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Grantham, PA – The Messiah College Falcons advanced through the First Round of the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, defeating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by the score of 18-8. It is the second-straight year the Falcons will move into the Second Round.
The Falcons, ranked #10 in the most recent IWLCA Top 20 poll, were coming off a 12-7 loss to Elizabethtown College in Saturday's Commonwealth Championship. In that game, Messiah went down 6-0 and was forced to play from behind for the entire game.
On Wednesday, the Falcons never trailed.
Messiah scored just 23 seconds into the game, as senior
Rachel Dirksen raced downfield and cut from the right side in towards the cage and fired the score past the Engineers' Allie Arnal. Dirksen would put Messiah up 2-0 just over two minutes later as the Falcons' scored the first three goals of the game.
For Messiah, the quick start answered the challenge of facing the Engineers' defense—ranked #9 in the nation as a team with a 7.29 goals allowed average. Arnal entered the game ranked #11 in the nation among goalies with a stingy 7.53 goals allowed.
In Wednesday's First Round game, it took the Falcons 12:10 to score goal number eight.
“We went into this game knowing that they had a great defense, and a great goalie,” Messiah head coach
Heather Greer said after the game. “We wanted to finish each opportunity and score early. We worked hard to be patient and then attack at the right time.”
The Falcons, behind Dirksen and four first-half goals from sophomore Lizzy Keeny, entered halftime with a 10-3 lead. They collected an impressive 11 draw controls in the first frame, compared to just three for the visitors.
A significant amount of credit is also due to the Falcons' defense for their first half dominance, as RPI attempted only nine shots through the first 30:00. Sophomore Meg Colitz was held to a single goal in the first half after entering the game as the Engineers' leading scorer (39 goals) this season. Colitz would finish with just two goals on the day.
“We were focused on playing 'Messiah lacrosse' and only worrying about each single play as it happened,” Messiah senior defender
Rachel Coyle said. “We knew we had to slow down their fast break, and we wanted to put pressure on the ball.”
RPI started the second half by outscoring Messiah 4-3 through the 7:44 mark, drawing the score to 13-7. That would be the closet the Enginners would get, with Messiah scoring four straight goals to go ahead 17-7 en route to an 18-8 victory.
Keeney led Messiah with four goals and two assists, with Dirksen scoring three goals and adding a single helper. Senior
Meghan Doolittle scored goals for the Falcons, three of which came as Messiah was holding off the Engineers' desperate attempt to close their deficit in the second half.
In total, nine different players scored for Messiah while nine of their 18 goals were scored off an assist.
The Falcons shot an impressive 51% from the field, scoring 18 goals on 35 shots. RPI launched only 20 shots, with Messiah freshman
Kelsey Luck collecting four saves.
Arnal collected 12 saves in the cage for the Engineers.
With the loss, RPI ends its season with a program-best record of 16-2. Their impressive run into the NCAA Championships—their first bid since 1997—was the result of their winning the Liberty League Tournament Championships.
Messiah (16-3) will travel to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., to play in Saturday's Regional semifinal. The Falcons will play Colby College after the Mules defeated the Endicott College Gulls by the score of 21-5.
The game will feature two IWLCA Top 10 teams, with Colby entering ranked #10.
“We were given the chance to keep playing,” said Greer. “We want to make the most of it as we move forward—and we'll hopefully do that by focusing on one game at a time.”
Fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com for future information on the upcoming women's lacrosse game on Saturday.
