STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan men's lacrosse overcame an eight goal, fourth quarter run from Bethany College (W.V.) and scored the last three goals of the game for a nail-biting 13-12 win, the team's first of the season.

"It was their resolve," said a choked-up head coach Pete Rosaschi. "I couldn't be more proud of how they finished. I really can't say enough about it. It was beautiful."

After winning the initial faceoff, senior middie Peter Herrmann netted the team's first goal just 1:10 into the game, giving Franciscan all the momentum early. Herrmann finished tied for the team lead in goals with three.

Five minutes later, as the Barons continued to win faceoffs and maintain offensive possession, sophomore middie Paul Modzelewski scored an unassisted goal to put the Barons up 2-1 halfway through the first quarter.

The Barons then blanked Bethany in the second quarter and scored four goals themselves, including two from freshman attack Jonas McCaig, to go into halftime up 6-3.

McCaig scored three goals and added an assist and seven ground balls in only his second FUS lacrosse game.

"I thought our first half was just phenomenal," Rosaschi said. "I thought we should have had more goals but that's all right."

Coming out even more fired up in the second half, Franciscan added four more goals from four different players, pushing the lead to 10-4 at the end of the third quarter.

Bethany, however, was determined to make a comeback and scored eight unanswered goals across 13 minutes of the fourth quarter to take a 12-10 lead.

"I could not tell you what happened," Rosaschi said. "We're on the sideline and we're talking to players as they're coming off and we were trying to resolve our issues in the fourth."

With the momentum in Bethany's favor, the Barons mounted a comeback of their own led by senior attack David Erskine.

Erskine struggled to find the net for the first 58 minutes of the game but came up big when the team needed him, scoring two unassisted goals in a row off two won faceoffs to tie the game at 12.

"I told him to demand the ball and take it. He had the green light," Rosaschi said. "Guys shine when they are supposed to shine, I guess, and he shined when we needed him."

With the game tied at 12, the outcome looked to hinge on the ensuing faceoff. Freshman middie Mark Hanlon, in his first game back from injury, came away with his 18th faceoff of the game and, 1:16 later, scored the unassisted, game-winning goal.

"I just wanted to make a good play," Hanlon said about the goal. "We wanted to waste enough time, where, if we didn't score, we would go into overtime and not give them a chance. I just saw the opportunity and took the shot and it bounced off the goalie and went in."

Rosaschi said he gives all the credit to the team for pushing through to the end through a rough fourth quarter to give Franciscan a chance to win.

"The guys lost a little bit of cohesiveness during the game and then had the resolve to win it in the end," Rosaschi said. "It was nothing we called from the sideline. It was their resolve to find themselves and gather themselves in and finish the game."

The Barons will wrap up the season at home with a Senior Day matchup against a fellow AMCC team, Medaille College, on April 26 at 3 pm.