OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Stevenson men's lacrosse senior Tony Rossi totaled three goals and four points while junior Connor Skeen won his ninth-straight game as the No. 7 Mustangs defeated No. 19 Eastern 12-5 Wednesday night at Mustang Stadium in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Stevenson (16-4) has now won at least one NCAA tournament contest in each of the last seven seasons, posting a 16-5 record which are the third-most during that time, trailing only Salisbury (19) and Tufts (18).

Wednesday's game was a match-up of the Middle Atlantic Conference's Commonwealth Conference champion and Freedom Conference champion. The Mustangs have won three-straight Commonwealth crowns while the Eagles have won four consecutive Freedom titles.

Eastern (15-4) scored the game's first goal at 6:38 before senior Connor Curro answered with the first of his two first-quarter goals just nine seconds later for the game's only tie.

The Mustangs added three more tallies in the first and five in the second to take a 9-2 halftime lead. Senior Justin Buonomo scored his first goal of the season with 8:39 remaining in the second, just seven seconds after Rossi's second of the game.

Junior Matt Tompkins scored his team-leading 34th and 35th goals of the season to close the first half and open the second before senior Colin Dabney gave Stevenson its largest lead of the game at 12-3 just 37 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Tonight's game featured just five penalties and four man-up opportunities which neither team was able to capitalize on. The Mustangs entered the game with nation's seventh-best man-up offense while Eastern was 13th.

Meanwhile, Stevenson, ranked 16th in scoring defense, allowed five goals or less for the 11th time this season. The Mustangs have allowed more than five goals just once during their current 10-game win streak.

Skeen finished with a career-high 12 saves, including five in the fourth quarter, en route to winning his first-ever start in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Curro finished with two goals, three points and four ground balls while senior Callum Robinson had two caused turnovers and three ground balls.

The Mustangs also won 16-of-21 faceoffs, including eight each by Buonomo and senior Sam Wyatt.

Eric Waibel and Grant Ferguson each scored twice for Eastern who made its third appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. The duo combined for 94 of the team's 262 goals this season.

Stevenson will now face rival Salisbury in the second round on Saturday at Mustang Stadium. Faceoff is at 7:00 p.m. The game will mark the 19th meeting between the two schools and the fifth in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship where the series is tied 2-2.

The Mustangs won the last meeting between the two teams in the NCAA tournament, defeating the Sea Gulls 12-6 on May 19, 2013 in front of 2,311 fans at Mustang Stadium in the national semifinals.

Stevenson has won three of the last four in the series overall, including a 9-8 overtime decision at Sea Gull Stadium earlier this season on March 25.