WESTMINSTER, Md.--Eleven seems to be Eastern University Men's Lacrosse's magic number early this season. The Eagles (5-0) scored 11 goals for the fourth game in a row, topping McDaniel College 11-8 on Wednesday afternoon.
Senior David Darling led the charge with six points on three goals and three assists. Darling has accumulated 23 points already this season. With 4.6 points per game this year, he's just a tad shy of his record-setting 4.8 points per game pace last season. Darling moved into third all-time in points at Eastern (161 career points) jumping over current assistant coach Nick Mandia who recorded 159 career points in three seasons as an Eagle.
Grant Ferguson added a brace to keep intact a multi-point-game streak that extends back to March 21, 2014. Ferguson leads Eastern with 14 goals this season.
Tim Lamb, Trevor Gallion, Bryan Mizell, Jake Billera, Bryan Goetz and Joe Palo also scored a goal in the win.
The McDaniel Green Terror scored first, but Eastern responded with three goals set up by Darling to close out the first quarter ahead 3-1. Eastern and McDaniel traded goals to start the second quarter, but McDaniel gave Eastern a scare with back-to-back goals in just over a minute span to tie the game at 4-4 with 5:44 left in the quarter.
Darling notched his second goal of the game, a man-up strike, with 4:25 to go before halftime, but McDaniel's Dylan Chaikin scored his second of the quarter to tie the game with two minutes left.
Eastern soared into halftime with confidence after scoring three goals in the final 1:14 of the half. After Lamb blasted his fifth goal of the season, Palo won the resulting faceoff clean, charged downfield and snapped his second goal as an Eagle. Palo and the Eagles won the next faceoff and took a time out with 55 seconds to go. The time out proved to be a successful move. Lamb found Gallion who scored with 18 seconds left to put Eastern up 8-5 at halftime.
Ferguson scored the only goal of the third quarter and the Eagles made it five consecutive goals with Darling completing the hat trick with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter.
Eastern's defense kept McDaniel scoreless for nearly 22 minutes until Troy Becker found the back of the net with 5:11 left in the game. The Eagles defense has been particularly strong in the second half of the last four games, allowing three, one, two and three goals respectively.
Nick DiPiano collected his fifth win in-between the pipes while making nine saves. DiPiano denied five attempts by the Green Terror in their scoreless third quarter.
Eastern will be put to the test at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Gettysburg College, the No. 8 team in the nation. The Eagles are right on the cusp of being nationally ranked. They continue to receive votes in the latest USILA Coaches' Poll.
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