STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan men's lacrosse team fell to Presidents' Athletic Conference opponent, Thiel, 20-5, Wednesday afternoon.
 
After a slow start in the first quarter, junior Jonathan Lee got the Barons on the board with his sixth goal of the season. Sophomore goalie Grant McKeown made a save with 13:44 to go in the second and kicked off a successful clear for the Barons. Sophomore Will Muraski got the ball over midfield and senior Dan McCartney took over the clear and flipped the ball to Lee in front of the crease for the score.
 
After a 6-0 run for the Tomcats, Lee picked up his second of the game with 2:33 to play in the second. McCartney put a shot on cage but the Thiel goalie saved the ball back into the field of play. Lee picked up the ground ball and quickly tossed it over the goalie as he was trying to get back into position to cut the Thiel lead to 15-2.
 
 The Tomcats pushed their lead to 16-2 after a man-down goal just 24 seconds into the third. Just under two minutes later, Andrew Monks increased the lead to 17-2. Lee won the ensuing faceoff and went straight to cage for his third goal of the game and eighth of the year.
 
After another Thiel goal, Lee finished off his four-goal game as he picked up a ground ball after forcing a turnover and immediately shooting it to cut the lead to 18-4 with 3:16 to play in the third. The Tomcats finished off the quarter with their 19^th goal of the game.
 
The fourth quarter was relatively quiet until Monks polished off the Tomcat scoring with his 13^th goal of the year with 7:57 to play in the game. With just 18 seconds in the quarter, McCartney got on the board with his 24^th goal of the season to bring the score to its final, 20-5.
 
Lee and McCartney each finished the game with seven ground balls while Lee led the team with four goals. Muraski caused a team-best five turnovers. McKeown finished the day with 19 saves.
 
The Barons will celebrate senior day on Saturday as they host PAC opponent Washington & Jefferson at 1:00 pm.