ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – After playing three straight in the rain, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse finally got a beautiful day to play. The Eagles (3-3) rode a stifling defensive effort to an 11-3 win over the visiting Nichols College Bison in a non-league win on Olson Field.
Nicholas Fanelli scored three goals and added an assist and
Christopher Fanelli had two goals and a pair of assists in a game where he scored his 100th career goal.
Ethan Myers made 12 stops to earn the win in goal.
The Bison (3-3) opened the scoring on a long bounce shot just over five minutes into the game. That goal would be the only goal of the half for the visitors. Three minutes later,
Christopher Fanelli recorded his historic tally.
Avery Porter delivered the feed, and the younger Fanelli joined older brother Nicholas in the 100 goal club. With the tally, he moved in front of Chris Farrar '13 and into seventh on Eastern's career list. He now has 101 goals in 42 career games.
With five minutes left in the quarter,
Nick Litzenberger put the Eagles up for good on a dodge from the top, and
Christopher Fanelli wrapped up the scoring in the frame on a pass from his brother. The Eagles fired 14 shots in the second period, but
Connor Bachman's bouncer with 2:42 on the clock was the only Eastern shot to beat Nichols' goalie Brady Morgan and Eastern went to half up 4-1. Morgan had 7 of his 17 saves in the second period.
The Bison, who failed 10-of-22 clearing attempts in the game, beat the Eastern 10-man with a long shot to pull within two goals early in the second half. With Myers taking away a pass to an attackman, Kyle Ettenhofer scored from 70-yards away.
Brett Williamson and Litzenberger scored back-to-back goals to put the Eagles up 6-2. The Bison caught the Eastern defense in a substitution and scored with a minute left in the period to pull back within three goals, but the Eastern ride generated a final chance and
Nicholas Fanelli converted after a pass from Porter. Porter took a quick restart after an errant switching pass and fed Fanelli on the doorstep. With three assists today, Porter moves into fifth on Eastern's career assist list. He came into the match tied with Grant Ferguson '15 and pulled past Will Johnson '13. He now has 72 goals and 69 assists and is alone in ninth on Eastern's career points list.
That goal seemed to open the gates for the Eagles.
Christopher Fanelli fed
Gavin Stark for a low-to-low goal.
The Eagles finished the game with three extra-man goals.Stark fed Bachman for a 9-3 lead and
Nicholas Fanelli scored the final two goals on passes from Porter and his brother. The Eagles went 3-for-7 on extra-man-opportunities. Nichols had a 12-to-5 edge at the faceoff x.
Sean Dendall,
Nathan Gilbert, and
Zach Puckett each caused three turnovers to lead the strong defensive effort in front of Myers.
"Its a good team win," Head Coach
Colin Piper said after the game. "I thought we did a great job in the ride and we did exactly what we needed to in our settled defense. Our short-stick guys did very well keeping their players from initiating. I think all of our guys know we will need to take better advantage of our offensive opportunities as we go forward. We look forward to a good test against Stockton this Saturday."
The Eagles will host a Stockton University team that is 5-1 and averages 15 goals per game. First faceoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
