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Center Valley, PA (November 3, 2011) – The DeSales University men's soccer team picked a bad time to go cold offensively, being shutout for the second straight game after averaging three goals per game over the first 18 contests, as third seeded Eastern University advanced to the Freedom Conference Championship game with a 3-0 win over the second seeded Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs (14-4-2), ranked #2 in the latest NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings, now put their fate in the hands of the NCAA committee to receive a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.  The tournament field is announced on Monday.  The field this year consists of 61 teams, with 41 earning automatic bids by winning their conference tournament, one team earning a bid thru pool “B”, and 19 teams earning a bid thru pool “C”.  DeSales falls into the pool “C” category being in a conference that grants an automatic bid.

The loss on Thursday is the first for DSU in last nine games in the Freedom Conference playoffs, snapping an eight-game win streak in the Freedom post-season.  It also snaps a 12-game winning streak and a 15-game unbeaten streak at home with the Bulldogs last loss at home coming vs. Messiah College last season.

Eastern took a 1-0 lead at the 17:00 minute mark when Braden Gross fed a perfect thru ball to Mitch Osterhouse who had beaten the DSU defense and touched a shot just around a charging DSU keeper.

The Bulldogs had chances to score in the first half and seemed to have knotted the score at one late in the half on a header by junior Steve Krause, but EU's keeper came out of nowhere to just tip the ball wide on the play.

In the second half, Eastern got the all-important insurance goal at the 54:39 mark when a free kick was sent into the box and the DSU goalkeeper came out to grab it but he collided with another Bulldog, fell to the ground and Brandon Reichart was there to pick-up the loose ball and put it just inside the far post.

Once again DeSales kept firing away and were on the door stop to its first tally several times including two chances by sophomore Josh Himes that just weren't meant to be including the first on a cross that found him all by himself just inside the 18 but his shot went wide right and another on a loose ball on the goal line with a wide open net to score but was unable to get a foot on it as the ball skidded by.

After a third chance a few moments later that saw EU's keeper make another spectacular save on bang-bang shot just in front of the goal mouth, the Eagles quickly countered as Osterhouse gathered a long punt, beat a Bulldog defender and then a charging keeper to deposit his second marker in the game and all but seal the win for Eastern.

DeSales out-shot Eastern, 24-14, but EU held an 8-7 edge in shots on goal.  Both teams had four corner kicks.  Freshman Colin Sulpizio made four saves for the Bulldogs, while Jon Crowder was outstanding for Eastern, making seven saves, all of which were spectacular.