PARKVILLE, Mo. – Led by a shutdown effort from the Eagle defense and a season-high eight saves from goalkeeper Johnathan Fager, the opportunistic Eagles struck for a pair of well-constructed team goals to lead Avila (1-3-0) to a 2-1 victory over Park (0-1-0) on Wednesday evening in Parkville.

The Eagles lost 4-1 to this Park team this time last year and hadn't defeated the Pirates in recent recorded history, but this year's Eagle team pieced together an excellent performance from the goalkeeper out to ultimately outlast the Pirates in their season opener and earn Avila's first victory of the 2023 campaign.

The Pirates were shut out until the final ten minutes of regulation, but, in truth, they were buzzing around the Eagles' net and generating chances for much of the match. Park out-shot Avila 20-6 in the game, but the Eagle defense was resolute and tenacious without going over the limit, matching Park's urgency and denying nearly every goal-scoring opportunity.

Shortly after Fager made the first of his many saves in the game, he blasted a reboot kick the length of the field that chipped past the Pirates' defense and into the waiting feet of Vincent Escott, who was making his return to the Eagle lineup after a one-game absence. Escott was able to dig the ball away from the defense, enter the box, and fire a shot past veteran keeper Elias Eichhorn to put the visitors in front in the 20^th minute.

Then, it was the defense's turn to go to work. Avila was credited with four blocked shots in the first half alone, not including a diving effort by centerback Damon Young to turn aside a chance near the goal line from Wayde Roman with ten minutes left in the half. Fager made a total of four stops in the first half, preserving a 1-0 Avila lead.

The second half featured more of the same. Eichhorn made his only save of the night early in the period, getting a little bit of revenge by turning Escott away in the early stages, but 15 minutes in Fager made the save of the night, lunging up to deny Andres Yost at the crossbar to keep Avila ahead. Just minutes later, the Eagles flashed some excellent transition offense when outside back Ko 'Oo evaded multiple defenders on the right sideline and played ahead for Robert Davies, who sent Sam Kanda in for a one-on-one and an easy finish past Eichhorn for the veteran forward's first tally of the season.

Park finally broke through in the 84^th minute on a sweet finish from Julian Campos and the Pirates continued to search for a potential equalizer, but Fager finished his best game of the season with one more stop off veteran Filip Andonovski with about five minutes left, and that was that – the Eagles knocked off the Pirates 2-1 for their first victory of the 2023 campaign.

Up next, Avila will take on another former Heart of America Conference opponent coming up on Monday, September 4, in Atchison, Kansas against Benedictine. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM; for details on how to watch and follow along, check out Avila Athletics on social media and the all-new avilaathletics.com.