ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– With a steady rain falling throughout, Eastern University Women's Soccer (6-1-3) picked up a 1-0 win over the visiting Marywood University Pacers. Bridget Hitchner scored the only goal of the match in the 49th minutes, and Faith Leake made six saves to pick up the clean sheet and the win.

The teams each had a great chance in a scoreless first half. The Pacers (6-3-1) had a goal disallowed on an offside call in the 13th minute. A few moments later, Ella Marollo turned a good entry pass from Ashlynn Keys and earned space in the box. Eight yards from goal, two Marywood defenders lunged for the ball and met at Marrollo. The referee deemed that each got enough of the ball to not award a penalty, and the match remained scoreless until halftime.

Ninety seconds into the second half, the Eagles earned a tremendous chance with good interplay in the middle of the field. Olivia Nicholson started the action with a vertical pass. Emma Bennett made the turn and found Marrollo who pushed a quick pass into space for Keyes. With a step on her mark, Keyes earned the middle of the field, but Marywood goalkeeper Jenna Orr kicked her shot away to keep the game scoreless.

The Eagles continued to press. With Marywood looking to work out of the back, the Eagles stopped their progress and earned a chance in transition that resulted in the goal. Nicholson hit an angled ball into the attacking area. Billinda Leisner won the race to the ball and slipped a pass into space for Hitchner. Orr raced off her line to take it off the rookie forwards feet, but Hitchner pressed through the challenge and tapped home her first career goal.

Up a goal, the Eagles kept the visitors on the perimeter and used good challenges from their back row to see secure the win.

In this fixture last fall, the Pacers beat Eastern 3-0, and the Eagles had not won in the match-up since the two teams resumed the rivalry as non-league opponents in 2021. The Eagles had won the previous nine match-ups before leaving the Pennsylavania Athletic COnference after the 2007 season. 

"This was a good win," Head Coach Jess Shanahan said after the match. "We got beat up pretty bad up there last year, and we knew this would be a battle. We are entering into a tough stretch of games, and it is good to see our defense work well together."

The Eagles will play at Moravian midweek before starting into the MAC Commonwealth season at Messiah University next weekend.