Box Score
Grantham, PA — Lebanon Valley College made its first-ever trip to Anderson Field Thursday night, bringing back the sport of women's lacrosse for the first time since 1985.
Sadly for the Dutchmen, Messiah made them look every bit like a first-year program.
The Falcons utilized a 14-goal first half to run away with a 20-3 MAC Conference win over Lebanon Valley (4-3, 2-2), outshooting the Dutchmen by a 39-10 count and nabbing 18 of the game's 25 total draw controls.
Messiah's dominance was apparent from the start, as sophomore Rachel Dirksen scored the first of three goals just over two minutes in, helping the hosts to their third victory by 13 goals or more this season.
“We are doing a much better job about being more consistent on a daily basis,” said Heather Greer, Messiah head coach. “There was a lot of selfless play out there today. We were passing that one extra pass to make it a sure thing rather than just driving and individually taking the harder option. We were working to set one another up and were much more on the same page on attack.”
The statistics backed up Greer's sentiments, as Messiah (5-3, 3-1) dished out assists on 11 of the team's 20 scores — including 11 of the team's first 16 tallies. Freshman Cecilia Kjellman made it a 2-0 affair just moments after Dirksen's game-opening score, while senior Nikki Lawrence converted a Kjellman pass at the first half's 24:44 marker to put the Falcons up 3-0.
Lebanon Valley's Amanda Cubbage broke through the Falcons' defense with 18:47 to go in the first period, but five straight Messiah goals over the game's next five minutes blew things open. Lawrence scored two more of those markers — including one off a gorgeous feed from Dirksen with 15:37 remaining.
After the team's traded a pair of goals each, Greer's club closed the half with another push, notching the final four goals of the period. Sophomore Meghan Doolittle scored half of those tallies, while classmate Deb Tam knocked in a pair of assists from Dirksen.
Perhaps Messiah's only downfall of the afternoon was the team's inability to defend without fouling, as the Falcons were whistled for a season-high 30 infractions — 21 of which coming in the first half of play.
That didn't seem to deter the team for the intended purpose, however, as Messiah disrupted the LVC transition game into just a nine of 21 effort in clears.
“Our defense communicated really well today, which allowed us to get some early doubles and add some good pressure,” Greer said. “We are used to playing a much more physical defense which the refs were not allowing today, so I was proud of how we adjusted our style of defense in the second half to play legal 'D' in the eyes of the referees.”
With the game firmly in hand at the intermission, Greer subbed liberally down the stretch, as 20 different players saw action for the Falcons. Sophomore Beth Hendricks, freshman Kiersten McGreer and freshman Jessica Redding all added scores late in the game, the second tallies of the season for all three players.
Lawrence, Dirksen and sophomore Rachel Coyle all scored three goals on the afternoon, with Tam, Doolittle and junior Megan Bovenzi each providing a pair. Coyle finished with a team-leading five draw controls while freshman Maddie Comfort collected four. Dirksen finished with a career-high four assists — two going to Tam.
“Nikki (Lawrence) had a great game going hard to the cage and making good decisions with the ball,” Greer said. “I'd still like to see us improve quite a few areas. Ground balls are about a smart aggressiveness, and that's an area we still need to drastically improve in. Every game is a big game from here on out because every game is a conference game, so we need to keep playing hard and playing consistent.”
Messiah will return to the league slate following an idle Easter weekend, as the Falcons will travel to Lycoming College next Tuesday evening. Game time with the Warriors is set for 4 p.m.
