Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Mike Distler (Lutherville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) poured in three goals and two assists as the fifth-ranked Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team defeated Eastern University 10-6 in a non-conference tilt Saturday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
 
The Bullets (3-2) led just 5-4 with 12:07 left in the third quarter, but the Orange and Blue used a 5-1 run over a 14:02 span late in the game to pull away.
 
Distler posted career-highs for goals, assists, and points (five) while senior Paul Werner (Westfield, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) added two goals and one assist. Freshman Blake Gray (Reisterstown, Md./McDonogh School) contributed two goals while sophomore Geoff Fulgione (North Andover, Mass./Brooks School) won 11-of-20 face-offs.
 
Sophomore Tim Brady (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) made 11 saves for the Bullets while junior long-stick midfielder Chris Palladino (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) registered five ground balls.
 
Bryan Goetz tallied three goals and one assist for the Eagles (2-3) while Jameal Hadeed made 10 saves.
 
Gettysburg never trailed after scoring the game's first five goals. Four different Bullets scored in the first quarter, as Distler, senior Jameson Smith (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge), Gray, and junior Reed Barbe (Greenwich, Conn./Suffield Academy) all found the back of the net to put the hosts up 4-0 after 15 minutes of play.
 
Distler struck again two minutes into the second quarter to give his team a five-goal advantage. However, Eastern would shut out the Bullets over the next 26:11 while using a 4-0 run to pull to within a goal. The Eagles ended the second quarter with a 3-0 surge to make it a 5-3 game at the half.
 
Eastern added a man-up goal with 12:07 left in the third quarter to make it 5-4, and that's how the score would read until the 1:49 mark of the quarter, when Werner finished off an assist from junior Ivan Morris (Houston, Texas/Houston Christian). Morris then set up Distler with 56 seconds on the clock before Goetz scored his final goal of the day 36 seconds later to make it a 7-5 game heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bullets took control in the final stanza and blanked the Eagles for nearly the entire period, when Brady made four of his saves. Werner converted a Distler pass just 46 seconds into the quarter to make it 8-5, and neither side would score again until the 3:05 mark, when Gray finished off another Distler feed. Freshman Tommy Heller (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) made it 10-5 when he scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season with 2:47 left before Eastern set the final score on a goal with 17 ticks showing.
 
Gettysburg takes 10 days off from competition before visiting Widener University on March 23 in a non-conference affair starting at 7 p.m.