The Misericordia University men's soccer team dropped a hard-fought contest against Eastern University, 1-0, on an early second half goal, Tuesday at Mangelsdorf Field.

The Cougars played Eastern tough for a full 90-minutes, but couldn't connect on several quality scoring chances throughout the game. Misericordia outshot the Eagles 9-8 with a 9-3 corners advantage.

Misericordia controlled possession for the majority of the first half. In the 10^th minute, Charles Gugel stole the ball from an Eagle back from 30-yards out and carried it toward the net. The first-year midfielder played the ball to Ethan Aigeldinger on the right side, who tried to connect with a cutting Dylan Molyneaux down the center of the box. However, the play was ruled offside by the line judge.

Moments later, the Cougars threatened once more when Aigeldinger attempted to play the ball to Jared Houser on a beautiful push pass. Houser cut hard through the center of the box and had a clean look at the net, but couldn't get his foot on the pass.

The team's top scoring chance was in the 40^th minute when Vincenzo Diliberti connected with Cody Rogers on a long pass from beyond midfield. Rogers gathered the pass while cutting through the middle at the top of the box, but fired a shot just wide.

After a scoreless first half, goalkeeper Dominic Pizzi kept things knotted with an outstanding save in the 50^th minute. Pizzi stood his ground and deflected away a point-blank shot from Billy Walenda following a beautiful set up from the left post.

Misericordia threatened late in the second half, but couldn't light up the scoreboard. The team fired four shots and took five corner kicks in the final 10 minutes of play.

One of the team's best chances in the final minutes was a header from Ian Anderson, which was just barely deflected away by Eastern's keeper. The ball was played to Anderson on a skillful cross from Ethan Benedict.

Eastern scored the game's lone goal in the 59^th minute when Sam Sutherland scored off an assist from Julio Ardon and Jake Sankey.

Misericordia falls to 2-9-1 overall with a 1-2 MAC Freedom mark. They will continue conference play at Delaware Valley on Saturday.