Grantham, PA – The Messiah Falcons advanced to the MAC Commonwealth Championship game with a 5-2 victory over the Albright Lions in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals on Wednesday.
 
Messiah scored five goals in the first-half and Albright countered with two after the break, but it was too little too late for the Lions as the Falcons rode their early offense to a victory.
 
Moriah Pfautz and Taylor Holt each scored twice and Kezia Loht added a single goal in the victory.
 
The Falcons got on the board early when Hannah Roland found Pfautz at the top of the circle. Pfautz turned and shot beating the goalie for the first score in the contest and gave Messiah a 1-0 lead.
 
The Falcons would double their lead in the 10th minute. Carissa Gehman sent a centering pass that got through the Lions' defense and was tipped in by Taylor Holt for the Falcons' second goal in the first 10 minutes.
 
Messiah continued to pressure the Albright defense. Off a penalty corner just five minutes later Messiah would strike again. Talyor Holt began the play by finding Kristin Donohue at the top of the circle. Donohue fired a shot toward the cage that was tipped in by Moriah Pfautz for her second goal of the half.
 
Now leading comfortably, Messiah would find two insurance goals in quick succession in the 19th and 20th minutes. Kezia Loht tallied the first of the two marks when she put back her own rebound – It was Loht's fourth goal of the season. Taylor Holt scored her second goal of the game just 50 seconds later when she wove through traffic on the left side and took a shot that found the back of the cage.
 
Messiah had dominated play throughout the first-half, not only holding a 5-0 lead on the scoreboard heading into the break but also a 16-0 edge in shots.
 
Messiah continued to search for insurance goals in the second-half, but their efforts did not lead to any tallies. The Lions, on the other hand, connected on just their second shot of the game. Off a penalty corner in the 54th minute, Amanda Smith found the ball on her stick on the right side of the goal and ripped one past Shelby Landes for the goal.
 
The Lions tallied again at the very end of the game on an untimed corner, but it was too little too late as the Falcons earned the 5-2 victory.
 
As mentioned, with the win Messiah moves on to the MAC Commonwealth Championship game where they will host No. 2 Stevenson. Stevenson defeated No. 3 Lebanon Valley 3-1 in the other semifinal game tonight. The Championship game is set for Saturday with no game time set at the moment.  In the regular season meeting the Falcons defeated the Mustangs 4-2 – it was the only MAC Commonwealth opponent that Messiah allowed to score more that one goal during the regular season.