RADNOR, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse battled throughout, but came up short in a 16-12 loss to Eagle Road rival Cabrini University. The No. 13 Cavaliers scored the first three goals of the game, but the result was still in question after Nicholas Fanelli scored back-to-back goals to start the fourth and pull the Eagles to within two goals at 13-11. 

Cabrini controlled the faceoff X early and held a 5-2 lead after a quarter. Christopher Fanelli scored a man-up goal on an assist from his brother to stop the three-goal opening run. Nate Portrey closed the gap to 4-2 with an unassisted tally with less than two minutes left in the quarter. The Cavaliers answered immediately with a goal off a faceoff win.

The Eagles started the second quarter a man-up with the ball after a late Cabrini penalty. Christoper Fanelli again took advantage. Jake Gottschalk provided the feed. Eastern pulled to within a goal on a Nick Litzenberger finish less than two minutes into the second, but the Cavaliers took advantage of a penalty to grab the goal back and start another three-goal run. Connor Bachman scored before half and the Eagles had a possession late but trailed 8-5 at the half. 

Ethan Myers had six of his 11 saves before the half. Cabrini held a 29-9 edge in shots. 

The eagles could not capitalize on an early man-up chance in the third and fell behind 9-5 before Nicholas Fanelli scored the first of his four goals. Litzenberger, Nicholas Fanelli, and Connor Killion each scored in the third, but the Cavalier lead remained at four goals with only fifteen minutes to play. 

After Eastern scored the first two goals of the fourth, the Cavaliers scored, fought off a man-down chance, and scored twice more to build a 16-11 lead. Christopher Fanelli scored his third with four minutes left and the Eagles picked up another man-up chance, but the Cavaliers ground out the rest of the game. 

Both teams had 18 shots in the second half. Eastern had a 21-17 edge in second-half ground balls and a 10-7 advantage in faceoffs.

Today's game was the first meeting between the two neighboring programs since the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The two schools belonged to the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference and played annually from 1999-2008. Cabrini won post-season contests in 2007 and 2008.

Eastern will travel to Widener to open the MAC Commonwealth schedule on Wednesday.