(boxscore)
Widener pulled away in the third quarter with four straight goals en route to a 10-7 victory over Eastern in the first round of the Middle Atlantic Conference Tournament at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.
Third-seeded Widener (9-8) improves to 16-2 in this tournament as it began the quest for a fifth straight title. The squad advances to the semifinals Wednesday against No. 2 seed Lycoming, beginning at 4:00 pm in Williamsport, PA.
No. 6 seed Eastern (7-8) gave its all and had Widener on its heels as Matt Wagner scored with 10:11 left in the third quarter for a 4-4 game.
But the Pride buckled down. Sophomore Shawn DeHaven (Lyndell, PA) scored with 8:11 left in the period and junior Cory Malampy (Ridley, PA) followed suit with 6:10 remaining for a 6-4 contest.
Freshman Mark Kane (Morton, PA) tallied with 5:21 to go in the quarter and Malampy scored another with 3:25 left for an 8-4 contest.
Malampy scored a season-high four goals with sophomore JJ Hoeffler (Cranford, NJ) and freshman Johnny Casey (Glenside, PA) netting two apiece for the Pride. Freshman Brian Rogers (Malvern, PA) had three assists, freshman Nick Fluharty (West Grove, PA) won 12-of-19 face-offs and sophomore Kevin Carney (Ridley, PA) made nine saves.
Wagner, Nick Mandia and Nate Trunfio netted two goals apiece for the Eagles.