ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's soccer team battled Eastern University to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday afternoon from Olson Field.

 

With the draw, Ursinus moves to 2-0-1 on the season while the Eagles now sit at 1-0-2 overall. Eastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute, before Ursinus responded with the equalizer during the 72nd minute enroute to the 1-1 draw.

 

The Bears recorded the opening shot of the contest during the 13th minute as first-year forward Kaleigh Evans' shot was saved by Eastern's goalkeeper Faith Leake. Evans won a 50-50 ball near midfield and streaked past two defenders before sending a line drive shot on goal that was saved by the Eagles. During the 23rd minute, Ursinus pushed the offensive pressure by earning a corner kick, but their shot on goal was denied by the Eagles defense to keep the contest scoreless. The Eagles responded with a shot of their own at the 37:49-mark, but the Bears defense and sophomore netminder Alyssa Marraffino turned away the opportunity to keep the contest scoreless at the halftime break.

 

Eastern added the first goal of the game during the 61st minute as Eastern's Ella Marrollo capitalized off a Bears' defensive miscue to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Ursinus quickly responded by earning the next four scoring opportunities, before the offense broke through with a goal from junior Paige Flaugh at the 72:13-mark. On a corner kick opportunity, a deflected header found the foot of Flaugh in front of the goal, and her shot snuck past the Eagles defense to score her second goal of the season. Just under a minute later, junior Adrianna Careless nearly gave Ursinus the lead, but her shot on goal was saved by the Eastern's defense. Careless intercepted a pass before nearly splitting two defenders and sending a shot towards the bottom left corner of the net. Each offense created two more scoring opportunities, but each chance was denied by the opposing defense resulting in the 1-1 draw.

 

The Bears held a 19-11 advantage in shots, a 10-4 edge in shots on goal, and recorded a 6-3 lead in corner kick opportunities. In goal, Marraffino tallied three saves over 90 minutes of action, while Eastern's Faith Leake collected eight saves during the contest.

 

The Bears will return to action on Saturday, September 7th as they host Widener University for an 11:00 a.m. start from Patterson Field.