BRADENTON, Fla. – Eastern Men's Lacrosse claimed its second straight victory defeating Otterbein on Friday afternoon by a score of 15-5. Both Bryan Goetz and Desmond Decker tallied hat tricks by halftime to help the Eagles take a 9-3 lead into the locker room.

"It feels great to get a win like this," said Head Coach Kevin Wallace. "We kept the guys focused and told them we are here on a business trip, and they did a great job of keeping that mentality. We are starting to find our identity, and that's a great feeling."

Goetz got Eastern (2-2) on the board less than two minutes into the game when he tallied an unassisted goal to give the Eagles the 1-0 advantage. Back-to-back Otterbein (1-3) goals gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead and Eastern its only deficit of the afternoon. The Eagles tallied three consecutive goals from Brian Mizell, Decker, and then a man-up goal by Mark Buannic to make it a 4-2 game. Otterbein tacked on a late goal to make the score 4-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The Eagles offense continued rolling in the second quarter scoring five goals while shutting out the Cardinals. Deckers and Goetz each tallied two goals apiece while Tim Lamb scored the fifth. Eastern stuck three times in the final 2:26 of the quarter to extend its lead all the way to 9-3. Decker and Tim Lamb tallied goals less than a minute apart from each other while Goetz netted his third of the half in the final 15 seconds of the quarter.

"Our guys had a great two weeks of practice, and we played loose today and had fun," continued Wallace. "Goetz really did what he wanted today and did an outstanding job of beating his man and playing his game. Desmond played fast today and no matter who matched up against him he responded with a lot of success."   

Otterbein netted two of the first three goals in the third quarter to cut the Eastern lead to just five at 10-5. However, the Eagles responded finishing the third quarter on a four-goal run to blow the game wide open stretching their lead to 14-5. Decker notched his fourth goal of the afternoon with just under eight minutes to play in the third quarter. Less than 30 seconds later Jake Billera finished off a Tyler Gelhaus pass to stretch the Eastern lead to 12-5. Two unassisted goals by Goetz and Jake Pousson gave the Eagles the 14-5 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.   

Pousson added one more goal in the fourth quarter to make the score final at 15-5.

"We played solid defense limiting their best player and trusting our one-on-one matchups," stated Wallace. "We controlled the game both offensively and defensively."

Goetz finished the game with five goals on ten shots while Decker finished with four goals and an assist. Billera led all Eagles with four ground balls while also tallying a goal and an assist.  

Overall the Eagles doubled the Cardinals in shots by a total of 38-19 placing 27 of those shots on net. The Eastern defense helped cause 19 Otterbein turnovers while the Eagles committed just seven.

Jameal Hadeed finished the game with five saves while Matt Niemi and James Gundling combined for 12 saves on the afternoon.

"We have a very tough test coming up in Gettysburg," concluded Wallace. " We are starting to play with confidence, and that's what it is all about. Our guys are aware of the challenge, but if we use these last two games as confidence boosters, we will be a tough team to beat as well."

Eastern travels to Gettysburg on March 12th for a 1 pm start.