Grantham, PA – No. 18 Messiah College jumped ahead early and kept pace with visiting Susquehanna University in a 15-10 win on Saturday afternoon. The decision pushed the Falcons to 5-4 on the season, while the Crusaders fell to 3-4.
 
Jenna Stover, Claire Stikeleather, and Stephanie Athens each collected a hat-trick for Messiah, which had eight different players tally. Madi Brunk also led the offensive charge with a game-high five assists.
 
Athens opened the scoring after just 1:01 of play when she took a sharp pass from Stikleather and finished in front of the cage. Ten minutes later Stover and Casey Daggett finished goals to put Messiah up 4-2, but the Crusaders then scored three straight times to go in front.
 
After a timeout by coach Heather Greer, the Falcons responded to score five-straight goals to go up 9-5. Five different Falcons tallied in the momentum-swinging streak.
 
Messiah took a 9-6 advantage through the intermission before Athens and Stover scored early in the second-half to push the lead to 11-6. Susquehanna did their best to keep pace, drawing to within three goals on three different occasions in the final 21 minutes, but the Falcons' full-field effort proved to be too much to overcome. Specifically, Messiah held the Crusaders to just 4-11 clear opportunities in the second-half, while the Falcons also grabbed seven of 11 draw controls in the final period.
 
Athens scored her final goal off Brunk's final assist with 10:29 play, giving the Falcons a 14-10 lead, and then Stikeleather completed the scoring with less than five minutes to play.
 
Goalie Alexa Dipeso collected six saves on the day, though her defense limited the Crusaders to just 16 total shots on goal, their third-lowest total allowed this season.
 
As mentioned, Messiah is now 5-4 on the season, with three of their losses coming to teams ranked in the IWLCA Top 10. Messiah will next play on Wednesday, Apr. 1 when they host Hood College at 4:00 p.m. That will start seven-straight conference games to end the regular-season.