PURCHASE, N.Y.- Eastern University Men's Lacrosse raced into the Easter weekend with a convincing 18-7 Freedom Conference win at Manhattanville College. After trailing 2-1 early, the Eagles (11-4, 5-0 Freedom) scored five goals in a five-minute stretch toward the end of the first period to grab control of the game. Dave Darling finished with three goals and seven assists to lead the Eastern attack.

The Eagles stretched their winning streak to six games with the win.

After a nearly three-hour bus ride, the Eastern team struggled out of the gate, and the host Valiants grabbed a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game. Eric Waibel answered with his first of four on the afternoon, but the Valiants picked up a rebound goal on the next possesion to again grab the lead. 

Down 2-1, the Eastern attack started to fire quickly. Darling scored. He then set up Andrew Travers for a 3-2 lead. Darling fed Grant Ferguson and then Cody Ridgway for the third and fourth goals in three minute burst. Ridgway's goal came after a Manhattanville penalty. The Eagles scored on both their man-up chances and improved their conversion rate to 65.9 percent. That number is over 10 percentage points better than the next best team in that category.

Travers made it 6-2 to end the quarter. Eastern held a 13-8 advantage in 1st quarter shots.

Ferguson scored his second of four shortly inot the second period and then answered another Manhattanville tally after a nice feed from Darling. Waibel and Darling scored to make it 10-3 before Kyle Gillam pumped in his eighth of the year to answer another Manhattanville goal.

Eastern outscored the Valiants 6-1 in the third period. Waibel was the only Eastern player to strike twice in the period. With his four-goal day,  Waibel finishes the day with 27 goals. Darling now has has 28 goals and 38 assists. He is nine points short of the single season points mark set last year by Chris Farrar. Farrar also holds the single season assist mark with 46. Ferguson finished with four goals and has 48 goals this year. He is six short of his single season total set last spring. Travers scored his second career hat trick.

Ridgway scored his second of the afternoon in the fourth period for the final margin of victory. The Eagles played four goalies. Pat Groschan made five first-half stops to pick up the win.

The Eagles will face DeSales in a game for the top seed in the Freedom Tournament next Saturday.