LATROBE, Pa. — Franciscan University men's lacrosse team held strong defensively as it tested out a largely new roster in its first game of the season, losing 10-1 to St. Vincent College.

"Our defense played really solid ball throughout the game," head coach Pete Rosaschi said. "But we could not get anything going on offense, so as a result, we gave up the ball too many times without a good look to engage."

The Barons held the Bearcats to just one goal in the first quarter but let in three in the second. Their best moment offensively came with 6:15 left in the third quarter when sophomore midfielder Paul Modzelewski scored the team's first goal of the season off a ground ball pickup. The goal put the Barons down 5-1 heading into the fourth quarter.

From there, however, things went downhill for the Barons as St. Vincent put five more in the net in the final period. Rosaschi said the Bearcats' run in the fourth quarter was a result of his team pressing on offense to try and make a comeback, leaving the defense vulnerable.

"We were still competitive at the end of the third quarter when it was 5-1, so then we tried pushing down to score and switched things up a little bit," Rosaschi said. "The score is really not indicative of how well our defense played."

Three key struggles for Barons were turnover woes as well as a need for increased possession time and shot opportunities. The green and gold had 37 turnovers to the Bearcats' 27 and 19 shot opportunities to SVC's 38.

"We wanted to have 30 shots and keep them under 30, and our turnovers were obviously way too high," Rosaschi said. "It's just indicative of the areas we have to work on."

Similarly, while the Barons had 33 ground balls to the Bearcats 37, Rosaschi said the important factor was which ground balls each team got.

"The ground balls that counted, they picked up. The ones that were contested, they got. So though the stats are much closer than I thought, we wanted to have a good ground ball game, and we didn't," Rosaschi said.

The coach attributed some of these difficulties to inexperience.

"We have 9 players who have never played a college game," Rosachi said. "Considering we only have 18 players, that's a lot of people."

Nevertheless, two bright spots in the Baron lineup were freshman short-stick middie Matt Wessel and sophomore middie James Judd who helped hold the defense together.

"They're brand new to the game and they played outstanding defense," Rosaschi said. "They really, really played outstanding defense."

Another positive contributor was freshman Mark Hanlon who won seven of the Barons' 14 faceoffs, dramatically increasing their average from last season's 40 percent.

As the team looks forward to its second game of the season on Thursday, February 26, a neutral site game at Bethany College vs Houghton at 4pm, Rosaschi said the team will continue adapting to the challenges of a new season.

"We've just got to look for our offense to settle down and make really good decisions with the ball," Rosaschi said. "We have the abilities, that's clear. We have the talent, so we just have to get them to settle down and execute."