Grantham, PA — Wednesday's showdown with second-ranked Gettysburg College was slated to begin at 4 p.m. on the campus of Messiah College.
Someone forgot to tell the Messiah College men's lacrosse team.
Messiah (7-5) suffered its worst loss in recent memory to the visiting Bullets, failing to compete at a high level in a 20-3 loss. The Falcons were out-shot by a total 45 to 16 difference — a statistic that belied a 13 to 12 Messiah advantage in face-off wins.
Put simply, it was not the Falcons' day against a Bullets team that had been rated second for most of the season, as Gettysburg (12-1) suffered its only loss of the year to top-rated Salisbury University on Mar. 29.
The Bullets asserted their high-speed attack early and often Wednesday night, scoring the first four goals of the contest before junior Jeff Ziegler responded with a tally in the first quarter's 5:24 mark. Gettysburg would then rattle off eight consecutive scores to claim a 12-1 lead at the intermission, and any hopes of a Messiah upset were dashed.
The Bullets scored five of the second half's first six goals — Falcons senior Nick Ricucci scored off an assist from sophomore John Murdock with 13:39 to play in the third quarter — while Ricucci would score off classmate Time Sandusky's assist with 2:06 to play in the third.
It was far too little to slow the Bullets, however, as Gettysburg handed Messiah head coach Geof Weisenborn his most lopsided defeat in his three years at the helm of the Falcons' program.
Senior Ted Oberg came up with 13 saves in goal, being removed for junior Greg Latimer — who stopped two shots on goal — in the game's final 13:22. Two of Messiah's three scores came in man-up opportunities, while all were assisted.
The Falcons will look to shake off this anomaly as the team returns to MAC Conference play next, traveling to New York City to take on Manhattanville College Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
