Box Score
Grantham, PA — In one of the wildest games to be played on Anderson Field in its history, the Messiah College women's lacrosse team collected a crucial 16-15 MAC Conference win over Lycoming College Tuesday afternoon, outscoring the visiting Lady Warriors by a 12-7 difference in the second half.
With yellow cards and fouls becoming the norm — Lycoming competed with just 10 players twice while Messiah concluded the game with 11 players on the field — it was the Falcons that fought through the physicality for the win, collecting its third straight league victory in the most tested of circumstances.
"This game, without question, was a foul fest," said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. "It was bizarre to look out on the field and see us playing a man down while at the same time Lyco was playing two men down. I have never seen so many yellow cards in one game. Ever. It was crazy."
Messiah (7-5, 4-1) was whistled for 20 fouls on the afternoon and Lycoming (8-6, 4-2) for an amazing 30 infractions, making the majority of the game a whistle concert. When the Lady Warriors weren't fouling they were scoring — early, at least — claiming a 5-1 lead in the first 17 minutes of play en route to an eventual 8-4 lead at the half. Senior Jessica Van Hook did her best to keep the Falcons close, scoring three of the team's first-half tallies.
Messiah registered two more shots than Lyco in the game's first 30 minutes and possessed a gargantuan 9-3 advantage in first-half draw controls, but nine first-period turnovers eventually helped the hosts to the intermission lead.
"Typically we start out strong as a team but today we were flat," Greer said. "They caught us on our heels and they scored on us only 28 seconds into the start of the game. We were shooting high and not finding the back of the net almost the whole first half. Our usually high shooting percentage was unusually low. We were winning the draw but not able to convert into goals.
"At half time I saw a fire in my team that led me to believe that the game was not over," she continued. "They wanted it. They wanted to fight for this win and knew they needed each other to do it."
Incredibly, as the game's physicality increased, so did the play of Greer's squad. Junior Jackie Dando scored an unassisted goal just 1:52 into the second half, which was followed by another Lycoming score. When sophomore Nikki Lawrence tacked on a goal with 27:27 to play, the score was 9-6. When Dando scored just 18 seconds later, it was 9-7.
Greer said that Dando's low blast was the game changer.
"(Jackie) got hit in the head in the midfield and then decided to use the advantage to fuel her all the way down field for an incredible low shot," Greer said of the goal. "It was a spark that we so desperately needed. It was on after that, and our team really began to play hard."
VanHook followed with her fourth score of the game to pull the Falcons within a 9-8 difference, though the Lady Warriors would pull ahead 10-8 with 22:23 to play. Following traded goals at the 21:28 and 20:42 marks (VanHook scored yet again for Messiah), freshman Kara Geiman went on a personal binge, scoring four straight scores over a six-minute span to give her team a 13-11 lead.
"We didn't tie it up until it was 11-11 but Jackie started our momentum without a doubt," Greer said. "Then Kara decided to go on her four-goal rampage to make the score 13-11."
Even with the momentum generated from garnering its first lead of the game, things were nowhere near finished for Messiah. Another Lyco score made it a 13-12 contest with just over 10 minutes to play, while back-to-back scores from senior Bethany Moskevitz and — of course — VanHook made the score 15-12 Falcons with 6:15 to play.
Still, it was not over.
Lycoming responded with a man-down goal at the 5:03 mark, which was followed by another score from freshman Megan Bovenzi with 2:07 remaining.
As Lycoming's head coach received a red card and was thrown out of the complex, the Lady Warriors would make a final push, scoring twice in the final 1:08 — the latter of which came with two men down. Messiah needed a key interception from senior Kate Nesterwitz to finish things off late, hanging on for the one-goal win amidst a bizarre scene.
"Lyco is always a very physical team so we knew ahead of time what we were up for, but this game was the most physical game I think I've ever been a part of," Greer said. "Lyco ended up pulling out their goalie to get one more field player on in hopes to get the ball back, and Megan scored on an empty net to go up three. Their plan eventually worked because they came up with the draw after that and scored two quick goals. It was intense. We knew we needed to hold the ball after that, but they got control and Kate Nesterwitz came up with a key interception that allowed us to hold the ball, although it was ugly for the remaining time."
VanHook paced Messiah's scoring efforts, notching six goals on 10 shots. Geiman added five tallies while Dando scored two. Bovenzi led the team with five ground balls, while Dando and senior Kirstyn Wheeler each collected four draw controls. Junior Brianne Brennan led the team in caused turnovers with four.
"This was a great win for us and I truly believe that we could not have had that kind of result without all 20 of our players passionately wanting to work hard for each other," Greer said. "This group of women has class, character and I am very proud of the total team effort they put forth tonight."
Greer's team must now regroup for yet another crucial league match-up in just two days, as the squad will travel to Elizabethtown College Thursday. The winner of that match will secure sole place of second in the conference standings. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
