STEUBENVILLE – Despite a strong fourth quarter, the Franciscan men's lacrosse team fell to visiting Marietta, 18-6, Wednesday afternoon.
 
Trailing 18-3 with less than five to play in the fourth, Franciscan forced a Pioneers turnover and the Barons took over. Senior Jonathan Lee went straight to the cage and picked up his fifth goal of the season with 4:36 to play to cut the lead to 18-4. Franciscan won the next face off and the two teams then traded turnovers before senior Dan McCartney put a shot on goal but was stopped by the Pioneer goalie. Marietta in turn went down the field and quickly took a shot but sophomore goalie Grant McKeown made one of his 16 saves. Franciscan completed a successful clear and freshman Gavin Brown tallied his second goal of the year with 2:45 left.
 
Just over a minute later, junior Michael Araps posted his seventh goal of the year thanks to a helper from Brown for the game's final goal as the score stood 18-6 in favor of the Pioneers.
 
Franciscan got out to a quick start as McCartney scored a pair of goals in the first five minutes to give the Barons a 2-0 lead. The Pioneers answered with 10-straight goals, spanning the rest of the first and all of the second quarters. McCartney halted the Pioneer run with his 19^th goal of the season 58 seconds into the third quarter.
 
The Pioneers went on another eight-goal run to take an 18-3 lead with 5:06 to play in the fourth.
 
McCartney led the Barons with three goals and picked up 14 ground balls. Sophomore William Muraski caused a team-high seven turnovers.
 
McKeown made 16 saves in net for the Barons.
 
Franciscan will face its first-ever Presidents' Athletic Conference opponent on Saturday as the Barons open conference play against Bethany at 1:00 pm on Memorial Field.