XML Box Score Arlington, VA - Messiah College could not complete the come-from-behind win against Marymount University Wednesday night, falling 7-6 to the Saints. The Falcons outshot the Saints in the game 36-26 and held the advantage in face-offs 11-6 but couldn't get the lead down the stretch.
Chris Bry tied the game up at 6-6 with four minutes to go and Marymount answered with 1:18 left for the game-winner. Shots by
Andrew Harris and
Tyler Goglio with fewer than 20 seconds to play but both went wide to end the night.
Goglio and
Will Franken finished with two goals each;
Nate Nester contributed two assists in the game. Along with Bry,
Chris Ruger notched one goal in the contest.
The game was defensive from the beginning with neither team able to put one in the net through the first quarter. Messiah collected the first man-up opportunity of the game in the first quarter but couldn't convert. The Falcons were 0-3 in the game in extra-man situations.
Marymount opened up the scoring in the second quarter with an unassisted goal three minutes in. Messiah responded to that with a goal 14 seconds later by the long stick of
Chris Ruger off the faceoff win by
Dean Patton.
The Saints would add three more goals in the quarter to the Falcons' one, so Messiah entered the half down 4-2. At that point, the Falcons led the Saints in shots 17-15 and led in face-offs 5-3.
The Falcons were then forced to play catch-up in the second half but each time they scored, Marymount answered back. This happened more in the fourth quarter due to the stonewall defense by both teams in the third.
Throughout an 8:30 scoreless stretch there were seven total saves, seven turnovers, and three caused turnovers. Marymount eventually broke the stretch with a goal just 44 seconds left in the quarter to give them a 5-3 lead.
After Marymount brought the score to 6-4 in the fourth quarter, Messiah found another gear and took over the game for the next ten minutes.
Brady Marburger came in for the remaining four faceoffs of the game and won all of them, going 8-9 in the game from the X.
The Falcons were then able to keep possession and keep the shots firing. At the 5:27 mark
Will Franken brought Messiah to within one after three previous blocked shots and one save. Then 1:19 later
Chris Bry evened things up at 6-6 from one of
Nate Nester's assists.
Marburger won the ensuing face-off but the Falcons couldn't get past the defense of the Saints to get the lead. The Saints then got the ball back and scored the winner with 1:18 on the clock.
Another big faceoff win by Marburger gave the Falcons hope to tie and they called timeout with 0:47 left. Messiah ran their play and got two shots off in the end but they didn't find twine.
Messiah goes to 0-2 for the season with the loss while Marymount improves to 3-0 with the win.
The Falcons will host their first home game of the season this Saturday, Mar. 1, against Ursinus College at 4:00 p.m.
