Thiel 12, Franciscan 10

Franciscan Starters 
Elijah Evans, Luke Barnes, Jonathan Bookwalter, Daniel Clayton, Jimmy Rush, Dru Teague, Seth Arangua, Joe Miraglia, Matthew Brake & Micah Eby

Thiel Starters
Bennett Medyn, Sheldon Bourdeau, Selom Kalin-Samlan, Justin Mason, Anthony Richards, Alex Anderozzi, Jason Masciantonio, Jeffrey Karnoff, Pat Hartnett, & Scott Van Iderstine

How It Happened 
The Franciscan Men's Lacrosse rallied back from a four-goal halftime deficit but could not complete the comeback falling to Thiel College 12-10 in their first road contest of the season.

After conceding the opening goal, Gavin Cook would find the back of the net five minutes into the first quarter. Two minutes later, Franciscan would take a 2-1 lead when Jonathan Bookwalter found an open Jack Nelson for his first goal of the season. Thiel would respond, scoring four straight points to end the quarter and take a 5-2 advantage into the second quarter. 

Thiel would continue their scoring run by netting the first goal of the second quarter, just 14 seconds into the quarter. Elijah Evans would halt the run, scoring off a pass from Michael Francis to cut the deficit back to three. The Tomcat would tack on an additional goal, taking a 7-3 lead into the half. 

The Barons would get off to a fast start in the second half, with Luke Barnes forcing a turnover and scoring a minute into the third quarter. After a Thiel goal, face off man Daniel Clayton would score his first goal of the game off a pass from Cook. Clayton would win 16 face offs for the Barons. The Tomcats would answer back scoring a pair of goals to take a five goal lead with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Cook would provide the Barons answer, scoring twice in the final 1:26 of the third quarter to pull the Barons within three points heading to the final quarter.

Clayton started the fourth quarter scoring his second goal of the game off a pass from Cook. Evans would score his second goal of the game a minute later to pull Franciscan back within a single goal. Thiel would stop the run, answering back with two goals to extend their lead back to three. Clayton would complete his hat trick scoring with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Barons would get four more shots on goal, but could not get any closer, falling 12-10. 

Inside the Numbers 
- Franciscan was led by Gavin Cook who scored three goals and distributed three assists
- Daniel Clayton had another big outing for the Barons, scoring three goals and winning 16 face offs
- Starting Goalie Micah Eby made a career-high 22 saves 
- Elijah Evans found the back of the net twice
- Luke Barnes and Jack Nelson each scored their first goals of the season
- Thiel was led by Bennett Medyn who scored four goals
- The Tomcats held the advantage in ground balls, 31-23

Who's Next? 
Franciscan will have over a week off, as they prepare to travel to Bethany on March 24th. The Barons are 2-6 all-time against the Bison, with the Bison winning their last three meetings. Franciscan's last win against Bethany came in 2017 by a score of 18-7. Franciscan was led by a six goal game from Joe Lomady, and current player Michael Araps added a pair of goals.

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