ORANGE BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's soccer team got two goals from senior Ange Durston-Ryan, but they weren't enough to push the Blue and Gold past William Carey as the Eagles fell 3-2 to the Lady Crusaders on the first day of play at the University of Mobile Tournament at the Orange Beach Sportsplex on Friday. With the loss, the fourth-ranked Eagles are now 4-3 on the year, while No. 17 William Carey improves to 5-1 overall.

After taking three early shots from long range, William Carey scored the first goal of the game when Tori McDevitt latched on to an errant Eagle pass and slotted a low ball into the lower left corner in the 10th minute.

With just under 10 minutes left in the half, Krizzy Menez beat a WCC defender to a ball played across the field by Tova Torstensson. Menez completed a pass to Durston-Ryan on the Australian native slotted the ball under diving WCC goalkeeper Linfah Jones to score her first goal of the year and draw the Eagles level, 1-1.

Any momentum the Eagles gained by netting the equalizer was quickly taken away by the Crusaders who reclaimed the lead when Sasha Rodriguez took advantage of miscommunication on the Eagles' back line less than three minutes later. Neither team was able to find the net prior to the break, resulting in a 2-1 Crusader halftime lead.

Less than two minutes into the second frame, the Lady Crusaders were able to add to their lead as the Eagles were whistled for a hand ball inside the penalty area. McDevitt took the resulting penalty kick and her second goal of the day put WCC up 3-1.

The Eagles responded to the Crusaders' third goal by stepping up their offense, as evidenced by their 15-3 advantage in shot attempts in the second half. ERAU was finally able to convert on one such attempt in the 78th minute.  The play started just inside the Eagles' defensive half and a series of one-touch passes through the midfield ended at the feet of Valerie Obita on the left side. Obita took the ball down the line and her cross caused a scramble in the box, after which, Durston-Ryan collected the ball and knocked home her second goal of the evening to pull the Eagles within one.

The Eagles continued to create chances but a combination of near misses and seven saves by Jones kept the Eagles from adding to their tally and resulted in the 3-2 final.

The Eagles will be back in action at 4:30 p.m. (CST) on Saturday when they take on tournament host Mobile.