MANSFIELD, Conn. – Senior Tyler Stein (Milford) scored four of his five goals in a span of 20 minutes and won ten of 14 faceoffs in the game, and senior goalie John Funk (Southbury) shut out Plymouth State University for a stretch of 24 minutes in relief to boost the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team to a 9-6 non-conference win Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
Eastern (4-1) defeated Plymouth (1-2) for the second time in eight days, having emerged with a 7-2 Little East Conference victory last Saturday at Plymouth, NH.
 
Playing at home for the first time this year, Eastern never trailed after scoring the opening three goals in the first six minutes, but couldn't shake the Panthers until Stein connected for three goals in succession – the first on an extra-man opportunity -- in a span of less than nine minutes in the second half to allow Eastern to move out to its largest lead, 8-4, less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
 
Funk preserved the win for graduate goalie Jack Farrell (Stratford), making seven saves after being inserted into net to start the second half. Plymouth equaled Eastern's total of ten shots in the third quarter, but Eastern got two goals from Stein while Funk made saves on all four shots that reached net. Funk extended his shutout against the Panthers into the fourth quarter before the visitors – down by four following Stein's third straight goal -- broke through on goals by freshman Nolan Burke and sophomore Mike Fleury in the final five minutes.
 
Stein and freshman David Harrold (Southington) combined to claim 16 of 20 faceoffs for Eastern. Stein is now 29 of 44 (.659) and Harrold 24 of 36 (.667) on the season. The pair combined to pick up 15 ground balls against the Panthers. Freshman Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) won four ground balls to go along with two goals and three assists for Eastern.
 
Having scored on over 40 percent of its man-up situations entering play, Eastern was 3-for-5 to improve its season percentage to 45.5. In addition to Stein's first two extra-man strikes of the year, senior Jake Liebowitz (Trumbull) scored on Eastern's first man-up try with just seconds remaining on a penalty to Porter that gave Eastern a 3-0 lead midway though the first quarter.
 
Junior Riley Roy  contributed to five of Plymouth's six goals by scoring three and assisting on two. Freshman Jessy Hirwa played 39 minutes in relief of senior starter Robert Porter, who left with an injury midway through the second quarter with his team trailing 4-2. Hirwa made 11 stops while Porter turned back five before departing.
 
Freshman defenseman Marc Hirshom, who won two of four faceoffs, picked up nine ground balls and caused three turnovers for Plymouth.
 
Eastern visits Castleton University Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a Little East Conference match.