Game 12: Eastern v. Misericordia (JOHN scores)

DALLAS, Pa.--John Remsberg knocked in the golden goal after 102 scoreless minutes on Tuesday night to give Eastern University Men's Soccer the 1-0 sudden victory over the Misericordia University Cougars.

Remsberg, a 6-foot-2 junior center back, came all the way up into the Cougars' box for an Eagles corner kick two minutes into the second period of extra time. Eagles' senior Benjamin Barnhart lined up to take the corner and served an in-swung ball into box. Remsberg elevated and headed the ball over the hands of the Cougars' keeper for his first goal of the season, breaking the scoreless tie and giving the Eagles another important Freedom Conference win.
Eagles' head coach Mark Wagner commented that the way they scored was a reversal of what they had anticipated based on the scouting report. "Misericordia is a good team in the air," he said. "We thought they would be dangerous on restarts and that we would give them fits in the open field. For us to score off a restart was huge."
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in Tuesday's NSCAA Mid-Atlantic regional poll , improved to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the Freedom Conference, placing them alone at the top early in conference play. Misericordia, now 8-5-2 (2-1 Freedom), had been the only Freedom team to beat Eastern in the regular season last year.
Misericordia and Eastern battled through the 90 minutes of scoreless regulation time with a handful of opportunities. Coach Wagner noted that Misericordia dropped its backline deep and made it difficult for the Eagles to generate great chances. At the end of the first half, Eastern had taken six shots and Misericordia seven. The Cougars out-shot the Eagles 14-11 overall. Eagles' goalie Jamie Stratton denied five Cougars' shots on goal and recorded his third shutout in a row. In four games played this year, Stratton has just allowed one goal, improving his GAA to 0.25. "Jamie was outstanding," Wagner said. "He was dominant in the air, going after 50/50 balls and sacrificing his body."
Stratton recorded one save in the first half of extra time, helping the Eagles continue into the second overtime. The Eagles earned two corner kicks in the second overtime and had a shot by Eric Giovagnoli miss early in the 103rd minute. The Eagles soon took another corner kick, which proved to be the game-winning play. Barnhart's corner kick was his third assist this season.
Eastern hosts Delaware Valley College on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Game 10: Eastern v FDU Florham

Eric Giovagnoli scored his seventh goal of the year, giving Eastern the 1-0 victory over FDU-Florham.

MADISON, N.J.—Eastern University Men’s Soccer scored once early in Saturday’s game, and that goal proved to be all the Eagles needed to get past the FDU-Florham Devils in the Freedom Conference opener.

With the 1-0 victory, the Eagles improved to 8-2. The Devils now haven’t won a game since Sept. 7 and dropped to 2-6-3 for the year. 

The Eagles scored 4:34 into the game. Senior forward Eric Giovagnoli rocketed a shot from 25 yards out past FDU-Florham's diving keeper Nick Mihalik, netting his team-best seventh goal of the year.

Eagles' sophomore Jamie Stratton earned his second win in a row, stopping six Devils' shots on goal. The Eagles recorded a shutout for the second time this season.

Saturday's 1-0 contest was the third time in three games between the Eagles and Devils decided by a lone goal. The Eagles took the 2013 regular season finale to claim the top seed in the conference tournament, but the Devils came back the next week and knocked out the Eagles in the opening round.

Eastern takes the midweek off then continues conference play with Manhattanville at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday for Homecoming.

Box Score

Game 11: Eastern v Manhattanville

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Men's Soccer News & Highlights

October 11, 2014

Eagles Edge Valiants In Defensive Battle

Eastern defender Jair Saenz set up the game's only goal with a cross into the box early in the second half.

ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Men’s Soccer earned an important 1-0 Freedom Conference win against the Manhattanville College Valiants on Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles, now 9-2 overall this season improved to 2-0 in conference play with the Homecoming win. The win capped off three Eastern Homecoming wins all decided by a 1-0 score. Manhattanville dropped to 1-1 in the conference.

Last season, the Eagles and Valiants battled to a scoreless draw, a draw that Eagles’ head coach Mark Wagner said helped prevent them from earning an at-large bid in the 2013 NCAA tournament. This year’s game threatened to have a similar outcome after a scoreless first half. The Eagles pressured the Valiants, taking seven first half shots including a close shot by Ben Hangey that ricocheted off the crossbar in the 35th minute. 

The Eagles finally broke through five minutes into the second half. On a quick restart, Eric Giovagnoli received the ball on the left wing and found center back Jair Saenz streaking unguarded all the way up into the left corner. Saenz’s cross bounced in front of the left post, intended for Andrew Ferman. The ball skipped past Ferman in front of the goal mouth, but the defender marking Ferman reached his foot out and put the ball right past his own keeper and into the back of the net.

“Normally, we teach our forwards to get into the box, so I figured if I put a ball in there maybe one of them would get there and fortunately for us, their defensive back just hit it into their goal,” Saenz said.

Saenz, a senior playing in his last homecoming game, had friends and family in the large crowd, a large crowd especially for a rainy day. “It was a great experience,” he said. “It was just awesome to get the win." 

The Eagles tallied nine second shots and out-shot the Valiants 16-3 for the game. Eagles’ keeper Jamie Stratton picked up his third straight win while recording two saves.

On Tuesday, the Eagles travel to Misericordia for a 7 p.m. conference game.

Game 9: Eastern v. York

October 01, 2014

Eagles Score Three Headers In Win Over York

 

YORK, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Soccer bounced back from Saturday's loss with a 4-1 walloping of the York College Spartans on Wednesday night.

Eagles freshman Jadon Ramsing scored twice in the win on headers, upping his season total to four and helping the Eagles improve to 7-2 this season. Benjamin Barnhart and Josh Cirocco also scored in the contest. Senior Jair Saenz dealt out two assists. York, a "Sweet 16" team last year, dropped to 3-3-4.
The Eagles took 18 shots, putting seven of them on goal. The Spartans fired off 13 shots, but only three of them were goal. Eastern's Jamie Stratton made his first start in goal this season, recording two saves and allowing the one York goal in the 74th minute.
Barnhart put the Eagles up 1-0 in the 11th minute after receiving a serve into the box by Saenz. Barnhart buried the header inside the right post. His five goals this year are second best on the team.
In the 33rd minute, Cirocco stung a flair shot from near the 18 past York's keeper Jack Pebole and inside the left post.
The Eagles built their lead to 3-0 a little more than five minutes later, capitalizing on a long throw by John Remsberg. Remsberg hurled in the pass from the left sideline and connected with Ramsing for the header.
Ramsing knocked in his second header in the 54th minute off a corner kick by Jair Saenz to put the game virtually out of reach.
York tacked on a late goal in the 74th minute on a breakaway by Ryan Phelps.
Eastern faces FDU-Florham noon Saturday in a grudge match of last year's Freedom Conference semifinals, the game that ended the Eagles' 2013 season.

Game 8: Eastern v. Albright

September 27, 2014

Eagles Upended By Lions

Eastern defender Jair Saenz battles Albright's Austin Phillips for possession of the ball.

ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Men’s Soccer stumbled against the Albright College Lions on Saturday afternoon, losing 2-1.

The Eagles were dealt just their second loss of the season (6-2) while the Lions moved above .500 (5-4-1). Eastern’s Josh Cirocco scored his third goal of the season in the loss.

The Lions scored both of their goals early in the second half with their first coming on a throw-in and their second on a corner kick.

Eastern took the 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Hunter Rosenberg looked for Josh Cirocco with a pass across the field to the left wing, but the pass was redirected by an Albright defender. Cirocco recovered the pass, keeping the play alive, and bolted down the wing. Cirocco, running out of space before the goal line, slid and kicked the ball as he fell past Albright’s diving keeper.

The Eagles fired nine other shots in the first half and 16 total in the game, but were unable to find the back of the net a second time.

Eastern’s 1-0 lead evaporated quickly after halftime. Two minutes into the second half, the Lions took a long throw-in from the right sideline, very close to being a corner. Lions’ leader in points Vitaly Zaluha hurled the ball into the box where it skipped over the head of one Lion and found the feet of Andrew Sussingham who pushed it in for the score.

Eight minutes later, Lion Shawn Murphy released a corner from the left side to the near post where Austin Phillips elevated and headed the ball in for his fourth goal of the year.

Trailing by one, the Eagles pressed up and eventually pulled a defender off the backline to get another player forward. With eight minutes remaining, the Eagles had one of their best chances to knot the game, but back-to-back saves by Albright’s Austin Aldinger denied them the opportunity. Rosenberg had fired a shot from the right flank that bounced out of Aldinger’s hands in front of the goal line, but Aldinger recovered and made the point blank save on the cleanup attempt.

Both Aldinger and Eastern goalkeeper Nick Policastro recorded four saves.

The Eagles play two road games this week, challenging York (Pa.) on Wednesday and then opening conference play against FDU-Florham on Saturday.

Game 7: Eastern v. Drew

 

Eastern University's Eric Giovagnoli works a ball past a Drew defender in Tuesday's win. Giovagnoli had his five-game goal-scoring streak snapped, but he did have an assist.

For the fourth time this year, Eastern University Men's Soccer (6-1) wound up on the winning end of a 3-1 score. Three different Eastern players scored in the home win against Drew University.

All three first-half goals came on restart chances. Eastern’s Jadon Ramsing started the scoring when he finished a Ben Barnhart corner kick in the 11th minute of the match. Ramsing, a freshman midfielder, beat his mark to the near post and skimmed a well-placed header to the back post for his second goal of the year.

Five minutes later, the visiting Rangers (3-2-4) answered with a restart goal of their own after a handball near the sideline in front of their bench. The initial service bounced off a pair of Eastern defenders. The Eagles were unable to clear and Dylan Hammer connected with a powerful volley into the upper corner to knot the score at one.

The Rangers had several more chances to score, but the Eastern defense stood strong in front of senior goalkeeper Nick Policastro.

In the 32nd minute, Jair Saenz scored his first goal of the year to put the Eagles up for good. His free-kick goal came from nearly the exact spot that had been so fruitful for the visitors. The senior left back drilled a hard-bending serve in front of a pair of Eastern attackers. Neither player was able to connect, but the goalkeeper had to hold his positioning and the ball kicked into the upper corner of the goal.

Drew held a slim 7-5 advantage in first-half shots.

The Eagles had more of the play in the second half, but the visiting Rangers were able to put together several dangerous opportunities of long balls and restart chances.

It was not until the 85th minute of the match that Eastern was able to expand the lead.

The critical insurance goal came after Xavier Young stole the ball on the right side. The freshman right back pushed the ball forward to Hunter Rosenberg in space. Rosenberg turned and feathered a beautiful pass behind the Drew backline for Eric Giovagnoli. Giovagnoli drove toward the goal and pulled the goalkeeper and the defense to the right side. He played a pass across the face and Josh Cirrocco drove it into the lower corner for a 3-1 edge. Giovagnoli saw his scoring string stopped at five matches, but he still had plenty of influence on the match.

Policastro picked up his sixth win of the year in goal.

The win keeps a positive run of results going for the Eagles. Eastern is ranked fifth in the most recent NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings. The Eagles host Albright College on Saturday at 1 pm.

Box Score

Game 6: Eagles v. Centenary

Eastern University Men's Soccer head coach Mark Wagner collected his 250th career win after the Eagles defeated Centenary 2-1.

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J.—Eastern University Men’s Soccer defeated the Centenary College Cyclones 2-1 on Saturday, earning head coach Mark Wagner his 250th career victory.

Wagner, in his 23rd year as an NCAA head coach has amassed a 250-130-27 record (a 64.8 winning percentage) and is one of 39 active coaches to reach the 250-win mark. Wagner won 56 games as the head coach of Elmira College prior to winning 194 games so far at Eastern.

Eric Giovagnoli scored both of Eastern’s goals Saturday, upping his season total to six. Giovagnoli has now scored in each of the last five games. He tallied his first goal in the 18th minute, putting Eastern up 1-0. He followed that up in the 22nd minute with finishing a feed from Hunter Rosenberg. Rosenberg has assists to Giovagnoli in consecutive games.

Eastern keeper Nick Policastro nearly recorded back-to-back clean sheets, but Centenary scored with less than a minute remaining. The Cyclones had a dangerous opportunity to tie the game on a restart after an Eastern foul in the game’s final seconds, but the Eagles hung on for the victory. Policastro recorded one save and was helped by two team saves.

The Eagles, off to a 5-1 start, look to continue their winning ways when they host 3-1-4 Drew University on Tuesday.