WASHINGTON, Pa. — Franciscan University men's lacrosse had to shake of some spring break rust but saw promise in freshman midfielder Mark Hanlon in an 18-4 loss to Washington and Jefferson College.

"Washington & Jefferson is one of the best teams we'll face this season," head coach Pete Rosaschi said. "They're very well coached and they're disciplined, so it's a game where it wasn't close and didn't appear that way."

W&J opened up the scoring, taking advantage of breaks in the Baron defense to put four in the net during the first quarter and seven more in the second which put FUS behind by nine early on. Meanwhile, the green and gold remained unable to find the net until freshman midfielder Hanlon scored an unassisted goal with three minutes to go in the second quarter.

Another goal from Hanlon in the fourth quarter, accompanied by a goal apiece from junior attack David Erskine and sophomore goalie/attack Jonah Soucy in the third and fourth quarters, proved to be the extent of the Baron's scoring.

"We pushed a little bit too much," Rosaschi said of the offense. "We haven't played in two weeks, and we made some unforced errors that we need to correct. It was like a little bit of a spring break hangover."

Rosaschi added that offensive struggles were lightened by Hanlon, who, along with scoring half the team's goals and assisting another, bagged 11 ground balls and won 15 of 23 faceoffs.

"That's a heck of a game. He played really, really well," Rosaschi said.

On the defensive end, freshman Alex Perez played goalie for the full sixty minutes to give first string goalie Soucy playing time in the field. Perez finished his first start in goal of the season with 10 saves.

"Some of those stops were flat out. They were on the doorstep," Rosaschi said. "Our defense broke down several times and I thought he did a great job in goal for us."

Though the game as a whole proved to be a challenge, Rosaschi said the experience gained is invaluable.

"That's what we have to take away from it," Rosaschi said. "We're really trying to get our basics down and we have to work through it, learn from it, and gain experience from it, that's all."

The Barons will next face Wilmington College on Saturday, March 21 at 1pm.