ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– After opening the 2024 season with a convincing win over a relatively inexperienced Washington College team, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse faced a bigger in test in a home opener against the No. 16 Swarthmore College Garnet. The Eagles stood their ground early, but the visiting Garnet scored the final three goals of the match to pull away to a 16-12 win. Nicholas Fanelli scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Eastern attack.

The Eagles (1-1) led 10-9 at halftime, but the visitors took advantage of a strong ride and domination at the faceoff X to win the final two quarters. With Eastern's veteran faceoff man, Pat McClain, out with injury early, the Garnet won 15 of the final 18 faceoffs and 23-of-31 overall. Even so, the Eagles found saves and forced turnovers.

The Swarthmore ride, however, created issues. The Eagles went only 3-of-7 on the clear in the critical third quarter. Swarthmore midfielder Clay Almgren scored three of his four goals in the third quarter and lifted the Garnet to a 12-11 lead after three. Connor Bachman scored the lone Eastern goal in the third. The unassisted goal was the second of the day for the veteran.

A Swarthmore goal to start the fourth gave the Garnet just their second two-goal edge of the game. The Eagles answered with a transition effort from Brett Williamson after a good clear that started with Sean Dendal. The Eagles had two possessions with chance to tie the game, but the Garnet forced a pair of turnovers, and Almgren scored his fourth of the game for a t4-12 lead.

Even down two, the Eagles earned possession on a Williamson check, but Stark's attempt from in close got stopped. Williamson hit the inside of the pipe on another effort, and the Garnet ran the clear and scored with four minutes left for the first three-goal lead of the game.

The Eagles scored the first two goals of the game. Chrisotpher Fanelli finished a no-look pass from his brother for the first, and Litzenberger put away a pass from Stark. After the Garnet tied the game, Dominic Marangoni ran a clear and put away his first of two on the day to put the Eagles up 3-2. The defensive midfielder finished the day with two goals, three caused turnovers, and seven ground balls.

The teams traded goals and the Eagles closed out the first quarter with a Nicholas Fanelli man-up goal to tie the score at 6-6. After Swarthmore went up 9-7, He scored twice to tie the game. Brady Palmer set up his second goal and Ryan Drobnick had the assist on the goal to tie the game. Stark found Christopher Fanelli for the halftime lead.

The Eagles were only 1-of-3 on man-up chances on the day, while the Garnet were 3-of-5. Ethan Myers made 10 of his 14 saves after halftime.

"I am proud of these guys," Head Coach Colin Piper said after the game. "We made them fight for everything they got. Part of mental toughness is finding composure when things around get tough. We need to continue to work on being mentally tough in that way."

The Eagles will play at the University of Mary Washington on Wednesday.