Photo by Elizabeth Wagner
Stanley Colaço
Staff Writer
Wednesday night, the Franciscan University of Steubenville men’s lacrosse team took their second loss of the season, going down 19-6 to the Bethany College Bisons.
The Barons starting lineup featured freshmen defense Dominic Bowes and attack Gavin Cook; juniors attack Seth Arangua and defense Matthew Brake; senior William Muraski and sophomores goalkeeper Micah Eby and midfielders Joe Miraglia, Dominic Rohan, Elijah Evans and Jonathan Bookwalter.
Bethany started the game off strong, scoring four unanswered goals. The Barons were only able to respond 10 minutes into the game when Cook scored his first goal of the night.
The second quarter started far more promising for the Barons. Rohan scored two goals in the Barons’ most prolific scoring quarter, while Cook added one of his own. However, the Barons still weren’t able to outdo the success of their opponents, who scored four more goals and ended the first half 9-4.
In the second half the Barons didn’t fare any better. Bethany continued their run of 10, scoring six goals in the third quarter.
The final quarter started with two Baron goals, the first by Evans and the second by Cook. The Bisons would score four of their own, ending the game 19-6.
One of the more notable performances of the game came from Cook, who scored a hat-trick and an assist. He also caused one turnover and picked up four ground balls for the Barons.
“Everything we need to do as a team is there,” said Cook. “We just have to put the small pieces together in order to excel.”
Another important performance came from Rohan. With two goals, an assist and four ground balls picked, he played an important role in the match.
The Barons played two goalkeepers in the blowout loss. Together, Eby and senior Grant McKeown had eight saves out of a total 27 attempts on goal, saving 29% of possible goals.
Bethany proved a significant challenge to the Barons, as currently they are tied for eighth place in total offense in the NCAA Division III. They also boast freshman Aarin Burton, tied as the second most prolific scorer in the division of more than 200 lacrosse teams.
The Barons next home game will be against Chatham University on March 6 at 1 p.m.