Franciscan 10, Hiram 9
Franciscan Starters
Sam Smith, Joseph Redmond, Jeofre Strandhagen Alexander Dhabliwala, Samuel Marshall, Brendan Lacey, Jake Likoudis, Michael Francis, Richard Vale II, & Goalkeeper - Fabian Onativia
Hiram Starters
Jones, Haffey, Flugum, Johnson, Perry, Bitong, Collilouri, Gardner, Mayer, Willett, & Goalkeeper - Griffin
How It Happened
The Franciscan Men's Lacrosse season got underway at Hiram on Saturday afternoon. Last season, the Terriers beat the Barons by a score of 10-8. This season the Barons would edge them out by a score of 10-9 in a back-and-forth thriller that required overtime to decide the winner.
After the Terriers won the opening faceoff, Sam Smith would cause a turnover to give the Barons their first offensive possession of 2023. Alexander Dhabliwala would deliver with a goal to give the Barons a 1-0 lead. After an equalizer from Hiram, Gavin Cook would give the Barons the lead once more on a setup from Michael Francis. Hiram would then retake the lead with a pair of goals as we headed into the final minute of the opening quarter. Nicholas Sando would take a pair of shots with the second finding the back of the net to end the first quarter with a score of 3-3.
The second quarter had less scoring, but there was not a shortage of opportunities. Each team had several long possessions where they would get multiple shots. The Terriers would be the first to strike this quarter with a goal halfway in to take the lead. Franciscan would answer as Richard Vale II cased a turnover and found Samuel Marshall on a breakaway to score and level the score. Hiram would have the last possession of the half and called a timeout to set it up with thirty seconds to play. They would capitalize with their fifth goal to lead by one at halftime.
Sando would quickly tie this one back up at five all with his second goal of the day. Dhabliwala would do the same a few minutes later to tie it back up at six, as we continued the back-and-forth game that we had in the first half. Hiram would answer once more with six minutes left in the third quarter to set the score at 7-6. The Barons closed out the quarter with stellar defense, including several nice saves from Fabian Onativia as well as killing a penalty that could have swung the momentum to the Terriers. We would head to the fourth trailing by one goal.
Less than three minutes into the fourth, Gavin Cook would find the equalizer while playing through a penalty to give the Barons a man-up opportunity as well. The Terriers stepped up big to kill off the one minute penalty despite a handful of good looks from the Barons. With less than six minutes to play, Samuel Marshall would take it himself through a lot of contact to score and give the Barons an 8-7 lead. This was their first lead since the score was 2-1 in the first quarter. Less than a minute later, Hiram would answer with a goal from their fifth different scorer of the afternoon. With two minutes to play, the Barons took advantage of a Terrier miscue to score a man-up goal and take the lead. It would be freshman Nathaniel Carter who scored the first goal of his career to take the 9-8 lead. Franciscan would not be able to drain the remaining seconds, as a couple of turnovers would give Hiram multiple good looks. They would find the back of the net with nine seconds left to send us into overtime knotted at nine.
This would be the fifth overtime appearance in Franciscan history, as the Barons held a 3-1 record in overtime games over the last ten seasons. The Barons would keep up that success by being the first to score in the extra period. Samuel Marshall would take it himself on a similar move from the fourth quarter to find the net and lead to the Barons storming the field in jubilation.
Inside the Numbers
- Samuel Marshall led the Barons with three goals
- Sam Smith caused a four turnovers
- Jeofre Strandhagen took all the faceoffs for Franciscan while going 9-22.
- Fabian Onativia had 11 saves to earn the win in his collegiate debut between the pipes
- This is the first time the Barons started the season 1-0 since 2017.
Up Next
Franciscan will return home to take on Wilmington on Saturday at Trinity Health System Field at 1 pm, as game one of a lacrosse doubleheader in Steubenville. The Barons are 1-4 all-time against the Quakers with the win coming last season by a score of 19-6. In the win, Samuel Marshall and Gavin Cook both scored five goals to lead the charge for Franciscan. This will be the fourth game of the season for the Quakers. They are still in search of their first win after a two-win season last year.
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