ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– In a game moved forward to beat the snow, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse rallied from a slow start to claim a 20-11 non-league win over the visiting DeSales University Bulldogs. Nick Litzenberger finished with five goals and an assist, Christopher Fanelli had four goals and three assists, and Frankie Fanelli put away four goals and added a helper.

The Bulldogs, playing in their first game of the year, started their season off with a goal in the first ten seconds. Litzenberger leveled the score a minute later, and the two teams traded goals again before four minutes were up. Dan Divita put away a pass from Zach Puckett to tie the game at 2-2.

The Bulldogs scored the next three goals to lead 5-2 with five minutes left in the first quarter. Christopher Fanelli scored his first of the day on an assist from Brett Gougler to pull the Eagles to within two with 4:54 on the clock.

Zachary Klym made a saves on back-to-back DeSales' possessions, but the Eagles could not find an answer at the other end. After an Eastern shot-clock violation, Frankie Fanelli forced a turnover with a big body check on the sideline. The eagles capitalized with Christopher Fanelli's second of the day. After a faceoff win and a DeSales push, the Eagles leveled the score at 5-5 on Litzenberger's second of the day. Gavin Stark earned the assist on the man-up tally.

"It was a little bit of a slow start," Head Coach Colin Piper said after the game. "Once Klym made his first save, we did a better job in front of him and he started to see the ball better. Converting on that extra-man chance late in the first set a good tone."

Five minutes into the second quarter, Frankie Fanelli scored his first career goal to put the Eagles up a goal. It was the 365th goal scored by a Fanelli in program history. Christopher is currently fourth on Eastern's career list with 124 goals, and with his seven-point day moved in front of former teammate Avery Porter in total points with 173.

Seconds after the Frankie Fanelli tally, DeSales first-year Jason Reilly had an answer to tie the score at seven.

Though the Eagles scored the next three goals to go up 9-6. They missed a chance to really build separation when they only scored once on a two-minute penalty. The Bulldogs scored a man-up goal with 43 seconds left in the half, but another flag as time expired meant that Eastern would start the second half up a man with the ball.

Though the Eagles did not take advantage of that extra-man chance, and DeSales pulled to within a goal at 9-8, the third quarter was a great period for the Eagles. Six different players scored in a 7-to-0 run over a ten -minute stretch. Litzenberger scored the first and the last goals of the burst, and Ryan Williamson, Andrew Collins, and Luc Trudel joined both the Fanelli's in helping the Eagles to a 16-8. Though DeSales scored in the final seconds, the Eagles had gained control of the contest.

Klym finished the contest with 12 saves, and Benjamin Souder won 17-of-31 faceoffs. Puckett had four caused turnovers and six ground balls, and Sean Dendall forced three turnovers. Stark scored to open the fourth on an assist from Souder, and Brennan Kaut, Frankie Fanelli, and Collins scored in the final frame to secure the result.

"There were a lot of good things," Piper continued. "I think some of our slow start was a little bit of jitters, but we want to get out a little better than we did. We missed on a couple big man-up chances, but we played well enough 6-on-6 at both ends to make up for it."

The Eagles (1-1) will host Kean next Saturday. That game is slated to be the first Eastern Men's Lacrosse match played at the Radnor Street Road field. Kean lost at RPI this afternoon.