BRIDGEWATER, Va. - The Bridgewater College men's lacrosse team held off Ferrum in a tight Jopson field encounter, taking a 9-7 victory on Wednesday afternoon.

Goalie Michael Fairley made six of his nine saves in the fourth quarter to improve to 4-0 on the season. Ferrum goalkeeper John-Michael Smith was also impressive, saving 13 shots on the day.

Thomas Maher and Derrick Daniels paced the Eagles with two goals and an assist each, while Blake Mann scored twice and caused three first quarter turnovers on Ferrum clear attempts. Overall, the BC defense led Ferrum to nine failed clears while the Eagles were successful on all but two.

Defensively Jeff Strickland added three caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Curtis Hughes and Rob Simmons forced two giveaways each.

Leading 8-5 in the fourth quarter but playing a man down, Fairley made two saves to help kill off the penalty.

Ferrum's Ethan Wakefield scored unassisted to cut the gap to two with 6:24 remaining. A Daniels pass was nearly mishandled by Strickland but the BC sophomore picked it up and scored a huge insurance goal with 4:21 to play.

Ferrum didn't go quietly, scoring to cut the lead to 9-7 and then forcing another Fairley stop in the final minute.

The Eagles had taken an early lead on Daniel's man-up opportunity. Mann's third caused turnover of the opening period eventually led to Maher touching in a Chris Voorhees pass for a 2-1 lead.

Ferrum tied the game at 3-3 early in the second quarter on a shorthanded strike by Tyler Fullem.

After a save from Fairley, Bridgewater defender Sean Nevin went the length of the field and scored his first goal of the season with the long pole to put the Eagles back ahead for good.

Tylden Mosby nearly added to that but saw his shot ring off the inside of the post. Simmons and Voorhees were both denied by good Smith saves on the same possession.

Bridgewater led 6-4 at halftime thanks to a man-up goal from Daniels. Ferrum's Ryan Tesler ripped a shot off the crossbar in the final seconds of the first half.

Ferrum had a third quarter goal called off for a crease violation that would have brought the visitors back within one.

Mann made it 7-4 BC after lowering his shoulder, knocking over Ferrum's Tesler and flipping the ball past Smith.

Ferrum was led by Fullem's four goals, while Brendon Schrantz caused a game-high five turnovers.

The Eagles improve to 4-1 and will continue their seven-game homestand on Saturday vs. Hood College. Bridgewater is also home next week on Wednesday vs. Marywood, and on Saturday vs. Virginia Wesleyan in the team's ODAC opener.

Ferrum falls to 2-3 with the result. The Panthers have already faced Virginia Wesleyan this season, losing a tough 14-13 decision after leading into the final four minutes of the contest.