Box Score BETHANY, W. Va. – Despite having to move the game from Memorial Field to the Bethany campus, the Franciscan men's lacrosse team didn't let the venue change cool down their sticks as the Barons rolled past Bethany, 18-7, thanks to an 11-1 second half, Wednesday afternoon.
"I am really proud of how the guys played together today," remarked head coach Pete Rosaschi following the game. "We didn't have a letdown after a big win and just played hard for the full 60 minutes today."
The Franciscan offense featured goals from six different players while five Barons posted multi-point games. Leading the way was junior Jonas McCaig. McCaig posted four goals and four assists for an eight-point day and take over as the all-time point leader at Franciscan with 108. The previous leader, senior Paul Modzelewski is not far behind, however, as he scored once today to push his career total to 107 points. Sophomore Joe Lomady continued his breakout first season for the Barons with six goals and an assist. Lomady now has 46 goals on the year and has set the program's record for single-season goals.
Leading by just one goal after halftime, the Barons looked to extend their lead early but a quick turnover off of the face off win gave the ball to the Bison. Bethany took the half's first six shots of the third but could not find the back of the net. After a Franciscan turnover, Bethany set up their offense and scored 2:57 into action to tie the game at 7-7.
That goal would be the Bison's only goal of the second half as the Barons scored 11 unanswered goals to claim an 18-7 victory. Lomady accounted for four of the goals while junior Mike Rosaschi posted two in the final 30 minutes, freshman Michael Araps had two and sophomore Dan McCartney, Modzelewski and McCaig each had one.
McCaig scored the final goal of the game, and his 108th career point, with 2:55 left in regulation.
Rosaschi scored the first goal of the game with 5:36 to play. Junior CJ Moore caused a turnover in front of the Franciscan goal and senior Austin Morga picked up the ground ball to kick off a successful clear for the Barons. McCaig tossed the ball to Rosaschi from behind the net and Rosaschi hit the upper third to give Franciscan a 1-0 lead. It would take a full two minutes before another goal was scored, but this time the Bison found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Lomady did what he has done best this season and won the next face off then raced to the cage for a goal to give Franciscan a 2-1 lead just 13 seconds after the Bison goal. Lomady won the next face off as well and after McCartney battled for a ground ball, he flipped it to McCaig for his first of the game and Franciscan's 3-1 lead with 2:42 to play. Bethany scored the final goal of the quarter with 1:22 to play to keep the game close.
Franciscan and Bethany each scored four goals in the second quarter. Every time Bethany scored, Franciscan had a quick answer and never let Bethany take a lead. After Bethany scored to open the second, McCaig scored just over one minute later. The game was tied for no long than two minutes in the second quarter. Lomady scored the final goal of the half with 3:20 to play to send the team's into the break with the Barons in the lead, 7-6.
To go with his six goals and assist, Lomday was 12-of-14 face offs and picked up a game-high 13 ground balls.
Freshman goalie Matt Marrenna had one of the best games of his young career. The Huntersville, NC native made 15 saves, including 10 in the second half and eight in the fourth quarter alone. Marrenna had a career-best 68.2 save percentage and allowed a season-low seven goals. Marrenna now has 100 saves on the season.
Franciscan looks to push its winning streak to three as they welcome Alfred State to Memorial Field on Saturday for a 2pm AMCC contest.
