LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's lacrosse team opened up the 2023 season with a 16-7 defeat against non-conference adversary SUNY Cobleskill inside the G. Patrick Stillman Athletic Complex on Saturday evening.
 
SUNY Cobleskill (1-0) took an early 3-1 lead over Cairn (0-1) in the first period before the Highlanders closed the frame with a tally by junior Jonathan Balsamo (Long Island, NY / Eastport South Manor), cutting the deficit to one (3-2) at the end of one. Cairn knotted the contest up at four a-piece in the early stages of the second quarter, when Balsamo found senior Harrison Clark (Cape May, NJ / Lower Cape May Regional) in the slot at the 11:16 mark. The Fighting Tigers responded with five of the last six goals of the stanza, and maintained a 9-5 lead at intermission.
 
Both offenses stalled in the third period, as the Highlanders were unable to find the back of the cage, but two tallies by Cobleskill increased the lead to 11-5 heading into the fourth. The Fighting Tigers sealed the victory following two early fourth-quarter tallies.
 
SUNY Cobleskill out shot Cairn 58-33 in the contest and won the ground ball battle (61-38). Cairn edged the Fighting Tigers at the faceoff circle (16-11). The contest came down to man-up opportunities, as Cobleskill converted on 50% (5-10) of their man-up chances, while the Highlanders went 2-14 in that area.
 
Balsamo led the Cairn scoring output with a team-high three goals and two assists. Freshman Cole Heffler (Eldersburg, MD / Central Maryland Christian) added a pair of tallies, while classmate Adain Holliday (Manhattan, NY / Murry Bergtraum HS) contributed a goal and an assist, while going 13-of-21 in the faceoff circle. Sophomore Nico Cione (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) collected 19 saves in the cage for Cairn in a complete game effort.
 
The Highlanders will be back on the field on Saturday, February 25 when they make the trip to non-conference foe Immaculata University for their first road conference of the season against the Mighty Macs at 4 p.m.