SCRANTON, PA- After winning six straight, the Highlanders rough patch continued as they fell to Marywood University 2-3 this afternoon.

With a tough loss to Gwynedd Mercy earlier this week, the Highlanders had to breathe a sigh of relief when Brandon Hasko found the back of the net in the 8th minute. Staked to an 1 goal deficit, Marywood would bounce back and put the pressure squarely on the Cairn back line over the rest of the half. The Pacers bombarded the Highlander goal, firing 13 shots and testing young keeper Colin Baker with 4 shots on net. The Highlanders did some damage of their own, tallying the aforementioned goal and 5 total shots on goal for the half.

The Highlanders started the second half with a vengeance as well when Hasko broke down the line and played a cross towards the middle. Midfielder Joey Weaver met the incoming cross with his head and flicked it past the outstretched Marywood keeper. The euphoria of a 2 goal lead was short lived as less than a minute later Marywood blasted a goal into the bottom corner from nearly thirty-five yards out. Showing a penchant for long shots, the Pacers Giovanni Amato fired a laser towards the Cairn net, Amato's shot traveled up and over the entire defense and squeaked past Baker and just under the crossbar to tie the afternoon's contest. The Highlanders could not stem the bleeding entirely as a Marywood header would give the Pacers the lead and their third goal in 15minutes. Bouncing back over the next 25 minutes, Cairn would search repeatedly for the breakthrough goal, but could not avoid their third straight loss. The loss would drop Cairn to 2-3 in CSAC play and 7-6 overall. The Highlanders have the most crucial stretch of their season coming up over the next two weeks with 4 more conference games and a CSAC playoff berth on the line.

The Highlanders next match is 10/14 at 4:00 PM against Keystone College.