The American University women's soccer team began strong against Army on Sunday afternoon at Reeves Field, and held on down the stretch to come away with a hard-fought Patriot League victory. With the win, the Eagles move to 3-0 in conference play for the second time in program history.

After few good scoring chances from both teams over the first few minutes of play, American (8-7, 3-0) found life on the offensive end and was able to strike first. In the 28th minute, Freshman Kristin Piorun played a ball down the right side of the field to junior Brooke Sheppard. She was able to gather it and fire it across the middle to Patricia Bailey for the short-range goal.

The Eagles continued to put the pressure on Army (5-7-2, 0-2-1) into the start of the second half. Senior Kelsey Brasher had a golden scoring opportunity for the Eagles less than two minutes into the second stanza, but Army goalkeeper Alex Lostetter made a solid save on the shot. This play, however, would be a preview of what would follow from the Eagles' offensive attack.

Less than a minute later, in the 47th minute, American took a 2-0 advantage with Kelly McLaughlin's first-career goal. Off an AU corner kick, the ball was deflected back from the pack of players bunched just in front of Army's goal. McLaughlin, the senior defender, was right there for the Eagles, and fired a long-range shot into the back of the net. This was the first goal for McLaughlin in 66 career starts at American.

Facing a 2-0 deficit, it seemed that Army found itself on the offensive end in the game's final 25 minutes. After a few good scoring opportunities, the Black Knights cut AU's lead in half on a superb individual play by Elizabeth Betterbed in the 75th minute. She drove the ball up the right side of the field, and initially fired a long-range shot, which was blocked by an American defender. Betterbed recovered the rebound, and was able to get off a second shot, which got past Eagles' goalkeeper Lindsey Farthing.

Army continued to apply the pressure on the American defense over the final 15 minutes, and had several good chances to tie the match. The best came with under three minutes to play on a shot by Betterbed, but Farthing was up to the challenge with a sliding save to preserve the 2-1 victory.

Farthing, a junior, picked up the win for the Eagles in goal in the first start of her career. She recorded 11 saves.

"I give credit to Army for not giving up and for battling back to get a goal and make it a game, even when they were down 2-0," remarked American Head Coach David Bucciero. "We did not play our best soccer today, and we did not possess the ball well and keep our composure. Having said that, championship teams find ways to win and today we were able to do that."

With the victory, the Eagles move to 3-0 in Patriot League play, only the second time in program history they have started perfect in their opening three matches of conference play. The other time was in 2007 when the Eagles finished with an unbeaten 4-0-3 record in the Patriot League.

American will hit the road for each of its next three Patriot League matchups, beginning this Saturday, October 17 for a 7 p.m. kick at Colgate. The Eagles will then travel to Lafayette and Lehigh before ending the season at home versus Navy on October 31.