ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse dropped a tough 9-5 decision to the No.11 Gettysburg College Bullets at Olson Field. The visitors scored the scored final four goals of the game to pull out the win. Brett McDonald made 16 saves for the Eagles.

How It Happened:
Gettysburg grabbed the first two-goal lead of the game at 7-5 with two tallies in a 13-second span with three and a half minutes left in the third period. Drew Johnson had tied the game at 5-5 early in the period on a good throwback pass across the crease from Mark Buannic. It appeared that Buannic put the Eagles up with a goal with 8:16 on the clock on a beautiful diving effort from behind the crease, but the officials called a push on the Gettysburg defender and also ruled that Buannic made contact with the Gettysburg goalie on the effort. The Eagles got a 30 second extra-man opportunity, but the Gettysburg defense held. 

The Bullets grabbed the lead for good with 3:37 to play in the third. Drew Koren found a little pocket of space on the back post, and Jack Fletcher fed him on the doorstep for his third tally of the day. Fletcher had four assists in the game. The Bullets won the ensuing face-off and Mitch Wykoff, a long-pole defenseman, delivered a hard overhand shot for sixth goal of the year. With the stout Gettysburg defense playing in front of first-year goalie Scott MacMillan, the two-goal edge seemed even bigger than it was.

The Eagles had two shots early in the fourth to halve the lead, but MacMillan was equal to the task on efforts from Hassan Mackey and Mark Buannic. The Bullets grabbed two more goals around the midpoint of the fourth for the final margin.

Gettysburg held a slim 9-to-8 edge on face-offs, but the Bullets were able to hold the Eagles to only 18-of-29 in the clearing game. Those turnovers, turned into extra chances. The Bullets (6-2) had a 43-23 edge in shots.

Eastern opened the scoring in the game on a nice individual effort from Trent Ashton dodging from behind the cage. The Bullets equalized and then took a 2-1 lead on Kolen's first of the day with two minutes to play in the first quarter. Ashton found Hassan Mackey racing toward goal for the equalizer less than a minute later. The Bullets, however closed out hte period with a goal with 17 seconds to play in the first.

Colin Piper tied the game at 3-3 with eight minutes left in the half, but the Bullets answered almost immediately to retake the lead. Piper found Buannic for a man-up goal with a little more than three minutes to play in the half, but the Bullets again had an answer. Fletcher found Kolen with 46 seconds left in the half for a 5-4 lead.

The Eagles went man-down for a minute on the play, but McDonald made a big save and the Eagles were able to clear and keep possession to start the second half with the ball.

Coach Wallace Says:
"We played really well defensively. We had some great individual efforts and an excellent overall performance stopping them and taking the ball away. We made too many turnovers in the middle of the field. With that , we did not give our offense enough opportunities. Gettysburg a really good team. When you give really good teams three or four extra possessions on the ride, they are going to capitalize. I felt we had a good game plan and the team did really well in following it. Playing these top teams is making us that much better."

Up Next:
The Eagles host Widener University on Olson Field on Wednesday.