CHESTER, Pa.— In a game with massive post-season ramifications, Eastern University Women's Soccer found a moment of quality late to earn a 1-0 MAC Commonwealth win at Widener.
Billinda Leisner scored the only goal of the match in the 83rd minute.
The goal came after a throw-in on the left flank.
Mia Zucker played out of a tight combination and curled a right-footed cross into the area at the top of the six-yard box. A Widener defender reached back to clear the ball before seeming to pull away to let her goalkeeper handle it. That little hesitation put the Widener goalkeeper in two minds, and she could not hold the skipping cross. The ball was barely out of her hands before Leisner popped it into the back of the net for her second goal of the season.
Coming into today, the Blue-Route rivalry has always had razor-thin margins. Since Eastern joined the MAC Commonwealth in 2021, the two teams had each won a one-goal game in Chester and the three games in St. Davids were all ties. Tonight's test was destined to be tight.
Throughout the first half, the two teams battled for control of the midfield. Though Widener (8-7-2, 3-3-1) held a 7-to-2 advantage in shots through the intermission, most of those came from distance and
Faith Leake looked very comfortable gathering her four saves.
Eastern (9-6-2, 5-1-1) had a restart chance that looked promising turned away by an offside call, and
Morgan Bayley put a lengthy effort on frame in the 37th minute. The Eagles found their best chances created by
Corrine Myers off the right side. Her crosses, however, slipped through traffic untouched or were turned away by the Widener defense.
The Eagles had promising control in the early part of the second half before the Pride found some possession deep. Leake made two more saves and brought a calming presence to the game that looked like it might be heading for a draw.
After being out for a bit, Myers and Leisner returned to the line-up and the Eagles began to find attacking channels with good switching passes through the midfield and out of the back.
Heather Abzug put Leisner into an attack with a switch from the left to the right. Eastern's best chance before the goal came off a Mayers cross in the 80th minute. After the Eagles had worked the ball from the right out to Myers on the left, the rookie forward drove to the endline before cutting to her back foot and firing a right-footed cross to the scoring area. Leisner met that ball, but her left-footed volley slipped just wide of the post.
Once up one, the Eagles had to defend a pair of corner kicks before bleeding the clock to the finish. Leake finished with six stops to the team's tenth clean sheet of the season.
The win secures at least a top-three finish for the Eagles. Messiah and York are currently tied atop the league. Eastern is at Messiah on Saturday and Widener is at York. Stevenson and Albright will play at Stevenson in what is essentially a play-in game for the final post-season spot.
