ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse scored 11 second-half goals to break open a close game and earn a 15-5 MAC Freedom win over the visiting FDU-Florham Devils (5-8, 3-3). The win secures the top spot in the upcoming MAC Freedom Tournament. Mark Buannic scored four times and Trent Ashton had three goals and two assists

The Eagles (9-6, 6-0) fell behind when the Devils scored on the opening possession of the game and did not draw level until Sam Emig found a cutting Ashton with 1:49 to play in the opening quarter. The Eagles took the lead when the same duo combined to score a man-up goal 27 seconds into the second.  The Devils equalized  with 11 minutes to play and kept the game at a slow pace with solid possessions and a tightly packed zone. The Eagles did not help their cause with several early turnovers in the period.

Eastern took the lead for good with just under seven minutes left in the half when Chris Durning picked up a loose ball in the defensive end and ran the ball into the offensive end and found Bryan Mizell arriving just bit later. Mizell caught the pass in stride and unleashed a blistering shot just under the bar. Emig found Ashton for a 4-2 lead, but the Devils scored a man-up goal in the final two minutes of the half to close the gap to 4-3 at the break. Emig recorded a season-best four assists in the game.

"The first half was definitely at their pace," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said after the game. "We settled for average shots and turned the ball over when we did not need to. We challenged thm to take better care of the ball and to get better shots in the second half."

The second half could not have started better for the Eagles. Zach Bauer won the faceoff and found Mark Buannic in the left alley. Buannic tagged the upper corner for his first of three on the afternoon. Bauer was 16-of-21 (76.1 %) at the X on the afternoon. He is facing off at just above that rate in MAC Freedom competition this year. Emig found Matt Auletti for a 6-3 lead three minutes later to keep things rolling for the Eastern offense.

The Eastern lead grew to 7-3 when Buannic scored while facing the other way on a pass from Hans Deutsch midway through the period and 8-3 on Emig's only goal of the day. Five minutes later the Eastern lead swelled to 9-3 on Buannic's third of the quarter. FDU scored on either side of a Matt Auletti goal, but the Eagles put the game away with three goals in a 63-second span in the fourth. Buannic, Auletti, and Durning had the goals.

David Thomas and Gerrick Mundt wrapped up the scoring for the Eagles with goals in the final five minutes. Durning picked up seven ground balls and caused five turnovers. Jameal Hadeed made seven stops before giving way to Brett McDonald for the final five minutes. McDonald turned away three Devil shots in relief.

The Eagles had a 53-21 edge in shots and a 45-14 advantage in ground balls.

Eastern will wrap up the regular season at King's on Saturday.