KINGS POINTS, N.Y. -- Senior attack Matthew Savage (Southington) forced overtime, senior goalie Kyle Savage (Southington) saved overtime, and senior midfielder DJ Simmons (Mystic) decided overtime as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team posted its first-ever win in the NCAA Division III tournament with a 10-9 overtime victory over the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Wednesday night at Brooks Stadium.

Matthew Savage's team-leading 52nd goal of the year with 34.6 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime. Kyle Savage kept the season alive witih a save in the opening minute of sudden death, and Little East Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Year Simmons ended the game 82 seconds into the extra session with an unassisted goal that propelled the Warriors into the second round for the first tiime in six NCAA tournament appearances.

Eastern (15-3), which ties the program record for wins, visits Wesleyan University Saturday at 1 p.m. in the round of 16. Wesleyan (14-3) drew a first-round by after gaining the automatic bid extended the New England Small Collegte Athletic Conference playoff champion. Eastern won its sixth Little East Conference title in nine years this past Saturday with a 12-8 win over visiting Keene State College.

Eastern led six times in the match but only once by as many as two goals. After Simmons' extra-man strike with six minutes left in the third quarter gave the Warriors a 7-6 lead, Eastern went scorless and trailed by a goal until junior midfielder Zach Malouf (Norwich) potted his only goal on an assist from sophomore attack Brendan Hoppey (Shoreham, NY) with just over six minutes left in regulation.

Zach Gray's only goal of the match on an assist from Adam Jerlow gave Merchant Marine (11-6) only its  second lead of the night with 65 seconds left, but Eastern sophomore faceoff specialist Eric  Vasil (Southington) won the ensuing faceoff and Matthew Savage scored his third goal of the  match on a pass from junior midfielder Maxim Fantl (West Hartford) 30 seconds later to send the game into overtime.Ranked first nationally in ground balls and third in faceoff percentage, Vastil won 19 of 22 faceoffs and scooped up 17 ground balls. Vasil won 17 straight attempts after losing three of first in the first quarter.

Simmons led Eastern with five goals -- two coming in man-up opportunies in the third quarter and Hoppey had both of the team's assists. Eastern's man-down unit killed seven of eight penalties. In the final 1:47 of the third quarter, Eastern was flagged four times, but the Mariners were unable to take advantage of the extra-man tries. The hosts were up two men for 30 seconds in that late third-quarter stretch.

Kyle Savage stopped 15 shots, six of them coming in the first quarter when the Mariners outshot Eastern, 16-4. His biggest one came in overtime that prolonged the careers of nine seniors.