Box Score After being shutout by Frostburg State in their season opener, the Eastern Mennonite soccer women welcomed the University of Mary Washington to town Sunday afternoon. The offense continued to show signs of improvement, but still not enough to score, as the Lady Royals lost 1-0.

Mary Washington came out aggressively in the game and won control of midfield. The Eagles fired 11 shots in the first half, but the EMU defense held, with keeper Abby Difffenbach (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) collecting six saves in the period.

By the second half, the Lady Royals starting passing better and winning free balls, but an Eagle breakaway nearly netted a goal at the 60-minute mark. Allison DiPappa split two defenders as she got a pass, but her one-time shot went wide.

The Lady Royals returned fire with great play of their own. Ten minutes later, junior Jess Myers (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and freshman Ally Brown (East Petersburg, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) teamed up for some nice passing, but the Lady Royals couldn't manage a shot out of two good runs.

At 78:05, the Eagles finally broke through. On another breakaway, Nicole Dierkes sped into the right corner and delivered a perfect cross to Chrissy Reardon. Reardon fired a quick shot to the left side of the net which beat Diffenbach and gave Mary Washington the lead.

EMU made one more push, but the Eagle keeper saved a long shot by Jenna Arneson (Staunton, Va./Riverheads), as the Lady Royals took the 1-0 loss.

Mary Washington outshot EMU 19-4 in the game, although the Lady Royals had more good looks than shots. Diffenbach finished with 10 saves.

The shutout leaves EMU still in search of its first goal and win. The Lady Royals play Susquehanna and Gettysburg next weekend at the Mary Washington Tournament.