ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern University Field Hockey (7-4) built a 2-0 lead and held off a late charge to claim a 2-1 win over the visiting Ramapo College Roadrunners.
Karlee Howard and
Morgan Unruh each scored goals and
Angelina Catania made seven stops to earn the win in goal.
The Eagles took the lead on a solo effort from Howard in the 24th minute. The junior forward wiggled through a series of challenges to get deep in the circle before firing home a reverse-stick effort for her eighth goal of the year. Moments before Howard's strike the guests put a scare into the Eagles with a breakaway effort. Catania came off her line to poke the ball free, but the rebound came out to a Roadrunner just outside the circle. Her shot hit the backboard, but the referee determined the ball was outside the circle.
While Eastern had a slight 9-7 edge in first-half shots and both teams had a pair of corners, it did feel like the Eagles were in control.
That feeling was reinforced when the Eagles doubled their edge on a penalty-corner goal only seconds into the third. After the insert from
Abby Hakes, the Eagles moved the ball from right to left before
CJ Summa fired a salvo toward goal. Unruh read the shot and tipped it home for her fourth goal of the year.
With the Eagles up 2-0, the field started to tilt the other way. Ramapo ended the half with a flurry of attempts and had a chance to cut the Eastern lead in half with a late penalty stroke. Catania guessed correctly on the shot that ultimately hit the post and went out.
At the start of the fourth, Howard created a tremendous chance with another strong run into the circle. Her shot hit the post and skipped out. The Eagles then had back-to-back shots turned away by the Ramapo goalkeeper.
Having weathered that storm, the Roadrunners cut the Eastern lead in half with a penalty corner with 12 minutes left. In each of the last three weeks, Eastern has played in overtime matches on Wednesday. While both teams had chances over the final ten minutes, the guests had a great chance off the right side in the final two minutes that went unfinished. The game ended with the Roadrunners continuing to press in Eastern's zone but not able to get shots off against the Eastern defenders.
Julia Potter,
Alyssa Caldini, and
Paige Brouse each came up with big individual defending plays late.
The seventh win pushes the Eagles past what has been a limiting number in recent years. With the entire league season ahead of them, the Eagles have hit the program's highest win total since 2015.
Eastern opens MAC Commonwealth play with Homecoming game against the Hood Colelge Blazers this Saturday at 4:00.
