Since their return from Arizona, the softball team has run into a string of hardships including tough matchups, conference enemies and Mother Nature herself. Due to the amount of snow and rain in the St. David’s area, the team has played a limited number of games since March 8. In the first two doubleheaders that the Eagles were able to play, they dropped all four games. Two were played against Haverford (3-4,0-8) and two were against Eagle Road rivals Cabrini (5-6, 4-8). On March 28, the ladies faced their first conference doubleheader against FDU-Florham and topped the Devils in both games winning 11-2 and 9-6. In the next game unaffected by rain, they dropped two games to the DeSales Bulldogs 4-1 and 6-4. The third conference matchup saw the Eagles split against King’s College 10-7 and 5-4. In game one captain Kasey Williams was able to lift the team with a second inning grand slam. Since Spring Break the team has gone 3-7 making their total record 4-16 with a 3-3 record in conference play.

Although they haven’t been able to play as many games as they had scheduled in this time period the Eagles have still managed some impressive numbers. Erica Pyla-Gibson leads the team with a .500 batting average, although she has only competed in a limited number of games. For players that have over fourty at-bats, Ashton Tomlinson is leading with a .324 batting average. Pyla-Gibson also leads the team with an on-base percentage of .568. (Those who’ve seen Moneyball know this is a vital stat.) On the opposite side of the field, captain Emily Houck is currently fielding with a perfect percentage. Houck, K. Williams, infielder Kelsey Clever and outfielder Tomlinson are the only four players on the roster to have seen the field for all 20 games thus far. As for the pitching side of the game, Haleigh Williams and Alyssa Welsh have taken the mound for the majority of innings. H. Williams has pitched 53 innings with an ERA of 3.04 and batters are hitting .275 against her. She has also pitched six complete games. Currently, H. Williams holds a win/loss record of 3-4. Welsh has pitched 43.2 innings with a high ERA of 6.25, while batters are also hitting .398 against her. Among these innings Welsh has pitched two complete game and stands with a 1-5 record for the season.

The team as a whole is looking very solid this year, batting .273 and fielding with a percentage of .930. Unfortunately, these stats are still lower than the opponents they have faced, but those opponents were mostly the Division I athletes they met up with in Arizona. Adversaries are currently batting .350 against the Eagles and are fielding with a .961 percentage.

Houck and K. Williams were able to give some insight to the team. “Expectations for us are so low around the league that I think sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to prove them wrong and that can make things more difficult for us sometimes,” said Houck. Yearly, the team puts together goals that they would like to achieve throughout the season and K. Williams was able to give a glimpse into those. “Take the season day by day. From practice to a game we have to come 110% focused. Our main goal is to make playoffs but we won’t focus on that goal until we get to that day. Right now it’s winning those conference games, and learn[ing] from our mistakes,” she said. Overall, the team is showing a lot of strength through the hardships they are facing. Other teams seem to notice the close relationships these girls share. K. Williams put these relationships into perspective, “I have never been on a team where we are all so close. We pick each other up when we need too and we have each others’ backs.”

Catch the softball team at home for the following games on 4/15 against Stevenson in a cross conference matchup, 4/23 against Franklin and Marshall in an annually competitive game, and for the last home game to celebrate senior Houck on Saturday 4/25 against conference foe Delaware Valley.

Although the Eastern University softball team could not complain about the weather, (the song somewhere sunny and 75 comes to mind), the warm temperatures did not help the team come home with the winning record they had hoped for. During the trip to the Tucson Invitational in Arizona the Eagles met up with 5 teams for a ten game “spring training” before returning to the colder St. David’s area at the end of the week. These teams all came from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and were classified as Division 1 and Division 2 programs. The NAIA is the competing collegiate athletic association to the NCAA and to put things into perspective Eastern is a Division 3 NCAA participant.

Flying out to Tucson on Saturday, February 28 led to some hardships as the team had to quickly adjust to new time zones in order to practice Saturday evening before their first double header on Sunday. Siena Heights University was the first adversary that the softball team faced and although the bats were working for the Eagles they dropped both in the double header 3-4 and 1-6. Day two was another tough one as the softball team headed out to face Northwestern College and fell 0-8 in five innings. Tuesday, the ladies were able to enjoy a day of exploring in Arizona, some players chose to go to a Cleveland Indians spring training games while others took in the gorgeous weather by ATVing and hiking up mountains.

After the day off, the Eagles hoped to be refreshed and ready to go, but fell in both games first to Morningside College 4-12 and later in the doubleheader to University of Great Falls 1-11, both games ended after five innings. Thursday, March 5 was a long day for the ladies who aced a triple header starting out against Morningside College at 9am (MST) and ending the day with a double header against Northwestern College the last game starting at 3:30pm (MST). The eagles was upset in all three games 0-6, 4-12, and finally 3-12 in five innings. Eastern could easily have given up after these rough games, but instead came out roaring on Friday for their last two games and managed to pick up their first win of the season against Siena Heights University 8-6. Later in the day they dropped their last contest to Aquinas College 1-7.

Although the results do not look hopeful for the rest of the season, the team is pleased with their progress and the experience they picked up over the week at the invitational. The Eagles have some tough matchups coming up including starting their conference play for the season. Make sure to come out and support the team for their first home game Wednesday, March 18 at 3pm against conference opponent Manhattanville College.

The women’s basketball team has been dominant throughout the second half of their season, not dropping a game since Jan. 14. With only a few games in the conference left before semi-finals, here’s a look at what the team has accomplished. At home, the Eagles have yet to lose a matchup beating both DeSales University (76-55) and Delaware Valley College (74-62). These, plus a win at Wilkes University (81-52) brings the Eagles record to 8-1 in the conference and 16-4 overall.

No home win was sweeter than Feb. 7, when the Eagles took on the number one team in the nation, FDU-Florham, in a thrilling matchup that went back and forth for most of the second half. Regulation time ended with the teams drawn at 80 points apiece. The next five minutes would tell a tale of the fall of the Devils from the number one spot in the nation as well as a tale of triumph for the Eastern Eagles. Fifteen points later, Eastern University went in for the kill in the last five seconds with a block by Emily Lavin to secure the win 88-87 and snap the FDU-Florham 53-game win streak. The Eagles and Devils are now tied atop the Freedom Conference standings, both clinching spots in the conference tournament starting on Feb. 25. The Eagles spoiled a perfect record for the Devils, and kicked them down four spots on the d3hoops.com rankings. The Devils still hold third on the USA Today Coaches poll as of Feb. 17. Meanwhile, after the successful upset, d3hoops.com has ranked the Eagles as the number 24 team in the nation, making this the first appearance for Eastern on the top-25 list.

All this excitement means honors for the players on the team. Lavin earned her second Freedom Conference Player of the Week award for the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 2. Meghan Nowak, after earning the honor twice before, was named for a third time as Freedom Conference Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 2-8. Nowak also earned an incredible honor from the US Basketball Writer’s Association by being named the National Player of the Week for NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball for the week ending on Feb. 8. Lavin also earned the honor earlier in the season.

Following the thrilling game, the Eagles have managed to stay on their hot streak beating King’s College on Feb. 11 (70-50). The following Saturday, the women showed no love on Valentine’s Day and beat Manhattanville (84-63). In the the win against the Valiants, senior Kaitlin Dougherty achieved the 1000-point mark, making her the thirteenth player in Eastern women’s basketball history to do so. Following her showing at Manhattanville, Nowak was once again named Freedom Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time this season and second week in a row. The team not only stayed on the top 25 list on d3hoops.com, but climbed the rankings to the 23rd spot.

On Feb. 17, the Eagles hosted their last home game of the season while honoring the four seniors who have led this team to its best record in school history. Nowak, Dougherty, Kaleigh Boreman, and Gina DiDomenico led the team to a perfect season record at home, beating the Misericordia Cougars 86-59. The four seniors combined scored 52 of the points put up by the Eagles. A big congratulations to all four players on their accomplishments throughout their years at Eastern.

The Eagles participated in their last regular season game away at DeSales on Saturday, Feb. 21. DiDomenico paced the Eagles with 17 points in the second half as they finished the season with a 71-63 win against the Bulldogs and a final regular season record of 21-4. While on a roll during the latter part of the game DiDomenico tied the career three-point mark for an EU women’s basketball player. Meanwhile, Nowak finished the season with incredible numbers posting 510 points and 246 rebounds.

Catch the women in action Wednesday, Feb. 25, as they take on the DeSales Bulldogs for the Freedom Conference semi-final. The women have made some incredible strides this season so far, and the playoffs are sure to be a continuation of the success.

After winning the Freedom Conference last season, the Eastern University Men’s Lacrosse team is setting out to accomplish the same goal and more this coming season. The team will be led by seniors who have had great success over their year’s at Eastern. These seniors include last year’s Freedom Conference Offensive Player of the Year Grant Ferguson and Freedom Conference Defensive Player of the Year Mark Cyron, as well as nine others. If the Eagles complete their goal of winning the Freedom Conference it will mark their fourth in the same number of years. In the preseason poll the Eagles have been picked to score the number one spot unanimously. Adding to the honors, Inside Lacrosse magazine has projected Eastern as a Top-20 team nationally.

Although the goal is to get to the NCAA tournament the Eagles will not have an easy time getting there. The NCAA USILA poll has given Eastern enough votes to get them into the top 20 rankings but that does not guarantee them a spot quite yet. While trying to get enough votes to make it the men will face a rather challenging schedule. The Eagles will face York College away on March 21. The Spartans are entering the season ranked eleventh in the nation. Meanwhile, the Gettysburg Bullets and the Ursinus Bears have also received votes in the USILA poll. Aurora University is another tough opponent the Eagles are looking to beat. Despite not getting votes, the AU Spartans made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, farther than the Eagles (losing 13-6 to Washington, Maryland in the first round).

Nevertheless, the Eagles have the man power to be able to achieve and succeed. Coach Kevin Wallace, and the rest of the staff picked up fourteen freshmen to help the other men on the roster including the eleven seniors and eighteen other players on the roster, bringing the total number of teammates to forty-three. These players are from all over the country ranging from the tri-state area to California and Washington.

Check out the Eagles this season for the following games here in Saint David’s:

• Sat., Feb. 21 vs. Swarthmore College 1:30p.m.
• Wed., March 4 vs. Aurora College 3:00p.m.
• Sat., March 14 vs. Gettysburg College 1:00p.m.
• Wed., March 18 vs. CNU 3:30p.m.
• Wed., March 25 vs. Stockton College 3:30p.m.
• Wed., April 1 vs. King’s College 3:30p.m.
• Sat., April 11 vs. Manhattanville College 1:00p.m.
• Wed., April 15 vs. Delaware Valley College 4:00p.m.

While everyone else at Eastern University was on Winter Break, the Women’s basketball team was working hard to improve their record to 13-4. The team left behind the Fall 2014 semester with an 8-1 record.

The Eagles played five games over the winter break, and ended up adding a 3-2 record to the already existing 8-1 making the women’s team 11-3 before the start of Spring 2015 play. The break started off roughly for the Eagles losing their first two games to Number 6 University of Scranton (57-71) and Richard Stockton (61-65). Apparently, all the Eagles needed to turn it around was a change of scenery. The women flew from stateside to Puerto Rico just before Christmas to participate in the Puerto Rico Clasico.

While there, the first game was against a nationally ranked number 10 Williams College. A 51-40 win boosted the team morale and the women rode the momentum to a perfect record in Puerto Rico with a second 58-45 win against the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras. The Eagles managed to carry this win streak home with them, beating PSU – Brandywine 74-56 on January 7.

During the first game back from the winter break the Eagles fell to the Number 1 team in the nation, FDU-Florham for their first conference loss of the season. Despite the 30 point loss, the women’s team has come out storming, gaining three wins in conference play against King’s (90-57), Manhattanville (71-65) and Misericordia (74-49). With these games the Eagles are holding the second place spot in conference play with a 5-1 record. The Eagles are behind only FDU-Florham who hold the first place spot with an undefeated record of 6-0.

Eastern has posted two Freedom Conference Player of the Week’s since break started including Emily Lavin, during finals week, and Meghan Nowak after her performance in Puerto Rico. Nowak was awarded the honor for the second time this season.

Next for the Eagles is a continuation of their conference play including DeSales University at home on Wednesday, Jan. 28 and Delaware Valley, also in St. David’s, on Saturday, Jan. 31.

Intramural sports allow athletes who are interested in a sport and athletes whose sport is not offered here at Eastern the opportunity to become an athlete for forty minutes, one to three times a week. Brittany Stroop, the Intramural coordinator, Head Softball coach and adjunct professor here at Eastern University, took over the intramural program during the fall of 2013 and has kept the leagues going strong. Currently the website that Stroop uses for registration has the member count at 504 students.

The fall semester has seen three successful leagues take place; co-ed volleyball, co-ed soccer and co-ed flag football. Stroop mentioned the success of flag football was extremely important in allowing more students to be involved in the fall leagues. According to the aforementioned website, 283 students are participating in the three different sports currently offered.

For the Spring 2015 semester, Stroop is planning to split the semester to offer more for the Eastern community, although these plans are not set in stone. Before spring break, there will be three leagues: a repeat of co-ed soccer and co-ed volleyball and an addition of a co-ed floor hockey league to replace flag football. After spring break, there will be an abundance of basketball including men’s, co-ed and women’s leagues.

With programs such as an intramural league, a lot of participation comes from knowing what the students want. Eastern’s student body, if not just the intramural participants, should expect a survey to come through student development sometime during the Spring 2015 semester. The survey will ask the community what sports they wish to see in the future as the intramural program moves forward. Stroop is anticipating the growth of the program in conjunction with the campus master plan over the next few years.

If you are interested in joining Intramurals, or just following the standings of all the leagues, you can do so on imleagues.com or by using the Rec It app for both iPhones and Androids. You can also follow the program on Twitter using the handle @Intramurals_EU.