The Eastern University men's lacrosse team fell 8-1 at Widener this evening. The Eagles had the unwelcome task of trying to beat the defending MAC Champions on their senior night. 

Widener built a 4-0 lead after 24 minutes and held a commanding 43-16 edge in shots for the night. Michael Ryan scored the only goal of the evening for the Eagles. Despite the difficult loss, Coach Brandon Childs was pleased with his team's defensive effort on the evening. "We did so many things right," Childs said of his defense, "and I am really proud of the effort those guys put forward. Dan Sharbaugh was tremendous tonight. He did so many things from a leadership perspective, and Zach [Rivest] played with tremendous courage. I am really proud of the way our guys competed."

The loss puts the Eagles in a precarious position for the weekend. In other conference action, Manhattanville beat FDU-Florham in double-overtime to muddy the play-off picture for several of the league teams. Four teams are now in the running for the remaining two play-off spots.

At this point, Messiah (5-4) can earn a spot with a win at DeSales (4-5) on Saturday. That result would eliminate DeSales. Manhattanville (5-4) would get in with a win over the regular season champion Lycoming Warriors or an Eastern (4-5) loss to Alvernia and Messiah win. If Eastern, Messiah and Lycoming win, Eastern and Manhattanville will be the only two 5-5 teams in the league and the Eagles will earn the sixth seed by virtue of their 7-2 win in Purchase earlier in the year. If the four way tie occurs, smarter people will have to be consulted.

Regardless, Eastern's twelve seniors will play their final home game on Saturday when they host Alvernia. The group was the first group to come to Eastern as varsity athletes since the program was reinstated, and has been very influential in the growth of the program.

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