Eagles Too Much for Eagles Despite Flashes of Solid Play

Ankeny, IA - The Emmaus Eagles traveled to Ankeny, Iowa on Tuesday afternoon to take on the Eagles of Faith Baptist Bible College. Emmaus, still missing several key players, found themselves matched up against a team having suffered its only loss of the season this past weekend to MCCC Conference leader Ozark Christian College in double overtime.

Faith wasted no time getting on the board when, in the 4^th minute, Andrew Young (#21) timed a perfect run down the left center of the Emmaus defense and buried a shot into the back of the net. Emmaus seemed to settle in after that and created a few chances of their own, but the Faith Eagles were again able to capitalize in the 14^th minute when a miscue in the back saw Chase Clarke (#8) knock a bouncing ball into the corner of the net for the 2-0 lead. Twelve minutes later, Clarke struck again when he found space behind the Emmaus back line on a questionable missed offside call.

With Faith ahead 3-0 the Emmaus Eagles continued to press. Their hard work paid off just before half when Braden Crim (#19) battled for a ball at the top of Faith's 18 yard box and saw the ball bounce out to teammate Ryan Bell (#9). Faith's keeper, David Levy, found himself out of position as Bell calmly slotted home a solid pass to the back of the net.

Despite trailing by 2 goals at the half, Emmaus entered the break having placed 5 of their 9 shots on goal as compared to Faith's 6 for 12. The statistics and occasional dangerous buildups gave Emmaus hope that they were not out of the game.

Faith, however, had other ideas and struck even more quickly in the second half when Joseph Frerichs (#11) danced his way through several Emmaus defenders and deftly sent the ball into the corner of the net. Up 4 to 1, Faith continued to press and were rewarded in the 58^th minute when Clarke won the endline and found substitute Paine (#3) on the back post for the easy put away. Faith put the final nail in the coffin just one minute later when Frerichs found Young on the back post for Faith's 6^th goal of the night. They nearly added to their lead 10 minutes later, but Emmaus substitute Eli Gioja (#2) came up big by saving the ball off the line.

Emmaus, rarely a team to quit, fought on and came close to tallying another goal, but the 6-1 scoreline held. Faith held a shot advantage of 28 to 16 over Emmaus, but Emmaus was only one shot on goal behind their rival Eagles as Faith keeper David Levy was forced to make 9 saves on the night.

"I thought our guys played really well at times tonight. We had a few breakdowns at the back which cost us, but our attack was often well organized and we played some dangerous balls into their box. Our 10 of 16 shots on goal is nothing to laugh at… we just need to put a few more into the back of the net. Faith is a great team and we really need to play mistake-free soccer if we want to have a chance. I look forward to a rematch next Tuesday at home" (Coach Brown).

The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday against the Red Lions of Lincoln Christian University. The Lions got the best of the Eagles earlier in the season in Lincoln. The Eagles will look to give the Lions all they can handle the second time around.