ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– With seeding in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on the line, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead and rolled to a 16-8 win over the visiting Hood College Blazers (3-3, 2-2 MAC Commonwealth). Avery Porter finished with two goals and seven assists and Nicholas Fanelli tallied five goals and a pair of helpers in the win.The Eagles secure at least a third seed and a home game in the upcoming Tournament.

The Eastern offense started slowly. Porter found Connor Killion for the opening goal four and a half minutes into the game, but the Eagles did not find a second until that same combination doubled the lead with 1:11 to go in the quarter. With the Hood defense sitting deep in the zone, Killion found a cutting Porter on the crease for the 2-0 lead. Though the Eagles had a 13-5 edge in shots, the advantage stood at only 2-0 after fifteen minutes. Ethan Myers made two of his ten saves in the first quarter.

The Eagles came out of the quarter break flying. Though Hood won the opening faceoff, Ian Kalb jarred a ball loose and Kyle Mulrane found Killion with a good skip pass for a 3-0 lead. Porter found Nicholas Fanelli for a brilliant finish and David Thomas scored an unassisted goal from the right alley for 5-0 lead with 11 minutes to play in the half. 

Hood took a timeout. Things got worse. 

With Anthony Firmani dominating at the X, the Eagles played make it-take it for two goals in the next two minutes and a third only moments later. Siam Owen and Nicholas Fanelli each converted from Porter for the 7-0 edge and then Porter found Nicholas Fanelli for another goal with eight minutes left. 

When the game slowed down, and the Eagles failed to take advantage of a two-minute extra-man-opportunity, it was not a good trend heading into halftime. 

The Blazers scored four goals in the first five minutes of the second half to make things uncomfortable for the Eagles. Hood had the ball with a chance to cut the deficit to three when Nicholas Fanelli stripped a ball loose in front of the Blazer bench and finished a 1-on-1 breakaway against the goalie for a 9-4 edge.

Since falling to York, the Eagles have put a lot of emphasis on their ride. With a mobile goalie and active players on attack, the team has aimed to win the ball back early for transition chances. Hood was only 12-for-21 clearing today.

Connor Killion scored a man-up goal on a short EMO from Mulrane for a 10-4 lead, and Connor Bachman drove home a shot from distance from Nicholas Fanelli for an 11-4 lead at the end of three quarters. 

After Mulrane scored early in the fourth, Porter found Nicholas Fanelli for a ten-goal lead. The goal is the 31st of the year for the younger Fanelli brother. HIs 3.44 goals per game is ahead of the program-best  3.26 goals per game put up by Grant Ferguson in 2014. 

Hood scored the next three goals, including a pair of man-up tallies to pull within seven, but Porter and Bachman finished the scoring with a pair of goals forty seconds apart for Eastern's final total. Bentley LeBarron scored his fourth of the day for Hood to close out the scoring. 

Kyran Baker had a team-best seven ground balls to go with three caused turnovers. Firmani finished 17-of-28 at the faceoff X and had six ground balls. Myers claimed his seventh win of the year. 

"We were aggressive in the ride and forced a lot of turnovers today," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said after the game. "We need to be cleaner overall, and we have to move the ball on offense. When we look to provide the next guy with a great shot, we shoot a high percentage. When we look to try and create shots for ourselves, it goes way down. We had stretches today where we moved the ball and scored great goals. We need to keep that going to be successful in our next two games and in the tournament."

The Eagles will play at Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night and will host Arcadia University next Tuesday at 4:00 both those non-league games have moved forward one day since the original schedule. 

The Eagles will likely host the loser of the game between Hood and Lebanon Valley in the opening round of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament a week from Saturday.