ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Lacrosse started the 2015 season off with an 18-8 win over the Swarthmore College Garnet on Sunday afternoon.
Five Eagles seniors combined for 14 of the goals in the first game of their final season. Eric Waibel scored a game-high four goals, Grant Ferguson and David Darling each recorded the hat trick and Kyle Gillam added two goals. Darling and Ferguson both also had two assists to give them five-point games. Ferguson has 193 career points, four shy of Chris Farrar's all-time record at Eastern.
Sophomore Desmond Decker notched two goals, including the first of the game, and freshman Bryan Mizell scorched his first two collegiate goals.
Senior goalkeeper Nick DiPiano made his first career start and earned the win while recording 14 saves.
Swarthmore gave the Eagles pause early on. After Eastern scored the first two goals of the game, Swarthmore responded with two of its own to end the first quarter in a 2-2 tie.
Gillam ripped a long-range shot in the first minute of the second quarter to give Eastern its edge back again, but the Garnet caught Eastern with 10:13 left in the quarter.
The Eagles then went on a four-goal run that extended into the third quarter. Swarthmore tacked on two goals in the third to cut Eastern's lead to 8-5 with six minutes left. Eastern then rattled off six straight goals. Ferguson, who hadn't scored yet in the game, tallied his first with 27 seconds left in the quarter and then got his second goal just eight seconds into the start of the fourth. Matt Lee won the faceoff cleanly for the Eagles, sprinted to the blue line and quickly found Ferguson unmarked on the left side where he finished a screaming low-to-high shot. Lee won 16-of-28 faceoffs on the day and gathered 11 groundballs.
Shortly over a minute later, Waibel fired a low-to-high laser for his fourth goal of the game and effectively put the nail in Swarthmore's proverbial coffin. The Eagles out-scored the Garnet 4-3 the rest of the way to secure the 18-8 victory.
Eastern has now won its opening game three years in a row. The last loss was February 2012 to Swarthmore.
The Eagles travel to McDaniel College on Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. contest.
Box Score
