Both teams had a number of opportunities to score, the Warriors having several prime chances (holding a 12-6 advantage in shots) thwarted by Endicott (8-1-2) junior keeper Caroline Armbruster (Stowe, VT), who has allowed only four goals in ten starts and who backstopped her team to its third straight shutout.

Still unbeaten (2-0-2) at home where it has given up only three goals, No. 8 New England-ranked Eastern (7-2-2) controlled time of possession substantially after the first half, where it amassed a 9-3 advantage in shots over the final 65 minutes.

 

The Warriors collected three corner kicks in the first nine minutes and finished with a 10-3 bulge in corner kicks in the game, but Armbruster was equal to the task. She came off her line on numerous occasions to punch out or making leaping grabs of corner kicks to deny the Warriors, and ended the evening with nine saves.

Senior midfielder Hailey Lehning (Woodbury) and All-Region junior forward Emily Becher (Brooklyn) led Eastern's offensive with three shots each, with a combined five of them reaching Armbruster.

With 28 minutes left in regulation, Lehning unloaded a shot from point blank range in the middle of the box off a Becher feed, but was denied by Armbruster. With 4:30 left in the first overtime, Lehning found Becher with a step on the defense, but Armbruster shot out to smother Becher's bid for her seventh goal of the season.

Among Endicott's best chances came in the opening minutes of the second half when  freshman midfielder Larissa Cade (Middlefield) picked off Eastern's ill-advised cross-field clearing pass at the top of the 18-yard box. Cade beat sophomore keeper Kayla Labrecque (Westhampton, MA) to the ball and fired a sliding shot from the left side that carried just wide of the far right post.

Eastern's starting defense of senior Jamie Belden (Middlebury), juniors Krista Petersen (Wallingford) and Maggie Bodington (Stratford) and sophomore Lauren Valenti (Walpole, MA) spent the night diffusing numerous Endlicott runs. The quartet kept the Gulls from penetrating by pushing forward, beating the Endicott midfielders to the ball and returning play into Eastern's offensive third. With the ability to strike the ball for distance, Belden and Bodington combined for four shots, putting three of them on net.

Labrecque was credited with five saves, posting her third shutout, lowering her goals-against average to 1.04 and improving her save percentage to .767.

Eastern, 3-0-2 in its last five contests, hosts Keene State College in a Little East Conference match Saturday at 1 p.m. at Thomas Nevers Field.