St. David's, PA (April 30, 2016) – The DeSales University men's lacrosse team fell just short in a battle for the top seed in the upcoming MAC Freedom Tournament falling to Eastern University, 8-7, in MAC Freedom action on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss gives the Bulldogs (6-8, 6-1 MAC Freedom) the #2 seed in the MAC Freedom Tournament which begins on Wednesday.  DSU will host #3 seed, Misericordia University, in the semifinals with game time set for 7:00 pm.  Eastern will enter as the top seed, while Delaware Valley University will be the fourth seed.
 
DSU took an early 2-1 lead on Saturday before EU (12-5, 7-0 MAC Freedom) scored three straight goals to take a 4-2 lead.  Sophomore Joe Neggia scored with under a minute left in the second quarter to pull the Bulldogs within 5-4 at the half.
 
Sophomore Bryan Weber netted a man-up goal just 1:31 into the third quarter to tie the score at five but the Eagles scored three straight goals to take an 8-5 lead with 9:40 left to play.
 
DeSales got within two goals with 5:12 remaining and made it a one-goal game with 12 seconds left but were unable to find the tying marker late.
 
DSU did out-shoot Eastern, 38-28, and picked up five more ground balls (34-29) than the Eagles but were hurt by making 21 turnovers in the loss.
 
Freshman Tommy Friedman and senior Ryan Loughlin each had two goals and junior Tyler Newman had one goal and two assists.  Neggia had a goal and an assist, while Weber (1g) and junior Justin Wilson (1a) rounded out the scoring.
 
Freshman Nick Altland continued to play well picking up a team-high six ground balls and senior Tim Barry was outstanding on defense forcing five turnovers.