Eastern Michigan’s soccer game on Thursday, Oct. 24, was defensive. The game took place in Bowling Green at Cochrane Stadium. Bowling Green’s record of 6-5-4 isn't accessible for the Eagles. Despite the effort, both teams did not find the back of the net, resulting in a 0-0 tie.
In the first half of the game, five shots were taken. Sophomore Ella Holland (Dunwoody, Georgia/Dunwoody/Samford), the Eagles goalie, made a great save seventeen minutes into the game. A Bowling Green player had a breakaway. She had two Eagles players on her back, but she was able to get the shot off before the defense could catch up. Holland’s quick reflexes had saved us the game. She had quickly deflected the shot out of bounds to the opposite post.
Defenders Sarah Van Euwen (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake), Scarlett Thomas (Sterling Heights, Michigan/Utica Academy/Missouri), Sam Lanaghan (Toronto, Ontario/Havergal College), and Rosalie Takacsy (Orchard Park, New York/Orchard Park) deserve to be recognized, as well as the hard work that kept Bowling Green from scoring. Senior Sam Lenaghan and sophomore Rosalie Takacsy played for ninety minutes, and the team excelled in proceeding with this. This was also a big game for Thompson and Baumann, considering this was the first game Thompson had started this season, and this game was Baumann’s first career start.
Although we had not scored, senior Meagen Lukowski (Bay City, Michigan/Bay City) had taken the Eagle’s first shot on frame that game. The shot was from sophomore Kate Robinson’s (Madison Heights, Michigan/Lamphere) corner kick. This could have gotten us the lead fifty-six minutes in, but it had been saved by Bowling Green’s goalie, leaving pressure on both teams' offense.
The game resulted in Eastern’s seventh shutout this season, the most shutouts in one season since 2014. This is also Eastern’s third draw this season, the most they have had since 2009. The Eagles had not won, but they had played well.
If the defense stays strong, the forward creates more opportunities, and the Eagles' forwards finish, then we will excel in Kent State's game this Sunday, Oct. 27, at 1 p.m. Kent State has a 7-5-3 record, so a win isn’t going to be easy to achieve. However, we have a home-field advantage at Scicluna Field, which seems to cause the team to play better, considering that we have a 4-0-3 home game record. The Eagles have not lost on their home field yet. We will see this Sunday if we keep our home field glory.
