Box Score ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The FDU-Florham men's lacrosse team lost 21-10 to Eastern University in the opening round of the Freedom Conference playoffs on Tuesday afternoon.

The Devils (8-8) trailed 8-5 at the end of a high-scoring first quarter but were blanked in the second period before ultimately falling by double-digits. With the win, the Eagles (13-4) advance to play DeSales University in the championship game. DeSales defeated King's College 9-8 in a four-overtime thriller on Tuesday.

In the loss, four Devils totaled two-goal efforts, including freshman Dan Decker (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville), who added nine ground balls and four caused turnovers.

Five seconds into play, FDU-Florham defenseman Haddon Corbett (Ardmore, Pa./Harriton) put the Devils in front 1-0 with his first goal of the season. The Eagles responded with four-straight goals, three of which came from junior midfielder Eric Waibel.

Decker and junior Frank Reda (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) scored back-to-back goals to cut the Eagles lead to 4-3, before Waibel found the back of the net again. FDU-Florham trailed 8-5 through one period of action.

Unfortunately, the second period was all Eagles. Eastern blanked the Devils, while scoring seven goals of their own and entered the break with a 15-5 advantage. Eastern junior attack Dave Darling totaled four goals in the second quarter to spark the Eagles run.

Eastern scored the first three goals of the third quarter to further build their lead and put the game out of reach. The Devils netted three of the game's final goals but were unable to cut into the lead and fell by the score of 21-10.

Reda's two goals in the game gave him a team-high 49 on the season. Freshman Matt Melnik (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) chipped in with two goals on two shots, while senior Lance O'Donovan (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) added two goals and two ground balls in defeat.

The Eagles outshot the Devils 43-28 on the day and won 19 of the 33 face offs in the game. Waibel paced the Eagles attack with seven goals, while Darling added five scores and five ground balls in the win.