ST. DAVIDS (PA) – Eastern University scored two times in a three-minute span late in the second half as the eighth-ranked Eagles pulled away to a 3-0 victory over visiting Delaware Valley College in the Freedom Conference semifinals.
With the win, Eastern improved to 18-2 overall and will host King's College in the championship game as it looks for its third straight conference title.
For the Aggies, their season comes to an end with a 10-10 overall record and a second straight appearance in the Freedom playoffs. They were at Eastern last year as well and took the Eagles to overtime before falling, 2-1.
Eastern dominated the action from the early going as it had eight shots and three penalty corners in the opening seven minutes. However, Delaware Valley goalkeeper Hollis Hancock, who earlier in the day was named to the all-conference first team, showed why as she swept aside all eight shots, including a sprawling save off of Brittany Moyer.
Midway through the first half, an Eagle shot by Moyer got past Hancock, but Aggie defender Kate Highberger was there to keep it out of the cage. Highberger made another defensive save later in the half as did fellow senior defender Katy Provenzale. Provenzale's stop came as ball trickled toward the corner of the goal with 11 minutes remaining.
Eastern kept the pressure on and awarded its 11th corner of the half with three minutes to go before the intermission. The Eagles took advantage of it as Kelby Bolton, on the team's 16th shot of the stanza, blasted one past Hancock with 2:38 on the clock for a 1-0 lead.
Delaware Valley put on its best pressure of the game with three shots and two corners in the opening 11 minutes of the second half. Nikki Rogers had the first attempt while Holly Rich was stopped near the left post. The third opportunity came off a corner as a Marissa Di Miero attempt deflected to Mindy Miniconzi who fired a shot. That was re-directed by Leah Hawthorn, but it went off the pads of Eagle goalkeeper Laura Hessler.
It turned out to be the last shots of the game by the Aggies, but Hancock kept the team in striking range thanks to a number of point-blank saves. As the clock ticked under the six-minute mark, Eastern took advantage of another penalty corner and gave itself some breathing room as Yvonne Herbster scored off a feed from Moyer. The Eagles scored the final goal of the game with just 2:33 left as Abby Wagner got a tally off a feed from Christin Hass.
Eastern finished with advantages of 29-5 in shots and 21-4 in corners. Hancock notched a career-high 18 saves for Delaware Valley while Ressler finished with four stops and the shutout.
