ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College Soaring Eagles women's soccer team defeated the visiting Highlanders from Houghton University, 3-1, on Wednesday afternoon, which earned the Purple & Gold its first Empire 8 Athletic Conference postseason berth since the 2005 season. Elmira, who will await results from this evenings' Empire 8 contests to determine its seeding, will head on the road this upcoming Saturday for its postseason match. Elmira, who saw a pair of goals from Mo McBride '27 and a pair of assists from Tierney Krawczyk '27.
Additionally, Miranda Waterman '25 earned her first career assist as goalkeeper in her final collegiate regular-season game, off a goal kick finding McBride who beat a defender for her second goal of the day.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 3, Houghton 1
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Campus Field
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (5-9-2, 4-7-0 Empire 8), Houghton (7-9-2, 4-6-1 Empire 8)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Soaring Eagles earned its first chance of the contest and would execute just under five minutes into play. After a shot from McBride deflected off a Highlander defenseman and found EC with a corner kick opportunity, Krawczyk booted the ball into the box, finding the head of Emily Andersen '26 for the score.
- The contest would go quiet for the next 25 minutes of play before a free kick from Renee Bickham '27 found the head of Krawczyk, who led the ball directly to McBride who punched it in to extend the Elmira lead to 2-0.
- The first half would conclude with EC holding the 2-0 advantage, while the Highlanders got on the board at the 51:04 mark on a goal from Aivery Schuck. It would be the lone goal of the afternoon for Houghton.
- With under seven minutes remaining in the contest, Elmira would find themselves with a goal kick, where Waterman found McBride, untouched, who beat a defender and found the back of the net, which capped the scoring at 3-1.
- In all, Houghton outshot the Soaring Eagles 21-8, including a 10-5 advantage on goal, while also leading the corner kicks battle 6-3. Waterman would record her first career win in goal for the Purple & Gold, making nine saves.
UP NEXT:
Elmira will await its Empire 8 Quarterfinal opponent for road Saturday following the remainder of the Empire 8 slate from this evening.