ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse earned the top seed in the MAC Freedom Tournament with a 10-7 win over previously unbeaten DeSales on Saturday. The Eagles will host the fourth-seeded Wilkes University Colonels in the opening round of the MAC Freedom Tournament this afternoon at 4:00 pm.
The two teams played extra time the first time they met this year. Wilkes scored the first six goals of the game and led 7-2 midway through the second quarter. The Eagles rallied to take a 9-8 lead late in the third quarter before the Colonels answered back to tie the game at nine less than a minute later. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
Mark Buannic scored on a bounce shot with 1:21 left in the first overtime to keep the Eagles unbeaten in the MAC Freedom.
The Colonels won their way into the tournament with a convincing 13-5 win over FDU-Florham on the final day of the regular season. John WInk scored six times and Ethan Weaver had threee goals and an assist. Andrew Moynihan dominated the faceoff X in the game. He won 19-of-22 and scored a goal. Carter Whittemore made 13 stops in the must-win game on The Colonels' senior day.
Moynihan was named the MAC Freedom Specialist of the Year. He was joined on the MAC Freedom First Team by Short Stick Specialist JT Weitzel. Both Eastern and WIlkes had six players earn All-MAC Freedom Honors.
Eastern went unbeaten through the league schedule, but the Eagles needed a pair of overtimes to do it. In addition to beating King's in overtime, the Eagles had tight games with Misericordia and Manhattanville in the Early part of the year. Both
Mark Buannic and
Trent Ashton, Eastern's top two goal-scorers, missed time with injury in the season. On Saturday,
Sean Fechter played even-strength minutes for the first time since early in the year.
While the offense is rounding into shape, the Eagles have relied on their defense through the year.
Chris Durning,
Cole Millard, and
Kyran Baker have developed chemistry in close in front of
Brett McDonald. and
Ethan Joseph,
Nate Hawkins and
Jimmy Kurnik have been more than reliable as short stick defenders. The Eagles allowed league opponents to score fewer than eight goals a game.
If the Eagles can earn the win today, the Eagles would host the MAC Freedom Championship Game on Campus for the first time since 2015. Because of conflicts with graduation ceremonies, Eastern hosted Championship games away from campus in 2016 and 2018.
Because it is a MAC Championship event, admission will be charged. The cost is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $2 for students. Eastern Student Development has agreed to cover the cost of admission for all Eastern students with a valid E-Card.
Those unable to make it to St. Davids can
watch online by clicking here or follow
livestats by clicking here.
The winner of today's Semifinal will play the winner of the game between DeSales and Misericordia which is at DeSales at 7:00 pm this evening.
