ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Corinne Myers scored a pair of first-half goals, and the Eastern defense picked up its eighth clean sheet of the season for a 2-0 MAC Commonwealth win over the visiting Albright College Lions. The win gives the Eagles a full three points in the congested league standings where they sit behind only Messiah and York.
The Eagles (7-6-2, 3-1-1) got on the board in the tenth minute.
Billinda Leisner won an Albright goal kick in the midfield and flipped the ball into a pocket of space behind the Lion back row. Myers met the ball in the penalty box and pushed it around Albright goalkeeper, Olivia Reinhart. Beat, with an empty goal behind, the goalkeeper had no choice but to grab a leg. Myers converted the penalty.
Seven minutes later, the Eagles worked a combination in the midfield and
Morgan Bayley played a ball into space on the right side. Myers beat her mark and drove toward the near post. Reinhart stopped the first shot, but Myers found the rebound and pushed it home for her sixth tally of the year. She has five goals and two assists in five MAC Commonwealth games.
While the Eagles had much of the play, their defense was not without a job to do. Playing into a tough sun,
Faith Leake made all three of her saves in the first half, and
Tia Argento and
Ella Sedor had to be solid in their challenges to avoid giving up dangerous restarts. The Eagles had to defend five Albright corners in the first half and went to the break with a 7-5 edge in shots.
After the intermission, the advantage in possession shifted, and the Eagles forced Reinhart into six of her eight saves.
On a free kick in the 57th minute,
Heather Abzug hit the upper corner of the frame. Myers remained dangerous as the game progressed. Reinhart stopped a shot from in close in the 63rd minute, and Leisner put a Myers' cross off the post from close range in the 67th.
Though Eastern had a 12-to-3 edge in shots after the break, they were still forced to manage the game against the direct pressure of the Lions' midfield. Bayley and
Saige Korpics spent considerable time stopping the Albright attack before it gained speed. The Lions did not get a shot on frame after halftime.
The Eagles host Hood College on Saturday at noon for their final regular-season game on Olson Field. The Eagles will honor their senior class that day.
