Grantham, PA - No. 16 Messiah College scored a season-high 20 goals and Liz Brennan collected six assists in a 20-8 win over Alvernia on Tuesday afternoon. The Falcons trailed 1-0 early before running off eight-straight goals to go in front. The Falcons moved to 7-0 in the Commonwealth with the win.

Brennan's six assists were two shy of the program record for a single game, though it doubled her previous career-high for points in a contest. Messiah also had 14 different players collect at least a single point, with 13 of those players tallying at least one goal.

With the win, Messiah guaranteed themselves first place in the Commonwealth, and the No. 1 seed in next week's playoffs.

The Falcons' early hole was their first deficit since they trailed 5-4 to Susquehanna on Mar. 28. In that game Messiah rallied to win 15-10, and on this day the win would be even more in hand.

Messiah scored eight-straight goals on this afternoon to take command, with Marybeth Bindel's back-to-back tallies putting them up 2-1. Five other Falcons collected a goal in the stretch, with Brennan getting two of her own. Brennan's first assist came on a terrific combination in the full-field, as the Falcons earned a clear before moving the ball swiftly through three different players on attack. Before the defense could adjust Brennan found Shayna Delaney wide open in front of the cage for highlight score. 

The Falcons would soon enter the break with an 14-6 lead, an advantage built on the back of strong defense and an exhausting attack. The Crusaders were just 1-11 on clears in the first-half and had 19 turnovers.

Messiah's Jenna Stover, Sam Brennan, and Ida Ehrhardt combined to score the first three goals of the second-half, and Messiah never looked back. They finished with a 33-15 edge in shots, and they pressured the Crusaders into 30 turnovers. Alvernia also finished just 5-18 on clears, though they did earn 17 draw controls to the Falcons' 13.

Stover led the Falcons with three goals, and Bindel, Stephanie Athens, Madi Brunk, Liz Brennan, and Kendra Herbanar each scored twice. Claire Stikeleather, the Falcons' leader in goals (34) and points (49) amazingly contributed just a single assist, demonstration of the Falcons' dominating team play.

Alexa Dipeso (3) and Ellery Klineyoung combined for four saves in the cage. Colleen Reilly made seven saves in a solid effort for Alvernia.

The Falcons will look to remain unbeaten in the conferenc regular-season when they travel to Arcadia on Saturday afternoon.