The Knights’ Katie Bunk hit a crossbar and Elley Eastman missed just wide early in the game before Bunk eventually gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the first half.

Clara Steinberg played a ball to Bunk, who got through the Wolves’ defense before placing the ball in the corner of the goal past Kane’s keeper just 13 minutes into the game.

The Wolves tied the game 12 minutes later when Jillian Watts beat the Knights’ defense and then scored to make it 1-1.

Eisenhower put a flurry of shots at the Kane net early in the second half before Steinberg crossed to Grosch, who buried her shot to make it 2-1.

Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger The Knights’ Elley Eastman directs a header toward the Kane goal.

Kane countered later in the half, but a heads-up play by Knights keeper Tracey Jakubczak kept the game 2-1.

“It was a hard-fought game. Kane stepped up their play from past seasons, making us really have to adjust to how we played and controlled the ball,” first-year Eisenhower head coach Alex Johnson said. “We had a lot of options generated out of good passing from our midfield and Katie and Emily are really starting to get some good looks at goal. We had some really close shots that if we can clean them up, the score would have been much different. I am really happy to see us generating so many attacking chances this early in the season and can’t wait to see how it increases as we refine our ball placement throughout the season.”

Eisenhower held Kane to just six shots in the game.

“Defense stepped up tonight,” Johnson said. “The whole team really stepped up the second half and applied high-pressure defense from the forwards back to defense to allow us good possession and a lot of goal-scoring opportunities.”

The Knights will open Region 3 play this evening when they travel to Erie to take on Mercyhurst Prep.