Eastern rallies but can't clip Rose

The Mountaineers dug themselves an early hole once again, then came out with one of their strongest performances of the year in the second half to push Rose State College down the stretch in a 3-2 home defeat to the defending conference champion.

The Eastern men went down 2-0 as a result of some poor communication at the back and sloppy play on the attacking end. The Mountaineers gave Rose a number of scoring opportunities and were fortunate to be down only 2-0 at the break. If not for Rose State failing to take advantage of a few breakaways, the score could have been worse.

In the second half, Eastern responded with a solid defensive effort and took care of the ball to generate two early second-half goals and make the scoreline 2-2.  Eastern seemed to be in a great rythym prior to a 30-minute lightning delay and it was a wild ride down the stretch.

After the delay, Rose State took advantage of the lull in play and found the back of the net to go back on top 3-2. Eastern carried the play down the stretch and had a number of chances as the contest came to a close 3-2 in favor of Rose State.

The Mountaineers dropped to 0-5, 0-1 in the Region II Conference.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Sophomore Captain Edgar Torres had the assist on a flick to freshmen Brandon Molina who netted his second goal to make the score 2-1 early in the second half.

- Molina returned the favor to pick up the assist on freshmen Maxime Guede's first goal to even the score at 2-2 five minutes later.

- Rose State went ahead for good 3-2 after the lightning delay and hung on as Eastern threatened the rest of the way.

"We were fortunate to still be in position to threaten Rose after a shakey start. I thought we had learned our lesson after the Crowder result. I'm proud of the young men for their resilience, battling through fatigue, and injury and giving us a chance in the end," said Head Coach Jon Evan. "Still, it's time we realized that 'failing to prepare, is prearing to fail,' be it physically, or mentally. We need to show up at every practice and every game the way we did in the second half and the results will take care of themselves. Rose is a disciplined team and looked like the defending conference champions with their ability to concentrate and put us away after the delay. All credit to Rose State, they earned the win."

GAME NOTES
- The Mountaineers took 16 shots placing 8 on frame.
- Marc-Antoine Huzen had 7 saves in the contest and placed 2 shots on target himself.

Eastern continues Region II play at home on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. when they take on conference foe NOC-Tonkawa.