Grantham, PA — Within MAC Conference men's lacrosse, there is post-season fate at work.
Messiah (11-5, 7-0) used a six-goal fourth quarter to edge past Fairleigh Dickison University-Florham by a 10-2 score Wednesday night, while Widener University (9-7, 5-2) handed Lycoming College (10-6, 5-2) a 19-17 loss at Lyco to set up a recurring scene Saturday afternoon:
Top-seeded Messiah will host third-seeded Widener for the MAC Championship, marking the fourth straight season the programs have met in the title contest.
“It is fate,” Messiah head coach Geof Weisenborn said plainly Wednesday night. “Seeing any team other than Widener (in the championship) just wouldn't feel right.”
Weisenborn's team made it to Saturday's championship by virtue of a patient performance against FDU-Florham in one of Wednesday's MAC Semi-Finals, playing to a 1-1 tie through the game's first 19 minutes. Messiah led by just a 4-2 score after three quarters, but finally cashed in with an offensive explosion over a seven-minute stretch late in the fourth, advancing to the program's fifth consecutive MAC Championship game as a result.
“We didn't execute really well in the first half offensively, but finally the shots started to fall late,” Weisenborn said. “You have to keep doing what you do, and sooner or later the ball's going to find the back of the net.”
Senior Nick Ricucci got things started just two minutes into play, scoring a transition goal off a feed from junior Jeff Ziegler. It would be Ricucci's only score of the afternoon, however, as FDU-Florham elected to shut the Falcons' leading scorer for the duration of the game.
The Devils then made use of a near four-minute long possession at the end of the first quarter, scoring an unassisted goal with 3:33 to play. The score remained tied at 1-1 until freshman Phil Wendt dodged his way into the interior with 11:31 to play in the first half, helping start a 3-0 push that was completed by senior Bryce Geiman (10:29) and freshman J.J. Miller (1:02).
“FDU wanted to slow the pace of the game down, and they did a nice job of that,” Weisenborn said. “We anticipated quite a bit of what they were going to try and do, and we did a couple things to ensure we could get the right match-ups in five on five situations.”
Messiah began to get the shots it wanted at the tail end of the second, but errant shooting would again plague the squad in the third. A goal from FDU's Jordan Levitz accounted for the only scoring in the period, pulling the Devils within a 4-2 score and making the one-four seed match-up anyone's game.
Thankfully for the Falcons, one of the smallest players on the field had one of the biggest impacts.
The 5-6 Wendt was able to break a sturdy defensive line with 9:25 to play in the fourth, scoring off a pass from Ziegler to push Messiah ahead 5-2. Four more Falcons' goals followed in the game's next seven minutes, making the final score far from indicative of the game's competitiveness.
“I think, even though we were played so tough, our guys felt good about things throughout the game,” Weisenborn said. “In the second quarter we started getting really good looks out of an offensive set, and that gave us some confidence. We threw the ball away a lot in the third, but we were able to execute much better in the fourth.”
Seven of Messiah's 10 goals were scored by non-starters, led by Wendt's two-goal and one-assist performance. Geiman and Miller added two scores apiece, while senior Ted Oberg came up with a team-leading five ground balls and 12 saves, earning the goalie a game ball.
As the teams nearly split 15 face-offs (FDU possessed the slight 8-7 advantage), the stat of the game came in ground balls, where Messiah scooped 21 to the Devils' 11.
Messiah will now face Widener — who avenged an earlier loss to Lycoming Wednesday — in Saturday's championship game. The Pride have won the last three titles over Messiah, making their win over second-seed Lycoming an upset only by numbers, at least according to Weisenborn.
“Widener is a very good team that always plays its best lacrosse in the post-season,” Weisenborn said. “They have a bunch of talent, and they know what it takes to get it done.”
Saturday's MAC Championship is set for a 1 p.m. start time at Anderson Field.
