YORK, Pa. – The Eastern University men's lacrosse team dropped a tough 11-6 decision to the seventh-ranked York College Spartans in the opening round of the Division III NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Eagles (14-6) fell behind early, 4-1, in the first quarter but battled back to cut the deficit to just one at halftime. However, a five-goal third quarter aided by four goals in a row from the Spartans (17-3) blew the game open and helped them secure the first-round victory. 

Bryan Goetz led all Eastern scorers with three goals while Tim Lamb tallied two. Jameal Hadeed totaled 15 saves on the afternoon facing 46 shots. 

York started off quickly scoring four goals in the opening quarter to grab a 4-1 advantage. After the Spartans had tallied three straight markers, Goetz finally got Eastern on the board when he netted his 24th goal of the season to make the score 3-1.   

The Eagles controlled the tempo of the second quarter, shutting out York and netting two goals to pull within one, 4-3 by halftime. Desmond Decker tallied his lone goal of the game just under four minutes into the quarter to make the score 4-2. Defense dictated the game for the next nine minutes as neither team was able to establish any real offensive threat. Hadeed made four saves during that span to keep the Spartans off the scoreboard. 

Goetz cut the deficit to just one when he netted his second marker of the game with just over two minutes left in the half. Eastern would get an opportunity to pull even with under a minute left when they were given a man-up advantage after a penalty against the Spartans. A turnover though would allow York to run out the clock and keep the score at 4-3 heading into the locker room. 

The third quarter was all Spartans as they scored 19 seconds into the second half during the man-down situation. Three more York goals over the next seven minutes would stretch the lead to 8-3 with just under six and a half minutes left to play in the third. 

With just under five minutes left in the third, Lamb tallied his first of the game and 47th of the season to pull the Eagles within four. Goetz got the Eagles back within four with just over a minute left to play in the quarter to make it 9-5 heading into the fourth.  

After being held scoreless for nearly 14 minutes during the final quarter of play, and York scoring two more goals to up 11-5, Lamb tallied the final marker of the game to make the score final at 11-6.  

The Eagles end their season run in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season. Eastern claimed its fifth MAC Freedom Championship and had two players, Decker and Goetz, surpass the 100-point mark during the postseason run.