STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Baron lacrosse got one step closer to its first program win in a close loss to Thiel College that saw Franciscan lose a 7-6 lead in the third quarter. The Baron's struggled to maintain possession in the fourth quarter, eventually leading to an 11-8 loss.

"It was tough. These guys played a great first half and I think the third quarter was pretty good, but we just could not get it over the finish line today," head coach Pete Rosaschi said.

The game started off slow with both teams struggling to score as Franciscan took a 2-1 lead after the first 15 minutes. The Baron's defense was particularly strong in the first half closing in quickly when the patient Tomcat offense made a move towards the crease.

"We had a great week of practice, we had a great scouting report, and we had great film work," Rosaschi said. "It just takes time to mature as a team, and to win; to learn to win."

The fourth quarter marked a change in momentum and a change in results as a tired Baron team struggled to gain and maintain possession of the ball. While Franciscan won the overall ground ball battle 54-52, they were only able to win 9 of the 26 available ground balls in the fourth quarter. With extra possessions, the Tomcats were able to break down the Baron defense and take the lead.

"Its conditioning, we've got to work on our conditioning," Rosaschi said, also adding that face-offs were a problem. "Its something else we have to work on and build into our program."

Despite the loss, Franciscan saw improved efficiency on both sides of the ball, particularly from starting midfielder Sean Wayne who finished with five of the team's eight goals, one assist and ten ground balls.

"Sean works real hard individually," Rosaschi said. "He shoots at least 50 to 100 balls after practice and he's become a critical component of our offense."

Wayne was able to improve his finishing ability after working on his quick-stick skills with a women's lacrosse stick during the week, which helped give him softer hands and a quicker release.

The Baron's defense also got a boost from the addition of defender David Fay who played his first game of the season after returning from a pre-season injury. Fay only practiced with the team for four days leading up to the game and combined with goalie Evan Malchano to allow the fewest goals against of the season.

"As hard as I am on the guys, there were tremendous, tremendous improvements," Rosaschi said. "There's a lot of good, you just have to finish."

Over the next week, during the university's spring break, the team will be spending time doing mission work as a team and will then leave for a two day trip to Virginia for the Baron's matchup's against Southern Virginia University and Randolph College. FUS will play SVU on March 13 at 4 pm.

"It's still amazing to me that I don't have seniors here that I've known for four years. They know each other better than I know them," Rosaschi said. "So this week is gonna be good for the team to just come together and grow."