Grantham, PA — Coming into Saturday's game against St. Mary's College of Maryland, Messiah head men's lacrosse coach Geof Weisenborn said he was hoping his team would find its identity.
Based on the result, it's likely that the entire 42-man squad now understands the complete lineage of the Falcons' 12-year program.
Messiah (2-3) rattled off its second straight win behind a season-best 16 scores in a 16-8 decision over the visiting Seahawks, getting retribution for arguably the program's toughest defeat of last season: Messiah traveled to St. Mary's last spring and possessed a two-goal lead over the then-ranked 19th Seahawks, only to give up three late scores in a heartbreaking, 8-7 loss.
There was no such drama Saturday at Anderson Field, however, as Weisenborn's team used an 8-0 run over the majority of the second period to blow things open. Senior Bryce Geiman had a season-high six goals — including three in Messiah's big run — as the Falcons entered spring break on the most positive of notes.
“This was another good win for us today against a good team,” Weisenborn said. “I thought both teams were mirror images coming in. Both teams had faced some good competition and had yet to find their identity. I told our guys before the game that I wanted to walk away from the day with an identity.”
Weisenborn would learn that his team could be patient as well as explosive, as Messiah and St. Mary's traded feelers throughout the game's first 15 minutes. An evenly-divided 22 shots on goal marked the first quarter of play, with the game being knotted at 2-2 following it. The squads alternated goals beginning at the 10:12 mark, as senior Nick Ricucci notched points at the 5:50 and 1:14 points to keep things close.
The Falcons then erupted at the start of the second period, scoring seven straight goals after Ricucci's 1:14 tally to pull ahead by a 9-2 lead just moments before halftime. Junior Jeff Ziegler got things started with his sixth goal of the season off an assist from senior Tim Sandusky at the period's 12:43 mark, while junior Hamilton Anderson tallied his second score of the year just 50 seconds later.
Ricucci then followed with a quick goal following a face off won by sophomore Brent Stewart. After a penalty was issued to a Seahawk for pushing, Ricucci scored his third goal of the game with 11:04 to play before the intermission.
Messiah's biggest flurry would come with just over four minutes to play in the first half, where Geiman would begin a four-goal in three and a half-minute stretch. A pair of unassisted tallies from Geiman made the score 7-2, while Sandusky would follow with a solo shot of his own at the 1:37 mark. Another blast from Geiman made it a 9-2 game with just 26 seconds on the clock, and only a buzzer-beating shot from St. Mary's would close the gap to 9-3 at the break.
“Like us, St. Mary's is a little young at certain positions, and I thought our run in the second quarter kind of hurt their confidence a bit,” Weisenborn said. “After both teams used the first quarter to kind of figure each other out, our run really dictated the rest of the game.”
St. Mary's would score the first goal of the second half, but any ideas of a rally were thwarted by six straight goals from Messiah over the game's next seven minutes. Freshman Phil Wendt carded his second career goal at the 11:20 mark, while Geiman, Stewart, Ziegler and senior Ian Lee all added scores.
A pair of St. Mary's goals in the span of 28 seconds only briefly stopped the bleeding, as Geiman notched his sixth score of the game with 8:20 to play in making it a 16-6 contest. The Seahawks would add moot goals at the 3:17 and 2:26 marks, long after Weisenborn had emptied his bench.
Senior Ted Oberg spent the majority of the day in goal for the Falcons, generating eight saves while allowing just seven scores. Junior Greg Latimer relieved Oberg in the final three minutes of play, allowing St. Mary's final score of the afternoon.
Saturday's win moved the squad to 2-0 since Weisenborn and staff made some technical and tactical changes to the team's approach, though the program leader wanted nothing to do with compliments at the day's conclusion.
“To me, that takes away from what the kids are doing,” he said. “All we've really done is become more patient on offense, and that's a credit to our guys. We didn't change much from the prior game, just worked on more details. I was pretty pleased with our six on six defense when we were settled. We made it difficult for St. Mary's to score once we were set.”
Weisenborn's team now has a 10-day layoff before its next competition, as the team will travel to conference rival Elizabethtown College next Wednesday. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
“This win came at a perfect time for us collectively,” Weisenborn said. “We're now going into break doing team-building stuff that has nothing to do with lacrosse, so it's good to go into this week on a win. We'll come back anxious and excited, I'm sure.”
