After enduring a winless regular season a year ago, Robert D. Edgren’s Eagles girls soccer team found themselves soaring to two victories on Friday thanks to the fleet feet of transfer Jen Black.

The sophomore, barely 5 feet tall, scored three goals as the Eagles got their first regular-season victory over Zama American in four years, 4-0 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni’s Penny Lake Field. Edgren later beat Matthew C. Perry 3-1 as Black assisted on two goals.

"How about that? They’re playing great," Eagles second-year coach Mark Pierce said, crediting little things such as one-touch passes, overlapping, team movement and communication for their success. "All that hard work, it’s coming together."

Pierce said it’s "entirely possible" that the foundation for the flying start to this season can be found in Edgren’s performance last May in the Far East Class A tournament at Daegu, South Korea. The Eagles entered the tournament 0-12-1 but went 4-3-1 during the Far East week.

Clearly, Black has added a new dimension to the Eagles’ attack after coming from Yokota to Edgren over the summer, Pierce said.

"She brings up the level of play of everybody. She has the ability and skill that brings all the players up to her level," Pierce said. "She’s a good addition. But the other players did really well, too."

Daegu American girls’ defense steps up in loss to Seoul Foreign

Ed Thompson’s deepest fear entering the season was that his Daegu American girls soccer team lost too much of its defense to graduation, and those fears were compounded when Seoul Foreign scored three times in the last 10 minutes of the first half Friday to lead 4-0.

But that’s where it ended. Even with two defensive starters who’ve played soccer for just two weeks, Daegu held the Crusaders scoreless in the second half en route to a 4-2 loss.

"Our defense stepped up. We figured it out," Thompson said.

Gleaves scores twice for Falcons after move from goal

Better known for her exploits in the Seoul American net, junior Liz Gleaves once again proved she can find opposing nets as well. She scored twice in the second half as the Falcons blanked Korea International 3-0 in their Friday opener.

Coach Billy Ratcliff said he wasn’t getting the "firepower he wanted" with Gleaves in net, so he switched her to midfield and put Destinee Harrison into the goal. Gleaves shot just three times, scoring twice.

"Our defense controlled everything," Ratcliff said, adding he wasn’t worried with Gleaves out of the net because "Destinee has been doing really well in practice."

Osan women out of March Madness tournament

After taking the No. 2 playoff seed in the March Madness Pacific Regional Basketball Tournament, Osan Air Base’s women stunningly exited the tournament with two losses in the first two double-elimination playoff games at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Osan fell 65-59 to host Andersen, which got 27 points from Christine Cooper. Then Carly Ledeboer led three players in double figures with 19 points as Yokota Air Base sent Osan out the door 61-52.

As do most teams that go on the road for interservice tournaments, Osan left some of its key components behind due to duty commitments, including two-time All-Armed Forces guard Mariela Miles. "If I had all my people here, it would have been special," coach Jonathan Jenkins said.

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