By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — After opening the 2010 season with losses in four of its first five games, it seemed that outsiders had written off the Messiah men's lacrosse team. And even while only one of those defeats was to a MAC Conference team, the chances of the Falcons turning around their season and qualifying for the league playoffs seemed improbable, if not impossible.
Well critics, Messiah men's lacrosse sent a message Saturday afternoon against Manhattanville College:
They are a team to be reckoned with … in the MAC playoffs.
In commanding fashion, the Falcons blew the gates down against the visiting Valiants, opening the game with a four-goal run and starting the fourth period on a three-goal push, cruising to an 8-3 victory.
The win guaranteed Messiah (7-6, 6-3) a berth in the six-team MAC Championships starting in just over a week — the squad's sixth victory in its last eight games.
“We are improving every game,” said Geof Weisenborn, Messiah head coach. “We are playing much better lacrosse than we were at the start of the season. I think we're peaking at the right time, but we still want to get better. We still need to keep improving every day.”
There was little to improve on Saturday, at least, as senior Brent Stewart started the afternoon by scoring his first of three goals just under two minutes into the game, backed by his second goal just a minute later. Both scores were hard, powerful shots — each low enough to get by Manhattanville goalie Andrew Predun.
Continuing the offensive proficiency were senior John Murdock and freshman Heath Kupecky, who connected for Messiah's third score in the first five minutes of the game: After a dump off a double team, Kupckey received the ball and saw Murdock who had space to create. His pass was on point, allowing Murdock to use the space in front of him to his ability. Murdock's shot would find the back of the net for his seventh score of the season.
And not 30 seconds later, with 9:46 to go in the first, sophomore James Baden notched his third goal on the season, finishing a man-up opportunity after a penalty was called on Manhattanville (5-9, 4-5) for pushing.
It was these four early goals, especially Stewart's, that set the tone for the game; breathing confidence into the rest of the team in the early minutes.
“The first quarter was a great showing from the guys,” Weisenborn said. “They played with high intensity. They moved the ball around and they finished their shots (eight of 19 first quarter shots were on goal). The defense communicated well, eliminating (Manhattanville's) chances. We won face-offs (six of seven). Overall, the first quarter was really good.”
The Valiants did throw a punch at the Falcons, as Valinats' senior Joey Hasbrouck scored the visitor's first goal of the day at 9:10 mark.
But Messiah would have a counter of its own.
After going six games without a score and being virtually limited to face-offs due to illness, junior J.J. Miller finally connected on a patented running blast six seconds after Hasbrouck's score, ending Miller's goalless skid and putting Messiah up by a 5-1 count.
From that point on, however, things slowed dramatically on the scoreboard: Both teams were held scoreless through the intermission, but not because of a dip of intensity.
“It wasn't like we played poorly,” Weisenborn said. “No, we played well, (Predun) just started to make some great saves and they tightened up defensively. We finished just as well (shooting seven of 11 shots on goal).”
The same could be said about the third period, except when Manhattanville's Andrew McMillin scored at the 11:07 mark. In their most productive quarter of the game, the Valints took eight shots, three being saved by sophomore Josh Stewart.
When Weisenborn was asked about the fourth quarter, his eyes lit up.
“We got, like, three good goals,” he said.
Those three goals were from a senior-laiden trio, made up of Stewart's third of the game, Stve Feltner's third of the season and Nate Windon's team leading 22nd goal.
Weisenborn has said all season long that his team needs to learn how to finish a team off in the fourth. A simple stare from the Falcons' leader at the start of the fourth quarter proved that point did not need to be stated again. Manhattanville tacked on a moot goal with 2:56 to play, but it was merely an isolated incident, as Messiah ran away with its fifth victory by five goals or more on the season.
“(A five and a half minute span from 12:01 to 6:39) really sealed the game for us,” Weisenborn said. “The offense played well and the defense has been so consistent all month long. This was a total team victory.”
And as for the once improbable post-season berth? Weisenborn said it was a methodical, season-long process — not the result of just Saturday's win.
“(Coming into the game) we were unsure about (winning to clinch a berth), before the game,” Weisenborn said. “It has been a goal of ours all season to get into playoffs, but our focus all season has been one game at a time. All we knew was that we had to win this game, the game in front of us to reach our goal. We did that and it paid off.”
And even now, despite a change of goals, mentality stays the same.
“Now, our new goal is to improve our playoff positioning,” he continued. “We want the best chance for us to make deep run into playoffs, but that doesn't change our focus. We look at our next game like it is a playoff game; a game we must win. Everyone has to know their roles, their jobs in the scheme.”
Messiah's next focus will be league foe Alvernia University, as the Falcons will visit Schlager Memorial Field Tuesday afternoon for its second to last regular-season game of the year. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
