ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– In the second match of the spring, Eastern University Men's Soccer earned a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Arcadia.
Derek Buhrman scored the only goal of the match with a header off a restart in the first half.
The Eagles controlled much of the possession and fild position early, but the Knights, who brought a much more veteran line-up to the match, put pressure on the young Eastern back line as the half progressed. Head Coach
Kevin Brenner put out a line-up with five first-year players and fives sophomores to start the match. Four of those five first year players,
Dylan Daigneault,
Matthew Foxworth,
Sam Provido, and
JJ Mugaisi played across the back row.
The Eagles fought off a few early set-pieces and long throws, and
Riley Porter made a save on a header in close. Buhrman found his third goal of the spring on a serve from the right side. Gabe Velazquez bent the ball into the scoring area, and Buhrman out-jumped his mark to head home the eventual game-winner.
While the Eagles had a fair amount of possession in the second half, and Valzquez sent a screamer just over the bar on a bouncing ball after a cross from
Emmanuel Hewitt, the Knights brought significant pressure after the intermission. Provido made a game-saving block on a well-executed restart from the right side, and Mugaisi and Daigneault also cleared bouncing balls from danger in the second part of the second half. Porter made a scrambling save diving back toward his own goal line with seven minutes left to keep a second clean sheet of the spring.
"Today was a really important game for our young squad, as It resembled a typical tough MAC game," Head Coach
Kevin Brenner said after the match. "I felt like we were very prepared and had large spells of possession with purpose. Full credit to Arcadia who posed some problems. We were able to make some halftime adjustments in order to preserve the win."
"I thought our possession play was much improved from last week as well as our attacking patterns," Brenner added. "
Drew Johnson and
Derek Buhrman were dangerous in the final third today which created some very good goal scoring opportunities today.
Jake Meyer was a great calming influence in the midfield who made quality distribution decisions.
Sam Provido was outstanding in both defending and provding quality service today. "
The Eagles will play at Widener next Sunday afternoon.
