ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - In its final home game of the regular season, Eastern Women's Soccer's MAC Commonwealth playoff hopes came to an end in a 1-1 draw with Widener. With the draw, the Eagles fell to 1-4-2 in conference play, leaving them on the outside looking in.
"The girls showed a ton of fighting spirit today," Eastern Head Coach AJ Stueck said. "They battled with everything they had for 110 minutes and worked very hard to execute the team's gameplan."
Eastern got off to a strong start, controlling both possession and field position in the match's early stages. In the 17th minute, the Eagles cracked the scoreboard as junior Lindsay Kline scored her third goal of the season off a scramble in front of the net. An attempted Widener clear went off of Brynn Rathsam and right to Kline, who punched the ball into the top left corner of the net. For Rathsam, it was her fourth assist in the Eastern's last three matches.
"I'm proud of Lindsay for being a consistent, steady presence for us all season," Stueck said. "Not only did she defend amazingly well at center back, but scored the goal as well."
Widener, however, found the equalizer just 16 minutes later, as freshman Alyssa Carman scored an unassisted goal, her 10th of the season, to make it a 1-1 game. Carman was a menace for the Pride all afternoon, collecting 11 of the visitor's 17 shots in the contest.
The Eagles best scoring chance came away in the second half. Rathsam beat several defenders and crossed in front to Madelyn Mullen, but the ensuing chance would not go. Widener went on to outshoot the Eagles 9-3 in the period, but could not find twine.
Eastern put together some more high quality chances in both of the overtime period, but were unable to record a shot on frame, leading to its third draw at home this season.
Emily Honig put together another strong performance in net, making 10 saves and increasing her season total to 72.
Eastern will wrap up its regular season on the road against Albright on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 5:00 pm.
"I am confident the team will work really hard the rest of this week and in our final game," Stueck said. "The girls are determined to be the best they can be."
