GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's lacrosse team lost its Ohio River Lacrosse Conference (ORLC) opener at home Saturday to the Transylvania Pioneers, 6-5.
 
Brennen O'Shea (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) staked the Tomcats to an early lead 1:34 after the opening faceoff when he buried a pass from Jeffrey Karnoff (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central). The Pioneers tied up the game roughly two minutes later when Josh Mesmer scored on a pass from T.J. Toivonen.
 
Jared Saffer (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) and Karnoff scored a pair of unassisted markers early in the second period to give the Tomcats a 3-1 lead, but Jack Stevenson cut the lead down to one goal at halftime after he scored with 6:21 remaining before the break.
 
Transylvania outscored Thiel 3-1 in the third period to take a 5-4 lead into the fourth quarter. Noah Lazek (Washington, Pa./Trinity) scored Thiel's lone goal in the third.
 
The Pioneers increased their lead to 6-4 midway through the fourth quarter on a goal by Trenton Sneed. It took the Tomcats just 16 seconds to cut the lead in half when Kyle Reib (Erie, Pa./McDowell) scored on Karnoff's second assist of the game. However, the Pioneers refused to give up another goal the rest of the game and held on for the conference win.
 
Karnoff led the Tomcats with three points (1G, 2A). Mesmer led the Pioneers with two goals.
 
Cole O'Connor (Midlothian, Va./James River) made 15 saves for Thiel while Michael Webb denied nine shots for Transylvania.
 
Thiel will return to action Sunday, March 25 when they take on the Hanover Panthers on the road. The ORLC game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.