BRIDGEWATER, Va. –The last time the Bridgewater Eagles field hockey team defeated Eastern Mennonite University none of the current players on the team were born yet. Bridgewater's 30-year drought against the Royals came to an end on Tuesday evening with a 2-1 victory at the EMU Turf Field.

Bridgewater (7-7, 4-2 ODAC) last defeated Eastern Mennonite in 1982 in the conference playoffs by a 1-0 score, avenging a loss to the Royals in the regular season.

On Tuesday evening, the Eagles took a two-goal lead early in the second half before the Royals answered but Bridgewater held EMU off down the stretch to post a key victory in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play.

After an evenly played first 28 minutes, the Bridgewater Eagles got on the board at the 29:53 mark when an own goal found the back of the Royals cage to put the Eagles up, 1-0. Bridgewater netted the goal off of a corner insert. Forward Betsy Joslyn put the ball on goal off of a pass from Caroline Fletcher and the EMU keeper put the ball into her own net to put the Eagles up by a goal which is how the game would stay at the intermission.

Bridgewater owned a slim 3-to-2 advantage in shots and a 2-1 gap in corners in an evenly played first stanza.

Eastern Mennonite (4-10, 3-4 ODAC) looked to net the equalizer with the first shot of the second half but Bridgewater netminder Jessica Balsano was up to the task, rejecting the Royals' scoring attempt to keep the Eagles up, 1-0.

Bridgewater quickly went back on the offensive before drawing a corner late in the 39^th minute. Off of the corner insert, freshman Taylor Prillaman found fellow freshman Rachael Loy in front of the net and Loy chipped a shot into the back of the cage to extend the Eagles' lead to 2-0 with 30:50 to play in the contest.

Five minutes later, Eastern Mennonite got on the scoreboard when Jessica Blanks cleaned up a Jenessa Derstine pass in front of the net and beat Balsano to trim the Bridgewater lead to 2-1.

After the Royals tally, Eastern Mennonite kept its foot on the pedal on the offensive end for the next seven minutes before the Eagles were able to clear the ball out of their defensive zone.

Both teams battled down the stretch run of the contest, with each squad having late opportunities to find the back of the cage but it was eventually Bridgewater prevailing by a 2-1 score over the host Royals.

The shot total was even across the second half of the play with each team recording seven shots to hand the Eagles a 10-to-9 advantage on the evening. Prillaman paced the offense with three shots in the win, while Colleen Dickson and Loy each chipped in two shots on the evening.

Eastern Mennonite was led on the offensive by a three-shot evening from Blanks.

Balsano recorded three saves to earn the win, while EMU's Mary Beth Danaher posted four saves in the loss.

Bridgewater is currently in third place in the ODAC standings with two conference contests remaining on the regular season slate. The Eagles are back in action on Saturday at Sweet Briar. Start time against the Vixens is set for 2:30 p.m.