Thursday night brought the Crusaders of Unity Christian out to Eagle Stadium for a non-conference match that was sure to be a gritty game.

The Eagles knew they were going to have to work hard in this match as Unity showed that they could maintain possession and create chances through their attacking line. More than ready for the challenge, the Eagles were able to create chances of their own, challenging for possession through the middle of the pitch. Will VandenBerg and Sasha Neykov were able to spread the ball to the wide areas for Nate Evenhouse and Gerrit Boer to challenge their defenders with pace and skill. Discipline in transitions proved to be critical as the back line stymied any movement from the Crusaders. A breakthrough came 20 minutes into the match through Andrew Brink showing a nice piece of skill to leave his defender scrambling and resorting to a foul in the box. Graham de Jonge stepped up to dispatch the penalty confidently for a 1-0 halftime lead.

Knowing that Unity would fight to get one back, remaining disciplined in transitions proved to be extremely important in the second half. The Eagles continued to fight for the 50/50 balls as possession between teams became more sporadic. Becket Nieuwenhuis showed good skill to leave his defender in a heap on the ground and play a ball into the run of Ty Erickson who showed nice composure to skip past his defender, get the ball to the baseline, and get his head up for a smooth pass into the path of Alberto Aliaga. The shot went into the keeper, but showed the boys the chances they can make. For the final 15 minutes, the Eagles continued to clean up the ball and keep Unity out for the 1-0 win!

The Eagle's season continues with a match at Eagle Stadium on Monday against the Red Arrows of Lowell!