Box Score GREENVILLE, Pa. – Francis Ahia (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) scored three goals Saturday for the Thiel men's lacrosse team in their final regular-season contest of the 2014 season. However, the Tomcats suffered an 11-10 loss to the Bearcats of Saint Vincent College at Alumni Stadium.
 
Thiel falls to 7-7 on the season while the Bearcats improve to 6-8 and secure the No.1 seed in the 2014 Presidents' Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament.

After the Tomcats' Zachary Macurak (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored to tie the game at 9-9 with 3:32 remaining in regulation, Tim Oxenreiter scored two straight goals to put Saint Vincent back on top, 11-9 with 1:20 left in the final period. Thiel's Jared Saffer (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) then scored on a feed from Edward Kargbo (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) to draw the Tomcats to within one (11-10), but the Bearcats won the ensuing faceoff and ran out the clock to secure the victory.
 
Ahia scored three goals to lead Thiel while Sean Loney (Linthicum, Md./North County) (2G, 1A), Carmen Papa (Salamanca, N.Y./Salamanca Central) (2G) and Macurak (2G) each tallied two goals. Alex Casile (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) chipped in an assist. Oxenreiter paced the Bearcats with three goals and an assist while Matt Mackey logged two goals and two assists.
 
The first half featured back-and-forth action as Thiel and Saint Vincent traded scoring runs. After Papa put Thiel ahead 1-0 to open the first period, Saint Vincent score twice over the next 90 seconds of play to make it 2-1. Thiel tied the contest with 2:36 remaining in the first period with Papa's second goal.
 
The Bearcats outscored the Tomcats 3-1 in the second stanza, with Loney tallying the score for Thiel.
 
Trailing by two to begin the second half, Ahia cut into the lead with his first goal of the game to make it 5-4 Saint Vincent. The Bearcats answered with a goal of their own at the 9:22 mark, but back-to-back goals by the Tomcats erased the deficit and knotted the score at 6. Saint Vincent closed out the third period with an unassisted marker by Nick Pensyl to retake a one-goal advantage, 7-6.
 
With a man-up opportunity in the opening minutes of the fourth period, Thiel tied the score at 7 with a strike from Ahia. Three minutes later, Loney staked Thiel to their first lead of the second half with a goal at the 9:45 mark.
 
Saint Vincent scored two straight over a four-minute span to regain a one-goal advantage with 3:40 remaining in regulation. Macurak won the ensuing faceoff and ripped a shot past the Bearcats' goalie to once again tie the game. Saint Vincent answered with a pair of goals that gave them the lead for good.
 
In the Thiel net, Ryan Weldon (Centereach, N.Y./Newfield) was credited with 14 saves.
 
The Tomcats will next travel to Washington, Pa. on Wednesday, April 30 to take on the Washington and Jefferson College Presidents in the semifinals of the 2014 PAC Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament.