HOBOKEN, N.J.– A slow start was too much to overcome as Eastern University Men's Lacrosse dropped a non-league result at Stevens Institute of Technology. The Eagles won only three-of-nine faceoffs and had five turnovers in a disastrous first quarter. The Eagles closed the gap in the second half, but the damage had already been done and they were never closer than the 20-14 final score.
"We were not at all ready to play," Head Coach
Kevin Wallace siad after the game. "There were a number of things we could point to as abnormal or challenging about getting going, but the bottom line is they came out flying and we were still on the bus."
The Ducks (9-2) honored a pair of senior classes before the game and jumped out to a 4-0 led in the opening five minutes. Three of those goals came in a 38-second span as the hosts played make-it take-it. The hosts led 10-0 before
Avery Porter finally stopped the run with his 13th of the year with 11 seconds left in the first quarter. Though the Eastern defense managed to slow the hosts a bit in the second quarter, Stevens built a 14-2 lead by half.
Eastern's man-up unit kicked in with three extra-man goals in as many chances in the third quarter. When Porter scored the Eagles fourth man-up goal of the game with 11:24 on the clock, the Eagles were within six goals and had momentum. The Eagles could not do better than trade goals the rest of the way and ran out of tie for a comeback.
Kyle Fannelli,
Nicholas Fanelli, and
Kyle Mulrane each had three goals in the game.
Kyle Dampman made ten saves in goal coming into the game in relief.
"
Kyle Dampman did a nice job being ready to go," Wallace said, "we looked good in the second half, we moved the ball and were very good man-up. Once we stopped trying to win the faceoffs clean, we were able to win our share with the ball on the ground. All that is not really consolation. You cannot go down ten goals in the first quarter."
The Eagles will wrap up the regular season with a non-league test against Arcadia at home on Tuesday. Eastern's first-round tournament opponent will likely be known tomorrow night.
