Eastern University Men's Lacrosse will travel back to Central Pa. to take on the top-seeded York College Spartans. The Eagles earned their trip to the tournament by emerging out of a three-way tie on goal differential. The decisive win in that math equation came in a 16-4 win at Widener last Wednesday.
With that, Eastern Men's Lacrosse is participating in post-season play for the 17th straight full-season (no conference tournaments were held in 2020). In that run, the Eagles have qualified for championships in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, (2007 & 2008), The Middle Atlantic Conference (2009-2012), The MAC Freedom (2013-2019), and the MAC Commonwealth (2021-2024). Eastern won six conference championships between 2012 and 2019.
For the Eagles, this will be the third post-season contest at York. The two teams met in an NCAA Tournament first round game in 2016. The Spartans, then a member of the Capital Athletic Conference, won that game, 11-6. The two teams met int he opening round of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament in 2021. York, the second seed, used a big second quarter to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 7-4 halftime lead. The Spartans won that game 15-11 and then proceeded to shutout Stevenson 11-0 in the Championship game and advance to the National Quarterfinals.
Three of the last four games between the Eagles and Spartans have ended with York winning 15-11.
After a rocky start in the league, the Eastern defense has settled into a rhythm in front of veteran goalie
Ethan Myers. Myers has made 209 stops this season and has scored both of his career goals at York. The Eagles will need to keep the Spartans on the perimeter and neutralize the advantage that York has at the faceoff X. Vinny Facciponti has won 64.3 percent of his faceoffs this spring. That number jumps to 80.4 percent in league games. In their last game, the Spartans won 37-of-44 faceoffs, but had to hold on late for a 21-19 win over Messiah.
The Eagles will need to shoot with precision and clear effectively. While
Nicholas Fanelli leads the Eagles with 40 goals and 23 assists, and
Nick Litzenberger has 33 goals and 18 assists out of the midfield, the eastern attack will need contributions from all over to counter the strength of the York's individual defenders.
The 7:00 pm game will be streamed to MAC tv and will have livestats available.
Tickets for the game are $8 for adults, $6 for Senior Citizens and children 6-17. Students at MAC Institutions will be admitted free of charge with a valid ID.
The winner of tonight's contest at York will face the winner of the other semifinal between Messiah and Stevenson.
