With playoff positioning on the line, the Eastern Mennonite women's soccer team hosted Guilford Saturday night in Harrisonburg. The Lady Royals entered the game in sixth place in the ODAC standings, but just two points separated the women from the Quakers in eighth place. After 82 scoreless minutes, the Lady Royals got a late goal to grab a 1-0 win and lock up sixth place.

EMU controlled the early goings, firing five shots in the first 11 minutes. Even though three of them were on goal, the women couldn't score.

The story remained the same for the rest of the first half, as the Lady Royals dominated play, outshooting Guilford 12-1, but the game sailed into halftime a scoreless tie.

The Quakers stepped up their play in the second and the overall tone of play started to get rougher. As the minutes ticked away, an air of urgency built.

Finally EMU struck. Sophomore Kori Wenger (New Holland, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) mounted an attack in the 83rd minute. As the ball was knocked away from her, sister Taylor Wenger (New Holland, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) picked it up and popped a soft shot towards the right corner of the goal. Chaska Yoder (Plain City, Oh./Jonathan Alder) stepped in and drove it past the Guilford keeper to give the women a 1-0 lead with 7:42 remaining.

Kori Wenger nearly scored just two and a half minutes later, but had a shot sail inches wide.

The defense made the lead stick, however, as EMU notched the win.

Although the women only scored one goal, they had a healthy 22-6 edge in shots, including 8-4 in shots on goal. Abby Diffenbach (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) had four saves as EMU collected its seventh shutout of the season.

For Yoder, it was her sixth goal of the season. Taylor Wenger picked up her team-leading fifth assist.

Eastern Mennonite, now 7-7-2 and 5-4-1 in the ODAC, clinched the sixth seed in the upcoming Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament with the win. The women host Lynchburg to wrap up the regular season on Tuesday, but cannot pass fifth-place Washington & Lee, even with a win, since the Generals hold the head-to-head tie-breaker.

The Lady Royals also know they will play at third-seeded Virginia Wesleyan next Saturday in the quarterfinals of the tourney. The Marlins won the game during the season 3-1.

EMU now has its second three-game winning streak of the season and is 6-1-1 over the last eight games.