ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Field Hockey scored two second-half goals to erase an early deficit, but the visiting Wilkes University Colonels scored in the 53rd minute to claim a 3-2 win to start the MAC Freedom season.

How It Happened:
The Eagles (3-6, 0-1) pushed the ball into the Wilkes end from the start, but the Colonels found an opportunity in the counterattack. Eastern defender Harper Sellers turned away a first shot, but Julia Kiss socred to put the visitors up only two and a half minutes into the match. As the first quarter drew to a close Wilkes grabbed another chance on a similar play. This time the play pushed to the right of the goal and Morghan Murphy was on the back post to double the lead.

Eastern had nearly all the play in the second quarter. They had a 9-to-2 edge in shots and a 5-to-0 edge in penalty corners. The Wilkes defense stood its ground and goalie Vanessa Damgaard stopped five shots to keep the Eagles off the board. Becky Howard also had a 12-yard shot rip off the near post and go behind Damgaard.

Pushing for an equalizer, the Eagles controlled play through the thrid quarter as well. All the energy directed at goal seemed to go for naught until the final tick of the clock in the third. After earning a penalty corner with under three seconds on the clock, the Eagles had what amounted to an un-timed play to try to score. Joelle Wash pushed the ball to Jenna Lapp who powered home her first career goal.

That momentum stayed with the Eagles as they earned a penalty stroke just over two minutes into the fourth quarter. Ali Balmer converted for her fourth goal of the year. The comeback stopped short when Lauren Baldwin picked up a restart ten yards outside the circle and dribbled toward goal. The Wilkes forward earned the middle of the circle and popped a ball into the top of the net.

The Eagles again pushed for an equalizer over the final five minutes. In that span, they had a shot saved by the goalie, a final shot saved by a defender, and a final shot hit off the post. For the match, the Eagles had a 23-8 edge in shots and an 11-4 advantage in penalty corners.

Coach Azzarano Says:
"Today was tough for us. A slow start, defensive breakdowns, and two goals against in the first quarter put us in the hole early."

"We are proud of perseverance and hard work this team showed to gain the advantage in possession during the second quarter and through the second half.  We did the hard work of digging out of our early hole. We have to commit to taking our defensive responsibilities seriously on every play. We showed a lot of good things in coming back and I am hoping that as we have a few minutes to work though our last couple games that we will rise to the challenge ahead of us."

Up Next:
The Eagles are at Swarthmore College on Wednesday.