VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - For the first 30 minutes, everything worked well for Eastern Men's Soccer as they played against Virginia Wesleyan Marlins Saturday evening. Despite taking more shots and corners, a penalty kick opened an offensive surge for the Marlins in a 3-0 victory.

The Eagles (0-2) were in control early in the contest with precise passes and fierce offensive opportunities. However, Eastern missed shots from Steven Fajardo, Derek Buhrman, and Sebastian Rosica kept VWU in the game. The Marlins (2-0) had chances, but heads-up play from goalkeeper Ty Bleiler halted the threats. Until VWU launched a counter-attack with numbers, the Marlins took the lead with a penalty kick from Angel Garcia in the 37th minute.

Shortly after, an aggressive Marlins team kept on the attack; Garcia scored from a rebound off Bleiler in the 40th minute, and Ilan Mejia scored in the upper-right corner in the 42nd minute outside of the box. 

While down three, the Eagles came out in the second half aggressively. However, with blocked shot attempts by Buhrman, Haroon Husseini, and Matthew Capuano, Marlin's goalkeeper Griffin Potter prevented the Eagles from cutting the deficit. The Eagles would have one last chance to get on the board with an Emmanuel Hewitt penalty but missed just right of the post.

"It was a tough loss tonight," Coach Glodi Konga said. "However, it's an opportunity to develop resilience early in the season. We have a few days to rest and prepare for another test on the road."

The Eagles will play their next game on the road against Farmingdale State College on Sept. 6 at 6:30 PM.