BEREA, Ohio- The Franciscan men's lacrosse team was down to 17 healthy players, in their game against Baldwin Wallace that ended in a 13-2 loss. Despite the setback, head coach Pete Rosaschi said he was proud of his team and how much they have improved.

"We have vastly improved and we came together as a team," Rosaschi said about the performance of his limited roster. "We only had 17 players, and they came together with a lot of heart."

Eight minutes into the first quarter midfielder Daniel Fay scored the Barons' first goal with as assist from attackman Patrick McNamara, putting FUS within one.

Two minutes into the second quarter Fay found midfielder Sebastian Olsen to tie up the score 2-2. The Yellow Jackets then answered with five straight goals to end the first half with a score of 7-2.

The Barons were unable to answer the Yellow Jacket's six goal streak in the second half, but Rosaschi was more concerned with how well the players had improved on specific technical skills.

"We passed around much better and did much better on ground balls and clears," Rosaschi said as the team was 19/33 on clears and had 30 ground balls.

Clears and ground balls weren't the only highlights for Franciscan. Senior Goalie Evan Malchano, who has been nursing a knee injury since mid-March, looked strong with 23 saves.

"He's much stronger, healthy, and had a great game," Rosaschi said about the recovering Malchano.

Even though the team has become better since the start of the season, Rosaschi said his team has plenty of areas that need improvement.

"The chief thing to work on is patience on the offensive end," Rosaschi said. "We're much better than the past, and we're rolling as a team."

The Barons next game will be at Walsh University Tuesday, April 9 at 4 p.m.