ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Lacrosse collided with the No. 8 Gettysburg College Bullets on Saturday afternoon in a battle of undefeated teams. Gettysburg walked away unbeaten, claiming a 15-9 victory.
Two strings of five consecutive goals by the Bullets made the difference in the game. Bullets' senior Robby Maddux scored a game-high four goals and upped his total career goals against Eastern to 21 over four games.
David Darling led the Eagles with three goals and an assist. Grant Ferguson added two goals and an assist. Andrew Travers, Kyle Gillam, Eric Waibel and Desmond Decker all added a goal. The nine goals scored by the Eagles are the most Gettysburg has allowed this season.
Gettysburg proved to be a challenge for the Eagles at the X. The Bullets, led by midfielder Connor Sweeney, came away with 19-of-28 faceoffs. By winning the majority of faceoffs and limiting their turnovers to 11, the Bullets were able to generate 54 shots to Eastern's 32. Eastern goalie Nick DiPiano was kept busy in front of the goal. He recorded 17 saves in the loss.
Eastern's man-down unit erased all five Eagles' penalties, and the man-up squad went 1-for-2, taking advantage of a two-minute penalty late.
The Bullets blasted their first goal 32 seconds into Saturday's contest, but Eastern answered with goals from Ferguson and Waibel. Gettysburg responded in turn with two goals within a 36-second span to re-take the lead at 3-2 with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Darling rolled the crease with 44 seconds left in the quarter and scored to even the game at 3-3.
However, the first 10 minutes of the second period belonged to the Bullets and they went on a five-goal tear. Eastern finally stopped the bleeding with back-to-back goals by Darling. Darling finished a good interior pass by Ferguson with 2:47 to go in the half and then cranked a long-range attempt with 26 seconds left to complete the hat-trick.
Eastern's momentum going into the half was taken away by Gettysburg's Jameson Smith scoring with three seconds left in the half. The Bullets tacked on the first goal of the second half to double up Eastern 10-5.
Eastern's Kyle Gillam and Andrew Travers posted the next pair of goals. Travers located Gillam cutting through the middle for the score. Travers then scored a highlight-reel goal, dropping it over his right shoulder and finishing stick-side high after receiving an assist from Decker.
Trailing 10-7 now with five minutes left in the third, the Eagles had their comeback hopes dashed as Gettysburg rattled off five straight goals over the next nine minutes.
Eastern scored another pair of goals late, but weren't able to bridge the gap.
Eastern (5-1) hosts the Christopher Newport University Captains on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Box Score
