ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – With an 11-point day, Nicholas Fanelli moved into second place on Eastern's career points and career goals lists, and Eastern University Men's Lacrosse (5-6, 2-0) picked up a decisive 22-14 MAC Commonwealth win over the visiting Widener University Pride. The Eagles won 29-of-38 faceoffs and got 17 saves from junior goalie Ethan Myers.

While the Eagles led throughout and ultimately won by eight, the game had some pressure moments. With eight third-quarter goals, the Pride closed an 11-goal Eastern lead to 17-13. Out of timeout three minutes into the fourth, the visitors had a great look to close the gap to three, but Myers made big save on a shot from close, and Nathan Gilbert dug out a ground ball near the edge of the crease.

After a successful clearing and an extended possession, Christopher Fanelli drew a defender and flipped a pass to the right alley. Luc Trudel caught the pass and bounced home his sixth goal of the season to stop Widener's four-goal run and give the Eagles a five-goal lead. McClain won the next draw cleanly and after looking to Avery Porter on the right and Christopher Fanelli on the left, he ripped home a bounce shot for a 19-13 edge and some much-needed momentum. McClain won 20-of-26 at the X and had a career-best 16 ground balls.

Up 19-13 with nine minutes to play, the Eagles took time off the clock and scored three more times while only giving up a single goal. After being out-shot 14-9 in the third, the Eagles had a 15-6 edge in the fourth.

"Dominic Marangoni was tremendous  for us today," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said, " He had some huge plays in clearing and was very good in our settled defense and in the ride. We got some huge saves from Ethan, and we capitalized on chances in three of the four quarters."

Both teams came into today's game riding momentum from big league-opening wins. The Pride (4-6, 1-1) had allowed only eight goals and won in each of their last two games. Widener beat Lebanon Valley 24-8 on Wednesday. The Eagles snapped their four-game slide with a dominating 25-7 win at Albright. In that game at Albright, Nicholas matched his career high with nine points in the opening 30 minutes.

Though he sat for the second half against Albright, he picked up right where he left off. He scored on a back-handed wrap-around in the second minute to put the Eagles up. The Pride answered a minute later, but the Eagles took advantage of a McClain win at the X and went up for good when Christopher Fanelli finished a pass from Avery Porter.

Jack Bradley knocked a ball free and Marangoni ran the ball into the offensive end and found Zach Puckett in the middle of the field. The first-year LSM bounced home an overhand shot for his first career goal and a 3-1 lead.

The two teams traded goals until Nicholas Fanelli scored his third of the day late in a two-player extra-man-chance. The Eagles then scored three times in the final 2:21 of the first quarter to change ends with an 8-3 lead. Porter scored an unassisted tally, Nicholas Fanelli scored from Gavin Stark, and then Nicholas Fanelli fed Jason Pool for a goal with five seconds on the clock.

Ryan Williamson scored to open the second. Eastern won eight-of-ten faceoffs and outscored the Pride 7-2 in the frame. The Eagles finished the first half with a 45-19 edge in shots and a 15-5 lead. Nicholas Fanelli had two in the second. Christoper Fanelli, Stark, Porter,and Nick Litzenberger also scored.

Porter scored just seconds into the start of the second half, but the Eagles had 10 third-quarter turnovers, and the Widener offense took advantage of transition chances. To put together a pair of four-goal runs.

Christopher Fanelli had two goals, four assists and seven ground balls. Porter had three goals and two assists. Anthony Firmani won 9-of-12 faceoffs.

Nicholas Fanelli passed David Darling on the career scoring list and now, despite COVID shortening both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he has 223 career points with 134 goals and 89 assists. He is third in career assists where he trails Darling (104) and Chris Farrar (98). He moved past Mark Buannic into second on Eastern's career goal list. Grant Ferguson heads that list with 188. Ferguson also holds the career points mark with 254.

The Eagles are at Messiah on Wednesday night for another important MAC Commonwealth test.