WHITTIER, Calif. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team dominated in most every category – except on the scoreboard – in Sunday afternoon's 14-8 non-conference loss to Whittier College at Memorial Field.

Trailing by three goals early, Eastern (2-2) twice rallied to tie the match at 3-all and again at 6-all late in the first half before Whittier (3-3) answered with the final three goals of the first half and first of the second to move out to a 10-6 lead 1:23 into the third quarter.

Eastern outshot Whittier, 43-33, won the ground ball battle (50-35), forced more goalie saves (19-10), was more productive on extra-man situations (4-3), and dominated at the faceoff X, with three Eastern players combining to claim 20 of 26.

First-year players Connor Hillemeir (Farmington), Matt Robidoux (Cheshire) and Tyler Stein (Milford) outdueled five Whittier faceoff men. Hillemeir was 10-of-12, Robidoux 6-of-7 and Stein 4-of-7.

In his second start of the year, junior goalie Chris Gorman (Shrewsbury, MA) turned back ten shots.

Senior midfielder and team scoring leader Harrison Urda (Milford, NH) had three goals (all in succession that tied the match after one quarter) and two assists for Eastern, with sophomore attack Ed Moran (West Haven) contributing his first two goals of the year, with senior attack Connor Wyllie (Somers) adding two. Freshman attack Jake Liebowitz (Trumbull) added two assists.

Eastern faces Southwestern University (TX) Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.