Grantham, PA - Messiah women's lacrosse christened their new turf field on Tuesday in dominant fashion, winning 16-1 over Scranton in the season-opener. Marybeth Bindel led the charge with five goals for the Falcons.
 
The Falcons' afternoon started quickly with a goal by Bindel after just 23 seconds. She score came shortly after the game's first draw control, with Bindel soon racing up the right side and toward the cage for the tally.
 
Less than two minutes later Casey Daggett made it 2-0 when she picked up a ground ball in front of the goal for a quick strike. The two early tallies would be the first of eight-straight goals by Messiah to open the game, including four by Bindel. In total, six different Falcons scored before the half as Messiah built a 9-1 advantage.
 
In the second-half Bindel's fifth goal put Messiah up 10-1 with still 27:11 to play.
 
Clair Stikeleather scored in the 38th minute for a 10-goal lead, as her shot beat keeper Emily Towey top-shelf off a feed from Stephanie Athens.
 
As the game wore on Messiah continued to outplay the Royals in every facet of the game. Messiah finished with an advantage in shots (44-11) and groundballs (40-24), while also committing 17 less turnovers (39-22). Messiah also made good on 13 of 18 clears while limiting Scranton to just 11 successful clears in 24 total attempts.
 
In total eight Falcons collected at least a single goal with nine players tallying at least a single point. Stikeleather finished with three goals to back up Bindel while Athens collected two assists to go along with a single goal.
 
Athens joined Madi Brunk and Becky Ely as Falcons to grab five groundballs, while Athens and Jenna Stover each earned three caused turnovers.
 
The lone bright spot for the Royals was the play of Towey. She collected 19 saves for the visitors, many coming on close shots and free-position attempts. Meghan Kerr collected Scranton's lone tally just before halftime.

Alexa Dipeso collected six saves between the pipes for Messiah.
 
The Royals fell to 0-1 with the loss while the Falcons moved to 1-0.
 
The Falcons will next play on Saturday when they travel to No. 6 Gettysburg for a game at 1:00 p.m.