The Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team scored early and often, toppling Eastern 21-11 in its home opener for its first win of the season.

The 21 goals tied the school record for a game, previously accomplished in a 21-4 win against SUNY Farmingdale in 2003 and a 21-5 defeat of DeSales in 2004.

Juniors Daniel Friedel and Chase Kusko, neither of whom scored a goal in the first two games of the season, broke out in a big way, each recording 4 goals and 3 assists. Freshman Parker Kusko, the younger brother of Chase, notched his first career hat trick by putting in three of his four shots.

After the first five minutes of the game passed by without a goal, the Mules (1-2) exploded for eight goals on their last 13 shots of the first quarter. Seven different players netted the eight goals, including senior Michael Drago, who won the faceoff following Chase Kusko's second goal and went straight to goal, netting the second of his career and giving Muhlenberg two goals in six seconds.

The eight goals were one short of the school record for a quarter, achieved three times previously, most recently in 2013. Muhlenberg hadn't scored eight goals in the first quarter since a 2018 ECAC semifinal game against SUNY Canton.

The Mules stretched their lead by scoring at least four goals in each of the final three periods, connecting on almost 45 percent of their shots.

Juniors Flynn Decker (pictured above) and Jack Bill netted a pair of goals apiece, while freshman Brendan Lang closed out the scoring, making his first career goal a record-tying one.

Freshman Zachary Hernandez won the first faceoff he attempted in his career and wound up going 5-of-10 on faces. 

Senior Jace Riley Day made 15 saves in goal and has topped his previous career high of 12 saves in all three games this season.