ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Men's Lacrosse punched its ticket to its fifth straight MAC Freedom Championship Game after defeating visiting Delaware Valley University, 14-6, on Wednesday afternoon in the MAC Freedom Semifinal. The Eagles used a 21-23 effort on clears to dominate possession and set up their offense which was clicking on all cylinders.
"It's playoff time, and that's why everyone came here, they came here to win championships," said Head Coach
Kevin Wallace. "We had to win this game to get there, and we had two great days of practice with high intensity and guys are ready to just rip and roar now."
Sophomore goalie
Jameal Hadeed set the tone early with a point blank range save off his facemask in the opening minute and a half of the game to keep the score even at 0-0. The save sparked Eastern's offense as it rattled off three goals in just over 30 seconds to take a 3-0 lead.
Tim Lamb and
Mark Buannic led the way for the Eagles scoring four and three goals respectively.
Jake Billera and
Jake Pousson contributed as well netting two goals apiece. Hadeed finished the day making nine saves while facing 22 shots.
Lamb entered the day three points short of career point 100. An assist in the third quarter on Buannic's third goal of the day gave Lamb the milestone number. He now sits at 103 for his career after his six point day.
"He has been the leader of our offense since we put him in that position about five games into the season," continued Wallace. "He's been a freight train running away, and no one can really stop him or contain him. He's a great player and is a tough matchup for anybody, and he was able to dominate his matchup today and finish the opportunities he got."
Billera got things rolling for the Eagles netting two goals in the first quarter scoring just seconds after Hadeed's save as well as tallying his second marker of the opening quarter with under a minute left to play. Buannic would stretch the lead to 2-0 26 seconds later.
Bryan Mizell notched his twelfth goal of the season to cap off the three straight Eastern goals helping the Eagles to a 4-0 lead after the first.
Lamb and
Trevor Gallion each had a hand in all four of Eastern's second quarter goals to give the Eagles an 8-1 lead at the break. After Gallion had stretched, the Eastern advantage to 5-1 Lamb found Pousson for his first of the game to make it 6-1. Lamb tallied his first goal of the game with just over three minutes left to play in the second quarter.
The Eagles continued to roll in the second half notching six goals in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 14-3 heading into the fourth. Lamb tallied three markers in the quarter, two of them back-to-back less than a minute apart. Buannic and
Bryan Goetz sandwiched Lamb's goals to give the Eagles the eleven goal advantage.
Three goals by the Aggies in the final quarter of the play made the score final at 14-6.
Overall the Eagles defense caused 15 Delaware Valley turnovers while only committing 14 turnovers as a team. Eastern took 35 shots to outshot the Aggies by ten placing 23 of them on goal.
"We are doing a lot of two a day stuff to keep the guys focused like we did on spring break," concluded Wallace. "We are keeping to a daily schedule as if classes are in session, and I feel confident in our approach and that the guys will continue to stay focused."
Eastern will take on the winner of the DeSales and Misericordia semifinal game. The MAC Freedom Championship will be held at Villanova University on May 7th at 6 pm.
