WILKES-BARRE, Pa.- In what appears to be a very important Freedom Conference road test at King's, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse broke open a close game with five goals in the final ten minutes of action to earn a 12-7 win.
the Eagles(8-4, 2-0 Freedom), who jumped to an early 4-0 lead, never trailed in the game, but the host Monarchs trimmed a 7-3 halftime deficit to 7-6 and had a two-player advantage for 22 seconds early in the fourth period. Aaron Benz, who finished with nine saves on the evening, made a pair of saves in the man-down situation, and the Eagles were able to successfully clear the ball against the King's pressure.
Two minutes later Will Johnson found a cutting Eric Waibel on the doorstep and the freshman buried his only goal of the evening to give Eastern a two-goal edge with 9:44 on the clock. Matt Wagner restored a three goal edge two minutes later with his second goal of the night. The fourth-year attack scored his third of the night to go with his three assists seventeen seconds later.
Joey Wilmot popped in his first of the year with less than four to play to push the lead to five.
King's grabbed a goal back at the three minute mark to close the gap to 11-7 before Farrar finished his fourth of the day and team-best 24th of the year for the final margin.
"Their goalie made some tremendous saves in the middle of the game," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said,"and it took us a little while to adjust to their zone, but our guys kept working in the offense and doing what they do and we were able to pull away. [Erice] Waibel scored a huge goal on a great cut, and Matt [Wagner] was outstanding."
Wagner, Kyle Gillam, Matt Soldano, and Farrar each tallied goals in the first seven minutes of the game. After King's scored to close the gap to 4-1, Farrar and Grant Ferguson scored second period goals to give the visiting Eagles a 6-1 lead.
The Monarchs scored all three goals in the third period. Brendan McCrudden had 11 stops in net for King's (5-6, 1-1 Freedom).
Eastern can take a step toward securing home field in the Freedom Conference play-offs when they play at Manhattanville College this Saturday.
Box Score
