With an impressive defensive outing, Eastern University Men's Lacrosse picked up a 13-5 non-conference win over former MAC Freedom rival DeSales. First year goalie Ethan Myers made 13 stops and the Eastern defense forced 20 turnovers as the Eagles (4-2) led wire-to-wire in a rematch of the 2019 MAC Freedom Championship game. When the 2020 season ended, the Eastern team did not have the chance to to close out their run in the MAC Freedom before this year's move to the MAC Commonwealth. So when the 2021 season came out with a limited number of non-league games, today's game had some special meaning for the veteran members of the team. From the start, the Eagles defense created chances. Jimmy Kurnik set up the opening goal of the game with a forced turnover and a run into the offensive zone. Avery Porter caught and finished to put the Eagles up only three and a half minutes into the game. Porter, a first-year attack from Washington state, powered home four goals to lead an Eastern attack playing without Nicholas Fanelli. Connor Killion scored for a 2-0 lead and then Kyle Fanelli set up David Thomas for a 3-0 lead with nine minutes left int he first period. Kyle Fanelli scored five in Eastern's win at Messiah, but with his younger brother out, the senior midfielder played more of the provider role today. He finished with two goals and four assists for a game-high six points. The DeSales finally notched a goal on a man-up chance with under three minutes to play in the period. Ethan Myers made five saves before the Bulldogs were able to find the net. Zach Bowen scored his 24th of the year on a pass from Matt Motto. Both Bowen's goals came in man-up situations. Connor Killion answered after Cole Millard forced a ball free to put the Eagles up 4-1 at the quarter break. The Eastern lead came in spite of DeSales owning a 5-1 advantage at the faceoff X. "Our defense was very good today," Head Coach Kevin Wallace said after the game. "We had the right mentality and were willing to step out and pressure them into mistakes. Ethan made some great stops early, and our team rode that confidence. Our offense did a nice job finishing chances and made some big plays in big moments, but if our defense and goalie can play like we did today, we will be in games." The Eagles owned the second quarter. Kyle Fanelli and Porter each scored twice. Kyle Mulrane had two assists and Kyle Fanelli and Adam Booz also had assists. Myers made another four stops. The Bulldogs scored the first two goals of the second half, but Porter finished late in the shot clock to stop the run and push the Eastern lead to 9-3with five and a half minutes to play in the period. The Bulldogs scored with under four to play, but the Eagles took advantage of an expired possession clock at the other end and answered with a Connor Bachman goal. The Bulldogs (4-2) found their final goal in the first minute of the fourth, but Mulrane, Thomas, and Booz had answers to end the match. The goal from Booz came with a flag on the ground at the end of a long man-down situation for the Eagles. Nate Hawkins ran the clear and drew the flag before passing the responsibility to Kyle Fanelli in the attack. With the possession clock running down, Fanelli fed Booz on the doorstep for the 13th Eastern goal. With eight ground ball and five caused turnovers, Chris Durning made two big steps on Eastern's career list. With 103 career caused turnovers, he joins Jordan Norris '15, in the 100 caused turnover club. Millard will join that short list soon. He had three caused turnovers today and has 98 in his career. Durning also passed AJ Ryan on the career ground ball list. Durning's 370 career scoops is behind only the 395 collected by Brian Miller '03. Kyran Baker had four caused turnovers and seven ground balls. The Eagles will have the weekend to recover before an important midweek test against Widener on April 7. "This was a great win," Wallace said. "We had good focus throughout and did a lot of things right. We have a couple big conference games next week, so it is important that we get recovery and rest heading into Widener and Stevenson." The Eagles will host Widener on Wednesday, April 7 and will travel to Stevenson on Saturday.