Eastern University Men's Lacrosse opened their season with an 11-8 home loss to Swarthmore College. The Garnet broke open an 8-7 game with three straight goals in a four minute stretch in the fourth quarter. Nick Mandia led the Eastern attack with four goals and a pair of assists.

The Eagles jumped to a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute on a quick finish inside from Michael Ryan on a feed from Mandia. With the Eagles up one, the game slowed dramatically unitl Stelios Wilson collected two goals ina  five second span to put the Garnet up. Wilson would finish the day with a game-high five goals. Mandia then set up the game tying goal as Eastern took advantage of a man-up opportunity with a Ben O'Donnell strike with 1:39 on the clock in the first period.

Wilson and Mandia traded goals to start the second period. Mandia's goal came on a great individual effort from behind the cage.  The the visitors scored two straight to seize a 5-3 advantage that they would take to the half. Zach Rivest made 7 first half saves to help keep the game tight.

Tyler Bradshaw opened the third period with his second goal of the day on a nice feed from Gavin Musynske. Musynske finished the day with four helpers for the Garnet. Mandia then scored two straight goals. The first came on a 15 yard shot off a Michael Hoffmeister pass and the second came on a back-hand shot under pressure from in close. The Eagles, however, were unable to stop Wilson, who collected his fourth of the day with five minutes to play to bump the Swarthmore edge back up to 7-5. 

Mandia ripped a blistering high shot off a loose ball with 22 seconds left in the period to pull the Eagles to within one. Eastern won the ensuing face-off, but was unable to get a quality shot at the end of the period. 

Wilson opened the fourth with his fifth of the day. Eastern freshman Matt Wagner then collected his first collegiate goal after gathering a ground ball just outside the crease and lifting a shot into the top of the cage to cut the Swarthmore lead to 8-7. The Garnet answered with three straight unassisted tallies before Michael Ryan scored his second of the day for the final margin.

Coach Childs said of his team's effort, "They had some dynamic offensive players that gave us problems today. We did some things well, but we ran into a tough stretch with too many failed clears. This was a good test for us in our first game of the year."

Rivest finished the day with nine saves for theEagles. Kevin Friedenberg made 12 saves to earn the win.

The Eagles will spend their Spring Break training at and doing work for a Young Life Camp in Virginia. They take on Randolph College on Tuesday Night.