Owings Mills, MD – Claire Stikeleather scored four first-half goals to help No. 18 Messiah College build a 9-3 lead en route to an 11-10 win over Stevenson University on Wednesday afternoon. The Mustangs put together a furious rally to overcome their deficit, but the Falcons held on in the final minutes to earn the win.

The win moved Messiah to 4-4 on the season, including 1-0 in the Commonwealth Conference. Stevenson fell to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
 
With both teams having played challenging schedules early in the season—including Messiah playing five ranked teams in their first eight games—it was of intrigue to see which team would establish themselves early. Before too long, that proved to be the Falcons.
 
Stikeleather put Messiah up 1-0 in just the second minute of the game, and less than four minutes later Casey Daggett put one through for a 2-0 lead. Though Stevenson scored two the game's next three goals, Messiah rolled off four-straight tallies to take a 7-2 lead with 8:49 on the clock.
 
Liz Brennan started and finished that run for the Falcons, with Stikeleather scoring a pair between Brennan's goals.
 
With just under a minute to go before the half, Sam Babbitt gave the No. 18 Falcons their largest lead of the game with a goal right in front of the crease. She impressively split two defenders to get to the spot after catching an assist from Marybeth Bindel.
 
While surely the offense did their part to help build the lead, the Falcons' defense was also solid in the first-half as they held Stevenson to just 13 shots, forced eight turnovers, and contributed to 10 clears on 11 attempts. Alexa Dipeso was also outstanding in the cage with seven saves.
 
But as one might expect, Stevenson battled back. They scored the second period's first three goals to close the gap to 9-6, and they also started to make things more difficult for the Messiah offense. Even still, the Falcons settled down to get back-to-back goals from Stephanie Athens and Madi Brunk. Athens goal came off a feed from Brunk from behind the cage.
 
Though Messiah would not score again, they had ample opportunities to do so. One of those chances came with 16:25 to play when Casey Daggett picked off a pass in Stevenson territory and raced toward an open goal for a shot. But goalie Leanne Bittner recoverd just in time to make the save, perhaps her biggest of the day as it kept the game at 11-7.
 
Stevenson did come within 11-10, but Bindel earned the game's biggest draw control with 1:32 to play. After a timeout by coach Heather Greer, Messiah ran possession to the final seconds and sealed the win.
 
Stikeleather finished with a game-high four tallies and she added a single assist. Brennan had two goals and five other Falcons each collected a single score. Stikeleather, Bindel, and Becky Ely each earned two draw controls to help Messiah play with possession.
 
Dipeso finished with 13 saves and also collected four groundballs, matching the team-high with Molly Devilbiss. The 13 saves by Dipeso matched a season-high and was her sixth game this season with double-digit saves.
 
Messiah will next play on Saturday when they host Susquehanna University at 1:00 p.m.