FREDERICK, Md. — Eastern Men's Lacrosse went to Hood College today for what amounted to a play-in game for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. Down 7-3 against a hot goalie with only three minutes to play, the Eagles found a way. Andrew Collins scored the game-tying goal with seven seconds left, and Gavin Stark finished the game-winner 83 seconds into overtime. With the 8-7 win, the Eagles (5-12, 4-3) earn the fourth seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. They will play at York on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

The trip from St. Davids to Frederick is the longest trip in the MAC Commonwealth, and the noon start had the Eagles out the door early in the morning. Though they arrived on time, the offense struggled to solve Hood goalie Calvin Morris. Even though the Eagles had more shots and more shots on goal, the Blazers built a 5-0 lead with two first-quarter goals and three more in the opening 11 minutes of the second.

After picking up a scrappy ground ball to save a possession, Collins got the Eagles on the board with 71 seconds left int he first half. He finished inside on a great feed from Levi Souder.

After a Brennan Kirn save at the other end, Frankie Fanelli got inside for a low shot that Morris kicked aside. Brett Williamson won the battle for the ground ball and reversed it out to the other side. With time running out, Brett Gougler dodged against a pole and fired home a diving back-hand effort to close the gap to 5-2 at half.

That momentum, however, was short-lived. The Blazers scored fifty seconds into the second half and went up a man two minutes later.  With Jackson Foley in the box, Eastern's man-down unit still stood strong. Shortly after the penalty expired, Jack Bradley snared a loose ball and found Brett Williamson for a transition goal.

Midway through the third, the Eagles looked poised to go up a man when the Blazers went offside. Late in the shot clock- a battle for a loose ball created a scuffle in front of the goal. The officials picked Levi Souder as the culprit and assessed a three-minute non-releasable penalty.

Not only would the Eagles have to play short for two-and-a-half minutes after thirty seconds of five-on-five, but they would need to reshuffle an offensive unit that had reshuffled on pretty much a weekly basis.

The Eagles made it all the way through the penalty but still could not beat Morris. On a man-up chance late, Gougler nearly solved the Hood keeper with a high shot, but the ball caromed off the crossbar. The Blazers took the clear and scored just as the penalty expired.

Despite being down a man for much of the period, the Eagles had a 12-7 edge in shots in the third.

After more frustration for the first twelve minutes of the fourth, Frankie Fanelli finished with a backhand from behind the cage. After winning a faceoff, the Eagles got a break of their own when a high hit turned into a two-minute extra-man chance. Collins found Fanelli on the doorstep with a long no-look pass, and Fanelli finished from in close for his 100th career point.

After a chaotic sequence, the Eagles finally found possession in the offensive end. Fanelli's bid for three-straight slipped just wide and Head Coach Colin Piper took a timeout. Still up a man, the Eagles missed the target twice before Stark dumped home his first of the day on a ball-reversal from Collins.

The Blazers won the man-down faceoff, but Kirn won the race for a missed shot and the Eagles got the ball into the offensive zone with 14 seconds left and called a timeout. With a short-stick on him, Stark circled the cage and slipped a perfect pass to a cutting Collins. The senior dropped an overhand shot into the bottom corner to force overtime. The tally is the tenth of the season for and 16th of his career.

After struggling through the day, Ben Souder scrambled the critical faceoff, and Nicholas Ciampaglio won the battle for the ground ball. Though the Eagles struggled to find a look early, Piper elected not to call a timeout, and his patience paid off. Stark got the match-up he needed on the right wing and slipped a low shot home to extend the Eastern season.

"Their goalie played really well," Piper said after the game. "We might have taken a few bad ones early that gave him some confidence, but then we started getting the looks we wanted and it was just tough to beat him. Our defense played really well throughout. The long kill in the third was a big moment for us, but it came down to making some plays late. I am proud of the way the guys stayed in it."

Kirn finished with 12 saves in goal.

With the exception of the Covid year in 2020, Eastern Men's Lacrosse has qualified for post-season play every year since 2007.