The Lafayette men’s lacrosse team showed its resiliency on Tuesday afternoon in Fairfield, Conn., fighting back from a seven-goal deficit to make it a game with just over seven minutes to play at 12-9. However, the Leopards couldn’t find the necessary tallies late, falling at Sacred Heart by a 14-10 score. It was all Pioneers early, tallying four goals in less than six minutes to put the Leopards in an early hole. However, senior co-captain Eric Joseph stopped the bleeding and sophomore Michael Sullivan added a tally off a faceoff win to pull Lafayette back within two a couple minutes later. Sacred Heart added one on either side of the second quarter to push its edge to four before Will McCarthy found Scott McAvoy for a marker to make it 6-3 with 10:53 to play in the half. The Pioneers kept their foot on the pedal, though, scoring two goals in the final minute to expand their advantage to five at the break, 8-3. The lead grew through the third quarter as three straight from the home side put the edge at its largest, 11-4, with 17 minutes to go. Senior co-captain Kevin Lewis was able to find the back of the net with one second left in the third and the Leopards struck for three more at the start of the fourth to pull right back in it at 11-8 with 11:30 remaining. Unfortunately, the Maroon and White couldn’t get faceoffs or stops at crucial moments down the stretch as trading goals doesn’t work with a three-goal deficit. Sacred Heart went on to score three of the game’s final five goals to ride it out by a 14-10 final. Three Lafayette players had multi-goal performances with two scores and an assist each coming from Joseph, Lewis and McAvoy. McCarthy added a pair of assists to go along with three ground balls and three caused turnovers on the afternoon. Sullivan was solid at the X, winning 15 of the game’s 25 faceoffs, but 20 turnovers didn’t allow those wins to amount to scoring chances. The Pioneers led in shots, 35-27, and ground balls, 34-27. Extra-man chances were poor from both sides, with Lafayette converting 3-of-9 and Sacred Heart countering with 1-of-7. Sophomore goalie Jonathan Anastos did everything he could between the pipes, tallying double-digit saves for the third time in four games with 13 on the day. Brooks Dutton got the win for the home side, putting in a seven-save performance. The Leopards return to Patriot League play on Saturday, traveling to Army West Point with opening faceoff set for 12 p.m.