WAUKESHA, Wis. -  Intense, physical early-season nonconference matchups can often serve as a good measuring stick for a young team on the rise.
The Carroll University men's lacrosse team experienced that firsthand as it lost to Marian University 12-6 in a hard-fought nonconference game at Schneider Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was the second consecutive loss for Carroll, which dropped to 2-3 overall.
Despite battling to a 2-2 tie at the end of the first 15 minutes, the Pioneers were outscored 6-2 in what became a decisive second quarter - including five unanswered goals over the course of the final three minutes.
Marian outshot Carroll 39-27 in the contest, maintaining a 27-19 shot-on-goal advantage.
Sophomore attackman Jeff Schultz (Franklin, Wis.) and freshman midfielder Michael Peters (Chicago, Ill.) each scored two goals for Carroll.
"We were pumped up, ready to go and came out hot in the first quarter," said Schultz, who scored twice in the first half - contributing Carroll's second goal on an unassisted shot to tie the game 2-2 at the 11:31 mark of the first quarter. "After that happened, we just seemed to lose some momentum, struggled to sustain the intensity and flat lined at times toward the end of the first half. Once they scored a few goals and built a lead, we began to get a little down on ourselves. That's when it became an uphill battle and we couldn't recover from it.
"Win or lose, we really emphasize the importance of competing as a family, making the most of each experience and growing every time we step on the field. We just need to continue to play with heart, hustle on each possession and always strive for one more goal. If we can do that, it should lead to a lot of success in the weeks to come."
Junior attackman Paul Kerchberger (Deer Park, Ill.) and sophomore midfielder Dannon Ivey (Grass Valley, Calif.) each added a goal for the Pioneers.
Sophomore midfielder Dom Sabbarese (Verona, Wis.) had a team-high two assists with sophomore midfielder Christopher Bechtel (Sammamish, Wash.) and freshman attackman Airik Ranjo (San Diego, Calif.) each contributing one.
Sophomore goalkeeper Abe Escrada (Sammamish, Wash.) registered 15 saves in playing the entire 60 minutes.
"It was an extremely hard-fought battle," said Carroll head coach Brian Nowak, whose team will face University of Dallas in the first game of its Spring Break trip on March 22. ""Hats off to Marian on the way they came in focused, did exactly what we expected and consistently executed well throughout the night. During the pregame, we talked about stepping up the intensity and maintaining it the entire way. In that respect, we played a great game but unfortunately the ball didn't bounce in our favor on some key possessions. That ultimately was the difference tonight.
"We might have come up short but it wasn't because of a lack of effort. It's an experience we will be able to build on in the weeks to come."
Freshman attackman Connor Houlihan and freshman midfielder Jeremy Eisele each had a hat trick to lead Marian, which won its second straight to improve to 2-5 overall.
The Sabres have combined to outscore their last two opponents 31-12.