STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan men's lacrosse team braved the cold and snow Friday to shovel off Memorial Field in preparation of today's contest and their hard work was rewarded with a thrilling 13-10 come from behind win over Carroll (WI), Saturday afternoon. 

With temperatures still in the high 20s, the Barons suited up for their Saturday afternoon game to kick off their spring break. Carroll warmed up the scoreboard first as Paul Kerchberger took a pass from Dominic Sabbarese from behind the cage and put the ball in the upper right corner of the net to give the Pioneers at 1-0 lead 1:19 into action.

On the next Pioneer possession, Dan McCartney caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball to get the ball back in Franciscan's offensive box. Sophomore Joe Lomady tied the game with his sixth goal of the season at 3:49. Carroll away from the Barons in the first quarter, however, and took a 3-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of action.

The Pioneers scored back-to-back goals on two of their first three possessions of the second to push their lead to 5-1 with 7:45 left before halftime. The Barons sticks started to really warm up, however, and answered with a pair of goals of their own to cut the lead down to 5-3. Senior Paul Modzelewski picked up the groundball off a shot and quickly put it back on the cage and scored his first goal of the game with 5:20 to play. Just under two minutes later, Lomady caused a turnover close to midfield and picked up the first ground ball. Junior Jonas McCaig battled for a loose ball once the Barons set up their offense and scored his first of the game to cut the lead down to 5-3 with 3:26 to play.

The Pioneers won the ensuing face-off and took the ball straight to the cage and pushed their lead back to three goals, 6-3, just 19 seconds later. The Barons would not be outdone on their home field, however, and rattled off three goals in the final 2:28 to tie the game at 6-6 at the break. McCaig sandwiched a pair of goals around Lomady's second of the game to tie the score.

After an abbreviated halftime, Franciscan took its first lead of the game off McCaig's third goal after the Barons won the opening face off. The Pioneers won the next face off but quickly turned the ball over and put the Barons back on offense. McCaig got a shot off in traffic but his shot was saved and the Pioneers attempted to clear the ball and get back on offense. Carroll turned the ball over and Franciscan went back on the attack. Lomady's shot to kick off the possession hit the post but McCartney was there to collect the ground ball and one-timed it past the goalie to give FUS an 8-6 lead with 12:34 to play.

After another pair of turnovers by the Pioneers, the Barons set up their offense and McCartney scored his second of the game to give the home team a 9-6 lead with 10:39 to play in the third. 

Modzelewski gave the Barons their largest lead of the game as he took a pass from McCaig and buried it behind the goalie with 3:11 to play to extend FUS' lead to 10-6.

The Pioneers scored the last two goals of the third quarter to cut the lead back down to two goals going into the final 15 minutes of regulation.

Franciscan scored the first two goals on the fourth thanks to McCaig and McCartney but the Pioneers kept the Barons close with a goal at 6:40 to stay within two, 12-10. Modzelewski polished off the scoring with 4:32 to play off a pass from McCaig to seal the 13-10 win for the Barons.

The Baron defense held strong in the final minutes of the game and caused two turnovers and did not allow the Pioneers to get a shot off in the final 4:30 of action.

McCaig led all players with five goals while adding a pair of assists. McCartney and Modzelewski each posted three goals and an assist while Lomady chipped in a pair of goals for FUS.

Defensively, McCaig, Lomady, and McCartney each picked up seven ground balls and Lomady caused five turnovers. Junior Mike Rosaschi and Modzelewski scooped up four ground balls each and freshman Jonathan Lee picked up five after winning six face-offs.

The Barons out-shot the Pioneers 49-23 and held a 44-43 advantage in ground balls. Freshman Matt Marrenna needed just three saves for his second win of the season.

Franciscan looks to build on its first 2-0 in program history as it heads to conference opponent Medaille on Wednesday for a 1pm contest in Buffalo, NY.