RADNOR, Pa. – With this summer's announcement that Cabrini University would be closing after this year, tonight's men's soccer contest between Eastern and Cabrini took on new meaning. The two schools with neighboring campuses have played since the 1970's. Records from the earliest days of the rivalry are either hard to confirm or non-existent. Dating back to 1982, Eastern held a slim 20-19 edge in the series. Notably absent from such a close rivalry, in result and geography, were ties.

Tonight, the two teams battled for a full 90 minutes with Eastern controlling the early going and the host Cavaliers pushing the action in the late. After a dominating opening half hour, the Eagles got a goal from Ethan Pfau in the 34th minute. Three rookies combined on the play. Zach Sievert and Briyan Aben worked out of traffic on the right flank before Aben slipped a pass into the final third fro Pfau. His first shot was saved, but Pfau stayed with the attack and put away the rebound for his second career tally. In contrast to Cabrini's veteran group, the Eagles had three first-year players and five sophomores in the starting 11. 

After the intermission, the veteran Cabrini group applied pressure almost immediately. After several forays into the box, the Cavaliers earned a penalty kick in the 56th minute on a foul just inside the 18. Ty Bleiler guessed correctly and smothered the attempt to keep the Eagles up.

Off the play, the Eagles had three great chances. Cabrini goalie MJ Graham stopped the first effort from Sievert, but the Eastern rookie gathered the rebound and fired a 20-yard shot past Graham. In the scramble, a Cabrini defender had run to the goal line. With a sliding play, he knocked the shot away. That rebound did not get far, and Osmond Chan put a shot on target that Graham smothered.

After ten minutes of heavy sustained pressure, the hosts found the equalizer on a move up the right side. Bleiler made a brilliant save on the first point-blank effort off the cross, but Cabrini forward Matt Duddy was in the right spot to bury the rebound. Ten minutes later, Nick LoBiondi cracked a hard shot from the left side of the box. The entire Eastern crowd released a gasp as the shot caromed off the upper corner of the goal.

The Eagles had the final chance of the match on a corner kick in the final minute. Seivert's header grazed the outside of the right upright.

"We needed to find the second goal when we were pressing in the first half," Head Coach Luca Mellor said after the match. "We let those chances slip away. Though it feels like we really should have won it, with the penalty and that ball of the bar, we also very easily could have lost."

After the hard-fought game that brought conclusion to the nearly 50-year old rivalry, the two teams met at midfield for earnest handshakes and a final photo.

The Eagles (2-2-1)  will host Delaware Valley University on Tuesday.