Box Score

BLOOMSBURG - Freshman midfielder Shea Neal scored the game-winner 6:43 into the first overtime as No. 6-ranked East Stroudsburg University rallied for a 2-1 victory at Bloomsburg in PSAC women's soccer, remaining perfect at 5-0 to match the second-longest unbeaten start in school history.

Neal, the first ESU freshman to score a game-winning goal in overtime since Lynda Hicks in 2003, scored on a cross from junior midfielder Courtney Keller as the Warriors (5-0, 5-0 PSAC) equaled their 1995 team with their fifth straight win to open the year. Neal's goal was her team-leading third of the season.

Bloomsburg (3-3, 2-3) was the first team to score against ESU this year when Ashley Sanchez scored with 18 seconds left in the first half, and the Huskies maintained the lead until sophomore forward Sammi Jo Hughes tied the game for ESU with her first goal of the year in the 59th minute.

Senior goalkeeper Brittain Wagner, the reigning PSAC Athlete of the Week, had five saves, including stopping a penalty kick by Kelsey Holtz in the 38th minute, before the Huskies scored. The Warriors went 404:42 into the season without conceding a goal, with Wagner in the net for 389:42.

ESU held a 16-9 advantage in shots for the game - and a commanding 10-2 lead in the second half and overtime. The Warriors outshot the Huskies, 8-2, in the second 45 minutes and had both shots in the extra session. Hughes hit the crossbar five minutes after her goal, which could have been the game-winner.

The Warriors won after trailing at halftime for the first time since Sept. 30, 2009, when they won 3-2 at Millersville after falling behind 2-1 at halftime.

ESU has outscored its first five opponents, 10-1, going into a Saturday night game against Lock Haven at 7 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium.


Game Notes
* The Warriors are the last unbeaten, untied team in the PSAC after Millersville (4-0-1, 3-0-1) tied 1-1 with Clarion on Wednesday.

* ESU has opened the year with wins over Kutztown (1-0), at Mansfield (1-0), vs. Gannon (2-0), vs. Mercyhurst (4-0) and Wednesday's 2-1 (OT) win at Bloomsburg.

* The OT win was ESU's first since Kerri McClay had the game's only goal in a 1-0 (2OT) win at Millersville last year.

* Neal has scored 3 of ESU's 10 goals this year. Hughes, the Warriors' top scorer as a freshman with 4 goals and 5 assists, had an assist in Saturday's 4-0 win over Mercyhurst before scoring her first goal of the year at Bloomsburg.

* In 2003, Lynda Hicks scored with 1:37 left in the 2nd OT in a 1-0 win at Bridgeport. She was the last ESU freshman to score an OT game-winner until Neal on Wednesday.

* Wagner has a 0.20 goals against average and .963 save percentage, with 26 saves and one goal allowed. Through Sunday, she had the most saves (21) without allowing a goal of any DII player in the country.

* Opponents are 2-for-6 on penalty kicks against Wagner in the last two years.

* ESU entered the week as one of 13 DII teams yet to concede a goal.

* The longest unbeaten start in school history came in 1994, ESU's 3rd year as a program, when the Warriors won their first 13 games on their way to claiming the first PSAC championship contested in women's soccer.

* ESU's 4-game shutout streak doubled its longest to start a season, and is tied for the 2nd-longest in program history. The Warriors also had 4 straight shutouts in 2010 and 2011. The 1993 team had 5 straight midway through the season.

* In 2010, ESU had a shutout streak of 464:38. In 2011, the Warriors had a streak of 384:19. (The number of scoreless minutes in 1993 is unknown).  This year's streak was 404:42.

* ESU improves to 9-22-2 against Bloomsburg since the program's first year (1992). The Warriors are 6-5-1 against the Huskies under 7th-year head coach Rob Berkowitz.