ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Men's Lacrosse defeated visiting FDU-Florham on Wednesday afternoon by the final score of 9-3. The Eagles used a mix of solid defense and a second half surge offensively to claim the MAC Freedom victory. 

Sophomore goalie Jameal Hadeed anchored a strong defensive performance making ten saves on 22 shots. As a unit, the defense tied its mark for lowest goals against in a game this season since allowing three goals in a game against Wilkes back on April 9th. 

"The defense has been on point and when you have a goalie like that who can make saves it loosens you up as a defender to go out there and make a play," said Head Coach Kevin Wallace. "Jameal has been consistent all year, and we were able to keep them right where we wanted them to be."   

The Eastern (11-5, 6-0 MAC Freedom) defense stood firm throughout the first half holding FDU-Florham (5-9, 3-3 MAC Freedom) scoreless for over 23 minutes of game time. While neither team was able to establish much offensively in the opening half, the Eagles were able to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room. 

After a scoreless first quarter, Trevor Gallion broke the stalemate when he tallied his seventh goal of the season goal to make it 1-0. A Devils goal just before the four-minute mark of the second quarter tied the game at 1-1. Just when it looked like the teams would go into the half tied, Tim Lamb tallied his first marker of the game to break the tie and give the lead back to Eastern at 2-1. 

"We were getting good shots, but we weren't hitting our spots," continued Wallace. "Give their goalie credit he made some good saves, but we were able to change some things up and began hitting our spots to blow the game open."  

The Eagles offense took over the second half tallying seven goals with two separate scoring runs of three and four goals. The defense continued to assert its dominance shutting out FDU-Florham in the fourth quarter. 

A Devils goal less than five minutes into the third quarter tied the game at 2-2. Grant Smith broke the deadlock just under five minutes later to not only give Eastern the lead for good but also spark a 7-1 goal run to help blow the game wide open. Five different players netted goals during the second half scoring spree including Bryan Goetz and Mark Buannic, who each tallied two apiece.   

Leading only 5-3 at the start of the fourth quarter Lamb netted his second of the game to stretch the lead to three. Goals by Buannic and Goetz less than a minute apart extended the Eastern advantage to 8-3 with just under eight and a half minutes left to play. 

Hadeed made four saves in the fourth quarter, and the defense caused two turnovers to blank the Devils in the final quarter of play and end all hopes of a comeback. 

"We easily could have panicked and have gotten frustrated," concluded Wallace. "But the guys stayed supportive and knew it was eventually going to fall into place. I think that is important this time of year especially when you are tired, sick, or banged up it's easy to start arguing or give up but we showed resiliency. We have a battle coming up on Saturday against DeSales and need to be ready for that."    

Eastern hosts DeSales University on April 30th at 1:30 pm, with the winner earning the top seed in the MAC Freedom playoffs.