BRADENTON, Fla. - Eastern Men's Lacrosse notched its first win of the season on Wednesday afternoon defeating Catholic University in a dramatic 9-8 overtime game. Desmond Decker fired the game-winner less than two minutes into overtime to tally his third goal of the day. 

"That a was an exciting and fun win," said Head Coach Kevin Wallace. "It felt great to get the win, but we know we have to get back to work and prepare for a tough Otterbein team."

Eastern (1-2) fell behind early in the game 3-0 but battled back to tie the game before the Cardinals (3-2) took a 4-3 lead into halftime. Catholic totaled three goals in the opening quarter of play tallying all three in a six-minute span. 

Trailing 3-0 the Eagles needed an offensive spark and Bryan Goetz gave it to them. Goetz tallied a goal with just over three minutes to play in the opening quarter. Jake Billera then scored with a minute left to play in the first to cut the deficit to just 3-2. 

Desmond Decker pulled Eastern even in the second quarter when he tallied his first goal of the game with over 13 minutes left to play in the half. The score remained tied at 3-3 for a majority of the second quarter until a late goal by the Cardinals stretched the lead to 4-3 heading into the locker rooms. 

"Great effort to come back in that situation," continued Wallace. "To fall behind 3-0 and battle back the way we did is outstanding to see. We showed a lot of fight today." 

The Eagles used a four-goal third quarter to build a 7-5 advantage. With just over eight minutes left to play in the quarter, Billera struck once again to knot the game at 4-4. Less than three minutes later Decker tallied his second goal of the afternoon to give Eastern its first lead at 5-4. Back-to-back goals by Jake Pousson stretched the Eagles lead to 7-4 before a late goal by Catholic pulled them back within two, 7-5. 

Leading 8-6 with just over a minute to play the Eagles looked they had wrapped up the win once and for all. However, the Cardinals tallied two goals in less than a minute to tie the game at 8-8 and force overtime. 

Matt Lee won the opening faceoff, and Ryan Mitchell gained possession giving Eastern a chance to win the game. Decker finished off the hat trick ripping a shot past Harrison Holak for the game winner, 9-8. 

"Give them credit for not giving up but we need to do a better job of closing out the game," concluded Wallace. "When we gain possession we need to run the clock out but we came back and responded, and I am so proud of the guys for answering the call the way they did. That's a great finish by Desmond and what we have come to expect from him." 

Overall the Eagles outshot Catholic 46 to 34 putting 34 of their shots on goal. Eastern also committed only eight turnovers and picked up 28 groundballs on the afternoon. 

Holak finished the game with 25 saves while Jameal Hadeed made 14 saves of his own. Decker finished the game with three goals while Matt Lee went 14-19 on faceoffs. 

Eastern takes on Otterbein on March 4th at 3 pm.