The Sacred Heart University men's lacrosse team dropped its non-conference finale, 15-9, at host Cleveland State University, Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers drop to 6-7 on the year, while the Vikings improve to 4-9 on the year. Joe Saggese led the Pioneers with a hat trick and an assist and now has 38 goals on the season. Colton King minded the net for the Pioneers, recording 10 saves in the loss. SHU returns to action next Saturday, at Northeast Conference foe Hobart University. A Pioneer victory secures an NEC Tournament berth, for the second consecutive season. How it Happened CSU scored the first three goals of the second quarter, breaking open a 3-3 tie The Vikings took a 7-4 lead into the break and scored first in the second-half to make it 8-4 The Pioneers pulled back within three, 9-6, late in the third, and entered the final period with that score CSU scored four times in the first 4:33 of the fourth quarter to take control of the game, despite a 3-0 SHU run in the middle of that period By the Numbers Saggese was joined in the scoring column by four teammates, with Logan Liljeberg and Reed Avveduti both scoring twice The Pioneers forced six of the CSU 14 turnovers on Saturday, with a team-best two from Nick Albanese Both teams recorded 40 shots in the game SHU had a 17-20 clearing day, while Cleveland State went 15-18 The Pioneers scored on 2-4 extra-man chances, while stopping CSU's man-up group on 2-3 opportunities CSU won 16-27 face-offs on the afternoon, all taken by Danny Tesler; who recorded six ground balls Stephen Russo made 12 saves in net to earn the win Max Tuttle, a Tewaaraton Award Watch List member, was perfect at the face-off X, 3-3, to go along with a goal and assist First Quarter Avveduti started the Pioneer scoring, netting a pass from Liljeberg for a man-up goal at the 10:17 mark The Vikings scored the next two goals, at 8:42 and 7:19 (man-up) to take a 2-1 advantage Tuttle, a USILA Player of the Year candidate, found the back of the next for the 41st time, tying the score, at 4:48 Nate Menedez scored a man-down goal for CSU at 2:48 and Liljeberg brought the Pioneers event with 34 tickets left in the quarter King made five saves in the opening stanza for SHU Second Quarter Matt Manfredi put CSU in front 83 seconds into the second quarter Tristan Hanna scored consecutive goals, both from Michael Wilson, at 9:45 and 8:11 to complete the Vikings 3-0 run Saggese ended the run at 6:06 to make it 6-4, but Hanna completed the second quarter hat trick at 4:00, ending the game to half with CSU leading 7-4 Stephen Russo made four saves in the quarter for CSU The Pioneers were a perfect 4-4 clearing in the quarter Third Quarter After a Frickleton score 70 seconds into the second-half made the score 8-5, Avveduti (7:13) and Saggese (4:36) cut the deficit in half, 8-6 Hanna scored his game-high fourth goal with 3:12 to play in the quarter, to make the score 9-6 CSU was 4-5 at the face-off X in the quarter Fourth Quarter CSU scored 13 ticks into the final stanza, and rattled off four unanswered in the quarters first 4:33 to open a 13-7 advantage Julian Garritano scored at the 8:03 mark to begin a three-goal Pioneer surge, that saw Saggese and Liljeberg both tally goals and pull SHU within 13-9 with 6:16 to play CSU added insurance goals, 22 seconds apart, from Nick Wendel (3:24) and Wilson (3:02) to wrap-up the scoring Both teams were perfect clearing in the quarter, both going 5-5