MANSFIELD, Conn. – Senior midfielder Steven Nixon (Foxborough, MA) picked up eight ground balls – five of them off the faceoff – and sophomore midfielder Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NH) won ten of 17 faceoffs to help lift the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team to a 13-7 Little East Conference victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.

Eastern (4-4, 2-0 LEC) has won four of its last six and has defeated UMass Boston (4-6, 0-2 LEC) all 22 times the programs have met.

The Warriors surged from a two-goal halftime lead by keeping the Beacons off the board for 29 minutes, scoring all five of the game's third-quarter goals and adding the opening goal of the fourth quarter to carry an eight-goal, 12-4 lead into the final eight minutes.Junior attack Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA) scored two of his game-high four goals to spark Eastern's 6-0 scoring run which opened the second half.

Junior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) pushed his record over the .500 mark to 4-3 by making seven saves before giving way to junior Brendan Gillotti (Danbury), who stopped two shots over the final eight minutes. Junior Craig Frehill stopped ten shots for the Beacons.

Nixon helped Eastern to a  30-23 advantage in ground balls with his game-high total of eight and Schulze lead Eastern to a 13-10 advantage in faceoffs. Eastern turned the ball over only 15 times, successfully clearing 17 of its 18 attempts.

UMass, which has lost three straight and four of five, got two goals from team point leaders Noah Ellis (Hingham, MA), a junior attack, and senior midfielder Donny Delpha. Freshman midfielder Dan Geraghty was 9-of-20 from the faceoff X and led his team with four ground balls.

Eastern visits Keene State College Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in a battle of conference unbeatens.