Coach Ted Erickson has the young Eastern Mennonite soccer women heading in the right direction. But they haven't arrived. Not yet at least.

The Royals made the short trip to Bridgewater College Tuesday afternoon and came home with a 4-0 loss. In a conference with a large disparity between the top and bottom teams in the standings, EMU continues to be in search of a break-through moment against the upper echelon.

The Eagles (9-2-1/2-1-1 ODAC) scored after a corner kick in the 15th minute and then made it 2-0 in the 18th. They controlled the half before adding a third score just three minutes before halftime.

BC pushed the margin to 4-0 midway through the second period.

Eastern Mennonite (6-6-1/2-3-0 ODAC) made some pushes over the final minutes. Marcy Smucker (Woodward, Pa./Penns Valley) put a shot just wide in the 85th minute, and the women then fired a pair of corners late, nearly scoring off each one. On the first attempt, the kick from Mikaela Zook (Millersburg, Ind./Northridge) was deflected by a BC defender, skimming off the crossbar and out of bounds. On the follow-up, Zook sent a great second-chance look to Hannah Walker (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) on the far side, but Walker's header bounced off the post and right back to the Eagles' keeper.

Leah Wenger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) started in goal for EMU and made nine saves in the first half. Emily Young (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) tended the net in the second and collected three saves.

The Royals continue a tough stretch in their schedule at home on Saturday, hosting Roanoke as part of EMU's Homecoming. Start time against the Maroons is 4:00pm.