NEW CONCORD, Ohio—Franciscan men's lacrosse braved the snow and continued to improve defensively in a close contest with Muskingum College but struggled to generate offensive production in a 4-3 loss.

As the Barons took to the field, freshman middie Mark Hanlon lost no time taking the ball to the net to score the team's first point just a minute into the first quarter.

Though the Barons held the Muskies for most of the remaining quarter, their defense weakened in the last six minutes as the opposing team put a quick three goals, making use of a man-up opportunity.

"I'll tell you, our first quarter was not what I expected," head coach Pete Rosaschi said. "But they responded the next three quarters and played great."

From there, the teams played a scoreless second quarter but came alive in the third when Hanlon put in another shot to revive the green and gold offense. Four minutes later, Muskingum countered with another goal, putting FUS behind by two once again.

As a steady snowfall continued to accumulate, the two teams battled out the fourth quarter, with Franciscan's freshman Mike Rosacshi putting another point on the board in the eleventh minute. Still down 4-3 with 51 seconds to go, the Barons called a timeout.

With barely a second left on the clock junior attack David Erksine shot from straight on, only to be stopped by the Muskies' goalie.

"We hustled, we played well, it just didn't go our way," Rosaschi said. "Holding another team to four goals, that's pretty good, but they held us to three."

Although the men's offensive game suffered overall, they managed to maintain the upper hand on ground balls, grabbing 18 to Muskingum's 15. It was 26 turnovers, however, that stifled the Baron's possession time and allowed the Muskies to outshoot Franciscan with 21 shots on goal to 16.

On the other end of the field, the Barons successfully cleared 8-11 times but perhaps the most significant factor in the low score was sophomore goalie Jonah Soucy's 17 stops out of 21 shots.

Rosaschi said Soucy's 80% save record was invaluable.

"That's a big game from Jonah," Rosaschi said. "He helps us tremendously."

Rosaschi also said first year defensive middie James Judd played an instrumental role.

Rosaschi said he saw a defensive improvement in the game but that the key factor to finishing games like this is being patient on offense and continuing to gel as a team.

"We're learning. We're incorporating an offense that takes a lot of chemistry and working together and it just takes time," Rosaschi said. "We have a lot of young guys, a lot of first year players, and not a lot of offense."

The Barons will next face Washington and Jefferson on the road on Wednesday, March 18 at 4pm.