NOVEMBER 4, 2012

KING'S FIELD HOCKEY FALLS TO EASTERN IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE FINAL

WILKES-BARRE -- Tournament most valuable player Brittany Moyer scored one goal and dished out five assists to power second-seeded Eastern University to a 7-2 victory over top-seeded King's College in the 2012 Freedom Conference championship game Sunday at King's McCarthy Stadium.

With the win, Eastern improved to 15-5 and received the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The victory also marked the Eagles fifth straight Freedom crown since joining the conference in 2008. It was also Eastern's third win over King's in the title game during this time.

Eastern took a 1-0 lead with 29:25 left in the first half when Kelby Bolton scored off a pass from Brittany Moyer. The lead grew to 2-0 when Jess Jaindl scored off a pass from Moyer with 19:19 on the clock.

The Eagles lead upped the advantage to 3-0 when Megan Bolton scored off a penalty corner feed by Moyer with 16:53. Eastern's lead swelled to 4-0 when Lauren Gay knocked in a rebound off a King's goalie save. Eastern continued its first half offensive when Moyer knocked in a rebound off her own miss to push the score to 5-0 with 3:15 to play.

King's finally got on the scoreboard with 0:41 left in the opening half when Alyssa Monaghan struck net after corralling a rebounded shot as the Eagles took a 5-1 lead at the break.

The Lady Monarchs trimmed the lead to 5-2 with 17:38 left in the second half when Calli Berryman scored unassisted. But Eastern countered with 8:45 remaining in the contest when Bolton scored off a penalty corner, stretching the score to 6-2. The Eagles tacked on the game's final score with 2:04 to play when Jaindl scored unassisted for her second goal of the game.

Eastern outshot King's 18-10 in shots while the Lady Monarchs owned a 14-13 advantage in penalty corners. King's goalie Megan Withrow posted seven saves while Eagle keeper Kylie Jones tallied five shots.