Box Score
Reading, PA – The Messiah College Men's lacrosse team entered Saturday afternoon's matchup against Albright College needing a win to make it into the inaugural Commonwealth Conference playoffs.
But despite holding a lead for the second straight game in the third quarter, the Falcons offense went stagnant and the Lions rallied for a 9-7 win behind five second half goals. The win clinched the #1 seed in the conference tournament for the Lions (15-2, 5-1 CC) in their first collegiate season.
The Falcons had plenty to cheer about in the first half.
The defense, without senior captain
Jared Nies for the third straight game, came out firing on all cylinders in front of goalie
Jon Weimer (10 saves). Sophomore
Drew Cortese and senior
Matt Everhart led the defense early with multiple individual efforts to cause turnovers to gain possession of the ball and keep the hosts off the board.
The Lions would tally first on the afternoon, however, despite the strong play from the Falcons' defensive unit. Albright's Bryan Smith scooped up a loose ball near the top of the goal crease and found the net to go up 1-0 at the 12:20 mark of the first.
With the return of
Matt Emerson to the face-off X for the Falcons, the Lions found it difficult to secure possessions after goals, which worked to the Falcons advantage.
Emerson went 14-20 on face-offs for the day giving the Falcon offense plenty of opportunities.
Messiah responded to the opening tally by the Lions with two goals of their own.
Zac Smith beat his defender cleanly and buried a shot past the Albright keeper to tie the game at one apiece.
The defense held strong again for the Falcons as Cortese caused a turnover that he turned into a transition opportunity the other way. Cortese dished the ball to
Kevan Schellenberg who put away the shot for an easy lay-up goal.
The Lions countered the Schellenberg goal off another loose ball in front of the Falcon net, tying the game at two in the waning moments of the first.
Less than a minute later, junior
Heath Kupecky scored his first of the day on a laser from 15 yards out to put the visiting Falcons up one heading into the second.
Sophomore
Brian Meenan contributed back-to-back goals to open the second quarter, both of which were assisted off a feed from the stick of senior
James Baden. The Lions and Falcons traded goals with 9:25 and 8:48 remaining in the half, respectively. The teams exchanged opportunities for the rest of the stanza until Albright's Dan Foote tallied again for the hosts with just 0:15 remaining in the half.
The Falcons found themselves in a familiar position, leading at the half and playing well. The playoffs seemed to be within their reach, but there were still 30 minutes left to play.
“We just couldn't execute in the second half today,” coach Geof Weisenborn said. “[Albright] came out and finished their opportunities in the second half.”
“We were hurt by what has plagued us all year,” added the seventh-year coach. “We just wasted too many opportunities in the second half and [Albright] took advantage. It's a tough loss for us to swallow, especially since we are missing the playoffs, but I'm proud of our guys for fighting and not giving up- they played their hearts out this year.”
The second half was a struggle for the Falcons offensively as the scoreboard saw only one goal from the visitors over the game's final two frames.
The Lions and Falcons traded goals to open the third quarter and the Falcons clung to a two-goal lead, 7-5. But Albright finished the game on a four-goal run that started with a shorthanded strike from Phil Potter with 7:33 remaining in the third. Despite numerous stops defensively, the Falcons couldn't seem to clear their zone and turned the ball over numerous times in the offensive end without mustering a shot on goal.
The loss dropped the Falcons to a bleak 2-4 in the Commonwealth Conference and dropped their overall record to 7-8.
Heath Kupecky,
Kevan Schellenberg, and
Brian Meenan all tallied twice on the afternoon. Junior
Zac Smith added a goal of his own and senior
James Baden contributed three assists.
Schellenberg ended the season as the Falcons leading point-getter with 37 goals and 6 assists. Senior
James Baden finished the season with 38 points, scoring 19 goals and dishing out 19 assists. Four other Falcons reached the double-digit goal mark on the season and 23 Falcons recorded at least one point.
The Falcons will regroup for the offseason as they bid farewell to their seven seniors and welcome a new freshman class in the fall.
“It is hard to get passed this because we know we fell short of our goals. I can't be too disappointed. Our guys gave everything they had- mentally, physically, emotionally- to this program but we just didn't make it to our goal of winning the MAC championship,” assistant coach Josh Stewart said. “We know some shoes need to be filled in the offseason so that we can make a run at the MAC again next year.”
