The Warriors (1-0), who are an NCAA Division II team ranked fifth in their region in the preseason poll, got on the scoreboard in the 19th minute when Devon Miniscalco turned with her back to the goal and ripped a shot into the upper corner of the net to put East Stroudsburg on top 1-0.

The score would remain that way through the rest of the first half and until the 56th minute of the match when senior forward Nikki Bruscino (left) equalized for the Lady Cougars (0-1). She ripped a shot just inside the upper left corner to knot the score at 1-1. The goal was the tenth of her career.

Then, in the 66th minute, the Warriors regained the lead when Rebecca Porcaro out-raced an MVNU defender to the ball and found the back of the net to put East Stroudsburg on top 2-1.

The Warriors tacked on another goal in the 85th minute when Marissa Spitler scored off a deflection off a corner kick to make the final margin 3-1.

East Stroudsburg held a 20-5 edge in total shots, a 12-2 advantage in shots on goal, and an 8-0 margin in corner kicks. Junior goalkeeper Jenessa Loewen posted nine saves for the Lady Cougars, while Melissa Myers posted one save for the Warriors.

“Our back line really worked their tails off tonight,” said MVNU coach Daniel Seiffert. “We lost (senior defender) Mara (Hughes) in warm-ups to an ankle injury and (senior) Angie (Misamore), (junior) Denče (Stentz), (sophomore) Kelci (Rhodes), and (sophomore) Lindsey (Shaffer) really stepped up and worked hard to adjust to losing her. Jenessa also played very well in goal for us.”

“East Stroudsburg is a good side and we knew that we would be in for a tough match,” Seiffert continued. “We played hard and I saw a lot of promising things today. I was especially pleased with (freshman midfielder) Rachel Elder’s contributions off the bench.”

The Lady Cougars will look to bounce back on Saturday when MVNU will face NCAA Division II Nyack (N.Y.) College at 11:00 a.m. to wrap up the team’s trip to the East Coast.