In their first trip to the MAC Playoffs, the sixth-seeded Eastern University men's lacrosse team picked up a tough first round draw in third seeded Widener. The Eagles battled the top two seeds in the MAC to close games, but just five days ago, the Pride completely dominated in an 8-1 win. The Eastern team made huge strides in a week, but the hosts were able to score four straight in a five minute spell in the third period to advance with a 10-7 win.

First year head coach Brandon Childs said prior to the game that he felt Widener could very well be the best team in the conference. So the Eagles had to make some tactical adjustments to play with the Pride. The staff put in a couple new offenses geared toward reducing the number of possessions in the game and made some structural changes in face-offs. 

Most importantly, however, the Eastern team gave a great effort. Childs said after the game, "I told the guys earlier in the year that I wanted to walk away from a game feeling like the team reflected my personality. I told them after the game that they exceeded my expectations in how hard they played. They gave everything they had."

Childs pointed to the efforts of senior goalie Zach Rivest, who made 11 stops in his final game despite playing with a broken bone in his top hand for the past two weeks. "Zach is a tough tough kid," Childs said," and when the doctor told him he could play with the injury if he could deal with the pain, Zach was up for the challenge. I think his defense saw that and has stepped up their game as well." 

Childs also identified seniors Evan Ridington and Dan Sharbaugh for their defensive efforts. "Our defensive players really played well tonight," Childs said, "we asked them to switch from man to zone and back, and Dan and Evan were very instrumental in our plan." Also key for the Eagles on the defensive end was the presence of Josh McClelland. McClelland missed last week's game at Widener for a class conflict. Tonight the senior defensive midfielder gave the Eagles a physical presence that could stand up against the driving Widener attack men.

The Eagles jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Nick Mandia and Nate Trunfio. Trunfio's goal came on a nice pass from Matt Wagner with 2:13 to play in the opening quarter. The Pride answered quickly with two face-off wins and two goals in the final 1:16 of the first quarter. Widener took a 3-2 lead on a transition goal three minutes into the second period and doubled their lead with 6:33 to play.

Wagner scored his first of the day to pull the Eagles to within one with just under two minutes left. Michael Hofmeister set up the goal with a good feed from behind the cage. Down 4-3, Eastern missed the horn for the beginning of the second half, and so the Pride started the second half with possession.

The Eastern defense put together a three minute stretch of work before finally earning possession on a save by Rivest. Hofmeister set up Wagner on a similar play to tie the game at 4-4 with just over ten to play in the third period. The Pride then responded with their run of four straight to pull to an 8-4 lead before Mandia scored his second of the day on a man-up goal late in the period.

Eastern started the fourth with a man-up opportunity but Wagner's shot was blocked and the hosts were able to keep possession to pull the game back to even strength before scoring their ninth of the day. Widener then scored another transition goal to pull to a five goal edge.

Trunfio scored his second of the day after he intercepted a ball on a ride and fired a shot from midfield into a vacant cage, and Michael Ryan scored the 85th goal of his college career to end the scoring. Ryan hold the Eastern career mark for total goals. With his two goals this evening, Wagner tied Ryan's freshman goal-scoring record with 21 goals. Mandia finishes his stellar three-year career in the maroon and white with a school record 160 points on 82 goals and 78 assists.

Coach Childs spoke very highly of his group of 12 seniors that were critical parts to restarting the program four years ago, but also feels that the squad has great promise for the future with several key returners and a strong and deep recruiting class coming for next Fall. 

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