FREDERICK, Md.– Though Eastern University Men's Lacrosse outscored the host Hood College Blazers 3-1 in the fourth quarter, they were never able to draw level and lost 9-8. The Eagles (7-10, 3-4) had four shots to tie the game in the final minute, but the Blazer defense held on to move into a tie for fourth in the MAC Commonwealth.

With the loss, the Eagles fell into the awkward space of rooting for Stevenson in the Mustang's game against Widener on Saturday. Had Widener upset the Mustangs, they would have been alone in fourth place. With Stevenson's decisive win over Widener, there were three teams at 3-4. Because all three teams shared similar results against the league, the tiebreaker became goal differential in the three games involving the three teams. Because the Eagles beat Widener by more than the five goal maximum and only lost by one goal to Hood, they will continue their season in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals at York on Wednesday night.

The Eagles never really found their rhythm in the steady rain at Hood. The Blazers took the lead in the first quarter and led 8-5 after three quarters. With Hood controlling the faceoff x, stringing together multiple goals would require getting stops on defense and executing with precision on offense.

The Eagles never quite found the execution they needed.

The Blazers scored the final goal of the third quarter with two seconds to play to answer a Nicholas Fanelli man-up goal and restore their three-goal lead. Connor Bachman opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, but the Blazers answered off the faceoff to go up 9-6 with 11:53 on the clock. Avery Porter closed the gap to 9-7 with a goal with six minutes to play and Bachman tallied his second of the day to pull the Eagles to within a single goal with four minutes on the clock.

Since Bachman scored with a flag on the field, the Eagles had an extra-man chance to tie, but the Blazers won the faceoff and the Eagles had just a short chance with an extra man after forcing a turnover. Hood won 14-of-19 draws on the day. The Eagles had four shots in the final minute, but Hood goalie Alex Dudziak stopped two and two more went wide and the Blazers held on for their first ever win over Eastern.

Nicholas Fanelli scored four times and Nick Litzenberger scored once. Ethan Myers made 15 saves.

"We did not play well," Head Coach Colin Piper said after the match. "We did not execute simple things that we usual do pretty well on offense and just were never able to get any kind of momentum. Our defense made some big stops late and we had a chance, but they dealt with the conditions better than we did. Its in the past, and we will start the game at York at 0-0, which is what would have been the case had we won. Our guys are all pretty disappointed in the way we played after a good performance at Widener the other night. We are grateful for another chance to compete."

The MAC Commonwealth Semifinal at York will start at 7:00 pm.