PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Franciscan men's lacrosse team came from behind in the fourth quarter and won in double overtime for a historic win over La Roche, 17-16, Wednesday afternoon.

History was made for the Barons as they played in, and won, their first double overtime game in program history as well as earning their first win over La Roche. The Red Hawks lead the all-time series 2-1 and the two teams will compete as conference opponents next season. The win improves the Barons to 3-2 on the season, marking the most wins in a season for the Barons.

"This was a big win for the program today," exalted head coach Peter Rosaschi. "We know if we can compete against [La Roche], we are getting improving and this win definitely showed where the program is headed."

Trailing 15-11 with just over five minutes to play in regulation, freshman Dan McCartney scooped up a ground ball off a La Roche turnover and handed the ball off to sophomore captain Mike Rosaschi. Rosaschi shot it past the Red Hawk goalie and cut the lead to 15-12. Four minutes later with just 1:41 to play in regulation and trailing by three goals, sophomore Jonas McCaig scored his first goal of the game after the Barons cleared the ball off a Peter Herrmann save. Sophomore Paul Modzelewski kept the scoring going with his fourth of the game to pull the Barons to with one. With 1:22 to play, La Roche pushed its lead back to two goals, 16-14, but sophomore Mark Hanlon won the ensuing faceoff for the Barons and McCaig quickly scored with a quick behind the back goal just on the edge of the crease to get the Barons within one and 41 seconds to play.

Once again Hanlon won the faceoff and McCaig took the ball down field but his shot went wide right. McCaig was closest to the ball when it went out of bounds and fed it to McCartney off the restart. McCartney put it past the LAR goalie to tie the game at 16-16 with 16 seconds to play. Hanlon won the final faceoff in regulation and the Barons ran out the clock to force overtime.

The first extra period featured three saves from Herrmann as neither team could find the game-winner and the contest headed into a second overtime period. Hanlon won the faceoff to open the period and Modzelewski picked up the groundball for a Baron possession. McCartney fed the ball to McCaig just 24 seconds into the extra period and McCaig buried the ball in the back of the net for the thrilling win.

After taking a two goal lead in the first, the Barons trailed by as many as seven points  in the third, 13-6, but FUS kept fighting and seemed to have an answer for every La Roche run. "I am extremely proud of how the guys battled today," complimented coach Rosaschi. "They kept their cool and executed realy, really well. We knew we had a mismatch on Jonas today and when we got it in overtime, the guys just went for it and it paid off."

"These guys encourage each other more than any other team I have coached. Our team is a family and they really live and play by that. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly, they are a family and it paid off today."

The balanced offense was led by Rosaschi and Modzelewski with four goals each while Hanlon and McCaig each chipped in three and McCartney two. Sophomore Charles Palmer scored his first goal of the season while adding an assists. Hanlon picked up 16 groundballs and was 19-32 on faceoffs. Herrmann finished with 10 saves for his third win.

The Barons come home for the first time this season as they host Wilmington (OH) on Saturday at Memorial Field. The opening faceoff is set for 1:00 p.m.