank and earned the edge around his mark before serving a ball into the scoring area. A Mountie defender headed the ball to the top of the box, but Mitchell was waiting and hit a one-time shot toward goal. Ardon, who had moved into the box for the initial serve, redirected his classmates shot and caught the goalkeeper on the wrong foot. The sophomore midfielder now has three goals in his career. All three have stood as game-winners.

Hitchcock made two saves to pick up his second shutout in as many games. 

Coach Payne Says:
"[It was a] good result for us today. Mount Aloysius defended very well in their own half for most of the game. They had a game plan and executed very well. Today was hard."

"I thought our speed of play was good for most of the game. We dictated the tempo of the game. I believe we tired them out in the second half. We kept moving the ball and more gaps started to open up and they dropped even lower.

"We are still missing some quality once we get into the attacking third. All around, we will need to keep improving in this area to be more dangerous and compete with teams. Our service from wide areas, our runs in the box, getting the ball into the middle of the field to our central attacking players, it all will need to improve. It will be an area of focus for us. It took over a month last year to start creating the amount of quality chances that we needed with our possession."

"We are happy to be 2-0. I don't think we played our best but we got a result and another clean sheet. I am a believer in that good teams find ways to win when they don't play their best. We love away trips because of the time we get to spend together as a team, but we are excited for our first of five straight home games."

Up Next:
The Eagles play a pair of games on Olson Field this weekend. The Eagles will host Randolph-Macon on Friday and Washington College on Saturday.