ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern University Women's Soccer continued its strong start to the 2025 season with a hard-fought 0-0 draw against the No. 11 Misericordia University Cougars in a final tune-up before the start of the MAC Commonwealth season this Saturday. The Eagles (6-1-3) saw their unbeaten streak snapped with a 1-0 loss at Arcadia on Saturday, but a comitted defensive effort from the entire squad kept the Cougars off the board.
Misericordia (7-2-1) has won four-straight and ten of the last 12 MAC Freedom titles and has been a regular fixture in the National rankings. When Head Coach
Jess Shanahan put the game on the schedule it was with the intent of preparing her team to compete with the top teams in the MAC Commonwealth.
Though the Cougars controlled territory and possession through much of the game, the Eastern squad kept close range shots to a minimum and allowed junior goalkeeper
Faith Leake to cut away crosses and snare shots from distance. The game became more complicated as the Eagles lost several key contributors in the midfield to a variety of maladies. By the half hour mark, all three Eastern starting midfielders were off. Molly Shellpeper would return for a stretch int he second half, but
Paige Snell and
Billinda Leisner would not return.
"Kelly [Lyons], Megan [Burkholder], Meiley [Schuck], and Ella [Bansch] all came on and gave us great efforts," Shanahan said after the game. "Our depth was tested against a very athletic team, but each of the girls came on and worked exceptionally hard and showed great composure."
Though the Eagles had some really good stretches of possession in the latter part of the first half, the Cougars finished with an 8-2 edge in shots and took both the corner kicks in the first half.
The Cougars had more of the game in the second half as well, but
Tia Argento and
Ella Sedor kept the guests on the perimeter and senior outside backs
Nicole Eveland and
Ashlynn Keys made sure that every Misericordia winger was under pressure when trying to serve. Leake made six second-half saves. Her best plays came as she stopped crossing opportunities before they became shots.
With the Cougars pouring numbers into the attack, the Eagles had opportunities in transition. They finished the half with four shots on frame.
Bridget Hitchner had a strong shot from in the box in the 84th minute.
As fatigue took its toll, the Eastern dfense continued to grind. Even with the incredible effort, The Cougars still found three chances in the final five minutes. Argento made a game-saving tackle ona. play in the box. A bad deflection after a drop ball had a Cougar into the box alone. Leake stood her ground and the resulting shot dribbled wide. Moments later a ball into the space behind the Eastern center backs found a Cougar player for a finish from close range. The assistant referee had his flag up before the ball went across the line.
Including a 1-0 overtime win in the 2012 MAC Freedom Championship match, the Cougars had won nine-straight in the series. The last time Eastern beat the Cougars was a 3-0 win in the 2011 MAC Freedom Championship game.
The Eagles will travel to Hood for their MAC Commonwealth opener on Saturday.