FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State men's lacrosse team held a 3-2 lead after the first quarter of action, but ceded five unanswered goals to No. 20 Christopher Newport in the second quarter and fell 13-8 on Senior Day.
 
The Bobcats fall to 7-6, 0-3 in Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) play, while Christopher Newport advances to 10-6 with a 3-2 mark in league play. So far, all three of the Bobcats' conference matchups in 2019 have been against ranked opponents.
 
Christopher Newport jumped out to an early 2-0 edge with two goals in the first six minutes of action.
 
The Bobcats responded with goals from sophomore Jason Clinton (8:21) and junior Paul Ruppert (6:11) to tie the game at two.
 
Senior Greg Giles caused a turnover and forwarded a pass onto junior Dante York, who connected with Clinton who fired in his second goal of the day to hand Frostburg a 3-2 advantage.
 
After five scoreless minutes to begin the second quarter, CNU tied the game at three with 9:09 remaining on a tally from Dylan Rice. The Captains went on to score four more times in the quarter, taking a 7-3 lead into halftime.
 
Junior Jimmy Lucas scored 35 seconds into the second half to trim the CNU deficit to three goals. However, the Captains responded less than a minute later to push the margin to 8-4.
 
Ruppert scored his second goal of the day, fitting a shot between the legs of the CNU goalkeeper for FSU's fifth goal with 9:12 left in the third. CNU scored the final three goals of the quarter to push its lead to 11-5 heading into the fourth.
 
Frostburg was not able to get closer than a four-goal deficit in the fourth as Jimmy Lucas (9:06) and Clinton (8:18) each added another goal, and first-year Matthew Ward scored with 3:06 remaining in regulation.
 
Turnovers proved to be the Bobcats undoing as FSU committed a season-worst 28 turnovers and converted 21-of-32 clearing opportunities. Frostburg was whistled for a season-high nine penalties on the afternoon as well, but only ceded one man-up goal in eight opportunities.
 
The Bobcats dominated at the face-off spot, winning 20-of-24 face-offs, and collected 41 ground balls to CNU's 27.  
 
Clinton's hat trick paced the Bobcats' scoring efforts. Ruppert and Lucas each registered a pair of goals, while sophomore Nicholas Gallagher handed out two assists.
 
Junior Sam Natvig set a Frostburg State single-game record with 15 ground balls and won 17-of-20 face-offs on the day. Senior Joe Cooper had five ground balls and three caused turnovers, while junior goalkeeper Jack Marks made 11 saves on the afternoon.
 
Frostburg State heads to Southern Virginia next Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. for a rematch of last year's first-round matchup in the CAC Tournament.