Men's Lacrosse
Eastern 5, Lebanon Valley 3

Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley hung with Eastern for the full 60 minutes, but ultimately fell just short as Eastern held on for a 5-3 win in a defensive battle at Arnold Field.

The Dutchmen (3-4, 1-1 MAC), who lost to the Eagles (3-3, 2-0 MAC) 18-6 last year, showed their improvement as they played some outstanding defense, but the Eagles were just as good at the back while getting two goals apiece from Will Johnson and Shawn Farmer along with Zac Ivy's game-sealing behind-the-back goal in the fourth quarter.

LVC was paced offensively by Matt Roupe's double, and CJ Adams opened LVC's scoring in the second quarter. The game was a virtual dead heat statistically, with Eastern edging LVC on shots (18-17) and ground balls (29-28), but LVC led on face-offs (7-5) while turnovers (20-20) were even.

Bryan Lockward made six stops in the loss, while Aaron Benz also stopped six to pick up the win for Eastern.

Neither side found the net until David Darling put a shot off Lockward's stick late in the first quarter that Farmer plucked out of midair and buried for the opening goal. Adams leveled the game early in the second quarter, blasting a long-ranger past Benz 1:47 in.

Eastern put some space in the score late in the quarter, however, as Johnson struck twice in a 1:41 span, both unassisted strikes, and the Eagles led 3-1 at the break.

Farmer added his second to start the third quarter, but LVC rallied for two quick goals by Roupe, first off of Alex Beard's feed and then a man-up goal from Ryan Leonard to cut the lead to 4-3.

Despite the comeback, LVC never found another goal as Eastern's defense clamped down. Ivy hit the insurance strike with 10:13 left in the game, scrambling for a lose ball and scoring behind the back in traffic to make it a 5-3 final.

LVC will visit Misericordia on Wednesday.