ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Lacrosse scored five of the final six goals in the game to earn an 18-14 home win over the visiting Messiah University Falcons. With the win, the Eagles secure the third seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Tournament. They will travel to Stevenson for a 7:00 pm semifinal next Thursday. 

Nicholas Fanelli, Christopher Fanelli, and Connor Killion each scored four times. Nick Litzenberger had two goals and four assists. Nicholas Fanelli scored his third goal early in the third quarter after forcing a turnover deep in the Messiah end. With that goal, the junior attack became just the fifth Eastern player to score 100 goals in his career. He moved past Chris Farrar '13 who had 99 career goals. 

While offense was the story early, the second and decisive half was about defense and faceoffs. The visiting Falcons went 8-of-9 clearing in a closely contested first half where Eastern grabbed an 11-10 lead in the final seconds. The Eagles changed the tenor of the game with an aggressive ride in the third quarter. Messiah was only 4-for-12 on clears in the frame. Though the Eagles held a slim 15-14 lead going to the fourth, the contest had shifted from a wide-open offensive affair to a test where the eastern bench could control match-ups against a settled attack.

The Eagles scored all three fourth quarter goals. Christopher Fanelli set up Dan Davita to put the Eagles up 16-14 with 12 minutes left. Nicholas Fanelli gave the Eagles their first three-goal lead of the game with a stunning catch and overhand finish of a Litzenberger pass with seven minutes remaining. A minute later, Litzenberger completed his big day with a dodge where he passed his stick behind his back and fed Christopher Fanelli on the doorstep for the final goal of the game. The goal was the 47th of the year for Christopher Fanelli. He and his brother each sit a goal behind the 48 Tim Lamb put up in 2016. Grant Ferguson scored a program-record 62 in 2014. Ferguson, the program leader in goals and points, scored 54 in 2013 and 51 in 2015.

While the Eagles were scoring at one end, Ethan Myers continued to do work at the other end. The sophomore goalie made seven of his 18 saves in the fourth quarter and continued his aggressive play at the back end of the Eastern ride.

The game started with both Kyran Baker and Logan Barlok on the field before the first faceoff. The two close defensemen have played an integral role in program success through the last four years before each suffered season-ending injuries. Before the first faceoff went into play, the officials called an injury timeout to allow the two to sub off the field. Baker had played every game of his career until an injury in practice ruled him out for the Albright game and the rest of the year. Hislone non-start in 2021 came on senior day. Barlok had played in 50 games in his career. He missed all of the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

As soon as the ball got into play, the goals started. Messiah (8-9, 4-3) scored twice in the opening two minutes before Nicholas Fanelli, Connor Killion, and Nate Portrey pieced together a three-goal run. Portrey's step down shot from 15 yards out came right around a Messiah defnder and snuck just under the bar to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead with seven minutes to go in the first.

The Falcons began to win faceoff battles and scored four of the next five goals to build a 6-4 edge early in the second quarter. That would be their only two-goal lead of the game. 

Litzenberger scored two in a row to tie the game at six before Owen Joyce put in his third of six to put the Falcons up again with 10:21 on the clock. The 7-6 lead, which would prove to be the final Falcon lead of the game, lasted exactly 12 seconds. 

Patrick McClain won a faceoff forward and ran to goal. The Falcon defenders seemed to expect a pass and McClain took advantage. His low shot bounced in for his second of the season. Thirty seconds seconds later, the Eagles went ahead on a goal from Killion after another faceoff win from McClain. McClain was 19-of-30 with 13 ground balls. He now has 126 ground balls on the year, which puts him in a tie for third with AJ Ryan on the single-season list. 

The teams traded goals and it seemed the Falcons had earned a stop when Christopher Fanelli backed up a miss with four seconds on the possession clock and the score tied at nine. Rather than roll the ball to a corner and ride, the younger Fanelli raced up field, rolled inside and beat the horn with a shot from the edge of the crease. 

Joyce again answered to tie the game at ten before Avery Porter stung the top corner with less than 30 seconds in the half for an 11-10 lead. 

The third quarter started out like the first half ended, and the Falcons tied the game at 13-13 on back-to-back goals from Joyce. The second of those goals came directly off a faceoff win. After that point, the Eastern ride took over. The Falcons failed five consecutive clears and the Eagles scored twice. The lone Falcon goal in the final 26 minutes came at the end of a two-man advantage situation with three seconds left in the third quarter.

"We needed to get after it," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said after the game. "We were not nearly aggressive enough and they did what they wanted through the first 35 minutes. Once we got our mentality right in the ride, the rest of our defending was able to benefit. We forced turnovers and were able to score enough goals to win. We will not be able to afford that kind of lull next week."

The Eagles will honor their seniors at their annual post-season banquet tomorrow and will take on Stevenson next Thursday. The last two games between the two teams have been one-goal games.