Grantham, PA — A 47 to 22 advantage in total shots paid dividends for the Messiah College men's lacrosse team against King's College Saturday afternoon, as the Falcons handed the visiting Monarchs a 14-5 MAC Conference defeat.
Messiah (5-4, 2-0) scored first and last on the day, capturing a 3-0 lead just nine minutes into play and never looking back. Kings (3-4, 0-2) was able to tack on a score with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter, but another 3-0 run from Messiah made it a 6-1 game with 11:13 to play in the half.
Perhaps the Falcons' only downfall was a four-minute stretch immediately before halftime, where King's was able to score back-to-back goals in man-up situations. Senior Nick Ricucci responded with a score off a feed from sophomore John Murdock with 37 seconds to play in the period, but head coach Geof Weisenborn was not in a congratulatory mood with his team at the halftime break.
“We weren't very crisp in the first half, especially offensively,” Weisenborn said. “King scored all three of their first-half goals with a man up, and we made some adjustments at halftime in our man-up defense. But on the offensive end, we weren't going to change anything. We just wanted to execute better, and we did.”
Weisenborn's group appeared determined at the start of the second half, rattling off three straight scores to claim a 10-3 lead. King's was able to interrupt with a pair of goals early in the third and fourth quarters, but four more scores from Messiah kept things from getting remotely interesting.
Murdock and Ricucci paced Messiah offensively, each scoring four goals. Junior Jeff Ziegler added a pair of scores, while senior Ian Lee, junior Matt Ayre and freshmen Phil Wendt and J.J. Miller each scored one. Miller finished eight for 11 in face offs with six ground balls, while Stewart was eight for eight in face offs with four ground balls recovered.
Senior Ted Oberg spent just half the day in goal, carding nine saves. Junior Greg Latimer and freshman Zach Cureton shared time between the pipes, accumulating a total three saves.
Messiah was whistled for five minutes of total penalty time in the game, while King's finished three of seven in extra-man opportunities. The Monarchs' Tim Cassi finished with 14 saves in goal in a complete-game effort.
The Falcons will next travel to Lycoming College for another MAC contest, as the team will face the Warriors Wednesday afternoon. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
