LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's lacrosse team lost, 11-9, in an instant classic to Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) adversary Rosemont College in a battle between the CSAC's top two teams under the lights at the Stillman Complex on Wednesday evening.
 
Cairn (4-6, 2-1 CSAC) struck first in the opening frame with a tally by freshman Letoya Nyilinkindi (New York, NY / Grimsley) just over six minutes in. Rosemont (3-8, 3-0 CSAC) responded with three consecutive goals, and held a 3-2 lead over Cairn at the end of one. Both teams scored one goal a-piece in the second stanza, and the Ravens clung to a 4-3 lead at intermission. Rosemont netted the first tally of the third quarter, before back-to-back tallies by junior Jonathan Balsamo (Long Island, NY / Eastport South Manor) tied the contest at five-all at the 9:43 mark. The Ravens answered accordingly to the tune of three-straight goals to end the third, taking an 8-5 lead into the final frame.

Cairn embarked on a ferocious comeback in the final period, started by Balsamo and freshman Cole Heffler (Eldersburg, MD / Central Maryland Christian) with two tallies midway through the fourth, before freshman Adain Holliday (Manhattan, NY / Murry Bergtraum) scored a nifty behind-the-back goal to tie the contest at eight a-piece with 4:55 remaining. Just 20 seconds later, Nyilinkindi found a streaking Heffler who scored to give Cairn its first lead since the first quarter at 9-8. Rosemont answered with a tally at the 3:38 mark, and took the lead with 1:20 remaining off of a timeout. The Ravens added an insurance goal with 28 second remaining to secure the victory.
 
Rosemont narrowly out shot Cairn, 48-44, while the Highlanders edged the Ravens in the ground balls battle (43-42). Balsamo and Heffler led the Cairn scoring output with a team-high three goals, while Heffler added two assists. Nyilinkindi added a goal and two assists and scooped up six ground balls. Holliday won 11 of his 23 face off chances, and grabbed a team-high nine ground balls. Sophomore Devin Murphy (Walden, NY / Valley Central) posted a team-high four caused turnovers, while classmate Qion Roycroft (Baltimore, MD / Woodlawn) and freshman Nicholas Kennedy (Hudson Valley, NY / Goshen Central) added three caused turnover a-pop. Sophomore net minder Nico Cione (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) went the distance and corralled a game-high 19 saves in the cage for Cairn.
 
The Highlanders will be back on the turf on Saturday, April 22 when they welcome Keystone College to Langhorne in their regular season finale at 1 p.m. Before the game, Cairn will honor its sole senior, Harrison Clark (Cape May, NJ / Lower Cape May Regional) for his contributions to the program over his three-year career.