Goalie Ryan Kay made 17 saves as the Misericordia University men's lacrosse team hung around into the fourth quarter before ultimately losing 13-4 to Eastern, Thursday at Mangelsdorf Field.

Freshman Nicholas Santillo led the Cougar attack with a goal and two assists. Junior Lee Blair had a goal and five ground balls, while sophomores Kyle Calabro and Matt Gonzalez added goals.

Misericordia held an 8-6 advantage in shots for the first quarter, and a 16-14 shot disparity at halftime.

MU had the first five shots of the game, but put each one wide or high of the cage. The Eagles then scored on their first attempt, 5:26 into the action.

Kay made a great stick save to keep the score at 2-0 with Eastern on the power play midway through the period. He then caught a hard rip with three minutes to go in the opening quarter.

EU stretched its lead to 4-0 with two tallies early in the second, but Gonzalez got Misericordia on the board at 6:37 to go, finishing his chance with a penalty flag down on the ground. Kay maintained that scoreline into the half with a point-blank save from the middle of crease.

The junior goaltender was still hot in the third quarter, stopping four straight shots before an Eagle attack finally got through the MU defense and beat him for a 5-1 lead.

Later in the third quarter, Misericordia had a power play opportunity but Calabro was saved and Eastern broke the other way, scoring two seconds after the penalty release to go ahead 6-1.

The Cougars kept battling in the final stanza. Santillo scored to wipe out another penalty flag and make it 7-2, and Calabro fought through a crowd to push the score to 8-3.

Blair nearly pulled Misericordia to within four, but the Eastern goalie dove back to stop his deflected shot from rolling over the line. The Eagles held off MU's charge and pulled away late in the contest.

The Cougars are 7-7, 3-6 and will travel to FDU-Florham on Tuesday.