YORK, Pa.—With 4:54 remaining in Saturday's game, Eastern University
Men's Lacrosse caught up to the York College Spartans on Desmond Decker's
fourth goal of the day. York broke the tie, scoring twice more to take the
contest 10-8.
A win Saturday may have nudged Eastern (6-2) into the
national top-20 rankings and bumped No. 20 York (4-4) out. Eastern continues to
receive votes in the national polls.
Decker, whose four goals were a career-high, put Eastern on
the scoreboard and gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead within the first five minutes of
the game. York finally scored with 1:42 left in the first quarter despite
shooting twice as many shot attempts as Eastern (10-5) in the first quarter. Unfortunately
for the Eagles, the first quarter was the only quarter that they won. The
Eagles scored two goals in each quarter.
York's shot attempt disparity continued into the second quarter
as the Spartans launched 16 shots to Eastern's four. After York took the lead,
Eric Waibel later knotted the game at 4-4 with his signature low-to-high blast
from the right side. York stepped back into the lead with 1:45 left in the
first half, but with under 10 seconds left in the half, it looked like Eastern's
David Darling had scored the equalizer. The goal, however, was waved off by the
officials.
York scored the first two goals of the third quarter to
stretch its lead to 7-4. The Eagles started to climb back into the game with a
Jake Billera goal with 3:48 left in the quarter and then with Decker's third
goal with 0:32 seconds left.
For the third straight quarter, York scored first in the
fourth to make it 8-6 with 9:37 remaining. Decker found Waibel 90 seconds later
for his second goal of the game, this time a man-up goal from the right side.
After a York turnover and a pair of backed-up Eastern shots,
Decker blasted the equalizer from close range with 4:54 remaining.
However, York's Tyler Hutson netted his third and fourth
goals of the game to bump York's lead to the eventual final score. York goalie
Caleb Abney saved the Eagles' two shot attempts in the final 4:30. Abney recorded
11 saves in the win.
Eagles' goalie Nick DiPiano tallied 14 saves.
York proved to be formidable on the faceoff, winning
15-of-22 attempts.
The Eagles move on to Richard Stockton College at 3:30 p.m.
on Wednesday at home.
Box Score