ROSEMONT, Pa. – The No. 2 seed Cairn University men's lacrosse team saw its 2023 campaign come to a close in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Championship game on Saturday afternoon, falling by a score of 15-12 to top-seeded Rosemont College.
 
Rosemont (6-8) threw the first punch, scoring six of the first seven goals of the contest and led 6-1 early in the second quarter. Cairn (6-7) responded with four-straight tallies, three coming off the stick of freshman Cole Heffler (Eldersburg, MD / Central Maryland Christian) to cut the deficit to one (6-5). Cairn narrowly trailed Rosemont 7-6 at intermission. The Ravens maintained their one goal advantage (8-7) four minutes into the third quarter, before Heffler and junior Jonathan Balsamo (Long Island, NY / Eastport South Manor) connected on back-to-back goals to give Cairn its first lead (9-8) at the 6:57 mark of the third. Rosemont closed the period with back-to-back tallies of its own, and led 10-9 after three. The Ravens scored the first two goals of the fourth period to take a 12-9 lead, before freshman Adain Holliday (Manhattan, NY / Murry Bergtraum) maneuvered his way just before the crease to cut the deficit to two (13-11) with 10:44 remaining. However, Rosemont garnered two insurance goals late in the contest to claim the conference title.
 
Cairn out shot Rosemont 47-40 in the contest, while the Ravens narrowly won the ground ball battle (32-30) and forced 19 Cairn turnovers. Rosemont was three-for-three on man-up opportunities. Heffler led the scoring output with four goals and a pair of assists, followed by Balsamo with two goals and a team-high five assists. Holliday and junior Charles Cotton (Newburgh, NY / Newburgh Free Academy) each lit the lamp twice, while Holliday added two assists, a season-high 13 ground balls, and went 17-of-31 in the face-off circle. Sophomore Nico Cione (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) collected a game-high 12 saves between the pipes, his 11^th 10+ save game of the season.
 
Cairn concludes the 2023 season with a 6-7 overall record and were 2-1 in conference play. The Highlanders doubled their win total from last year, and made it to the CSAC Championship game in just their second season with varsity status.