XML Box Score York, PA – For the second time in as many games Messiah College women's lacrosse threatened to upset a top-10 team on the road only to fall by a slim margin. On this day the Falcons almost upended No. 10 York College; Messiah held a 6-3 lead early in the second period but lost 10-8 to fall to 1-4 on the season.
 
Messiah led the Spartans 4-3 at halftime, thanks to a strong finish in the final two minutes that included goals from Claire Stikeleather and Jenna Stover. Those two scores answered a 3-0 run by York that had erased an early 2-0 Messiah lead.
 
The Falcons came out of the gate quickly in the second period and scored twice in the first three minutes. But York responded in loud fashion; they tallied six-straight goals to turn a 6-3 deficit into a 9-6 lead. Sarah Castle and Jocelyn Hudson each scored twice in that stretch to lead the charge.
 
The Falcons trialed by that 9-6 score until less than six minutes remained in the game. Lizzy Keeny ended the Messiah drought with a score at the 5:28 mark and Casey Daggett followed soon after (4:46) with a goal to trim York's lead to just 9-8.

The teams' battled without more goals for exactly four minutes, with Messiah twice holding possession in hopes of tying the game. But the Spartans took the ball back with 1:31 to play and avoided extra defensive pressure to score on an open net with 46 seconds to play.
 
Sarah Castle then grabbed the final draw control and York held off the Falcons for the 10-8 win.
 
Lizzy Keeney led the Falcons with three goals and an assist and five other Falcons each scored a single goal. Keeney also grabbed four draw controls, matching Castle. Castle also countered Keeney with three goals of her own, and Erica Mulford and Hudson each tallied twice.
 
Sarah Dolan collected seven saves for Messiah to bring her season total to 32.
 
The loss mirrored the Falcons' defeat at the hands of No. 7 TCNJ over the weekend, when they held a second-half lead only to see their hosts rally in the final minutes for the win. As mentioned the loss dropped Messiah to 1-4 on the season, though three of those losses came to top-10 teams (No. 6 Gettysburg being the other).
 
Messiah will look to get back into the win column this weekend when they play McDaniel College in the first of two games scheduled in Clermont, Fla.

Related Videos

Now Playing:

• Play Video