GRANTHAM, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse rebounded off a tough midweek loss to York with a 17-8 MAC Commonwealth win at Messiah University. Kyle Fanelli and Nicholas Fanelli each buried five goals as the Eagles led from wire-to-wire.

There are many more Fanelli brothers, but only two are yet of age to play college lacrosse. For that, the Messiah defense can be grateful. The brothers combined on the opening goal of the game as Nicholas fed his older brother for a 1-0 lead. Nicholas had assists on three of Kyle's five goals and finished with nine points on the day. Avery Porter, who finished with a goal and an assist, set up Connor Killian for a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest.

The Messiah zone slowed things down for a bit, and the lead did not grow to 3-0 until the 12th minute of the game. Nicholas Fanelli scored from Kyle Mulrane. The Falcons grabbed a goal back with three minutes in the period, but Nicholas Fanelli ended the first with a goal from Avery Porter.

Eastern (3-2, 2-1 MAC Commonwealth) scored four in a row to start the second quarter to stretch the lead to 8-1. Porter, Connor Bachman, and Jake Gottschalk scored before Kyle Fanelli dropped in his second of the day. Jimmy Kurnik picked up an assist on Porter's goal.

Though the Falcons closed the gap to 8-4 with a three-goal burst around halftime, the Eagles found an answer as two-straight from Nicholas Fanelli sparked a 6-to-2 Eastern run to close out the third. Mulrane, David Thomas, and Killion joined Kyle Fanelli in scoring in the run.

The Eastern defense held the Falcons to only 11 first-half shots and 27 total tries at goal. The Eastern ride broke up six-of-25 Messiah Clears and forced 20 total turnovers. The Eagles had a tremendous 50-25 edge in ground balls and a 19-to-9 edge on faceoffs. Chris Durning led the Eagles with eight ground balls. Cole Millard was credited with two caused turnovers.

Anthony Firmani and Patrick McClain both won a strong majority of their faceoff battles. Firmani was 11-of-16 and McClain was 8-of-12. Ethan Myers made seven stops in 52 minutes to pick up the win.

"It was just a really dominant middle of the field performance today," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said after the game "Our ride has been our strong suit this year and we're really making that a part of our game. That's definitely helped us get extra possessions. Our close defense was very strong all day."

The Eagles will have a non-league test against DeSales, which will be a rematch of the 2019 MAC Freedom Championship game on Wednesday which will be an important tune-up heading into a critical MAC Commonwealth test against Widener on April 7. The games against Hood and Alvernia are still awaiting make-up dates.