ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern University Women's Soccer opened it's MAC Commonwealth slate with a tough 2-1 home loss to the York College Spartans (8-1-2, 2-0) ). The visitors came into the game on the heels of a 5-0 league win over Neumann and featuring an attack that had outscored its opponents 22-8. The Eagles (4-6-1, 0-1) limited York's effectiveness in the attack, and had good pressure in the second half, but could not find an equalizer.
The Spartans opened the scoring on a solo effort from Lexi Mazzella in the 17th minute. With scoring leader Meg Kaltoff lingering in the box, the Eagles were slow to step to Mazzella. She tucked a right-footed shot inside the far post from 10 yards out. The Spartan lead doubled in the 38th minute.
Faith Leake made a stellar save ona point-blank effort from Jenna Witters, but three different clearing efforts fell short, and the ball made it back to Witters on the York left side. Her pass toward the back post got redirected and slipped into the lower corner.
Despite a possession deficit, the Eastern side continued to work and press. That effort found a reward in the 44th minute.
Corrine Myers won a battle near the endline on the left side, beat her mark, took a touch back up-field and ripped a right-footed shot into the upper corner for her second career tally.
While the Eagles had more possession and better field position in the second half, the experienced back row from York kept them from creating chances close to goal. Eastern's lone restart witha. chance to be dangerous was a corner kick in the 84th minute. The Spartans got a clearing header and then worked to bleed the clock.
Leake finished the game with five saves.
The Eagles will face the Neumann University Knights on Friday afternoon in a Homecoming match. It will be the first match-up for the teams as conference opponents since Eastern left the PAC in 2007. While the Eagles have a 14-1-1 mark in the all-time series, Neumann's lone win came in the last match-up between the sides in 2023.
