Grantham, PA - No. 16 Messiah College scored 10 first-half goals over Arcadia University en route to a 12-2 in a weather-shortened game on Thursday afternoon. The win pushed the Commonwealth No. 1 seed into the conference championship on Saturday where they will play the winner of Stevenson and Lebanon Valley.

The Falcons scored after just 29 seconds when she fired off a feed from Madi Brunk. Marybeth Bindel tallied 31 seconds later and Messiah was on their way. Brunk tallied four assists on the Falcons' first five goals as their execution was on point early against the Knights' defense.
 
Claire Stikeleather scored two of Messiah's first four goals, and four different players tallied twice before the half.
 
Messiah's first half was fueled by collection of five of the game's first six draw controls; the early possessions helped Messiah hold territory for long stretches and forced the Knights to play most of the half on the defensive end. When the Knights did get into their attack they managed just six shots and Alexa Dipeso collected three saves.
 
In the second-half Stikeleather and Daggett tallied quickly to build the Messiah lead to 12-0. Haylee Molloy and Dawn Faranetta then scored back-to-back goals to end the shutout.
 
With just under 14 minutes left to play the approaching storms became an issue. Thunder halted play, and succeeding rolls of thunder continued to delay the restart. With collaboration from the coaches, the officials, and site administrator, Commonwealth commission Ken Andrews affirmed the decision to end the game; Messiah was credited with the win and all statistics from the contest stand.

Daggett and Stikeleather each scored three times, and both Liz Brennan and Bindel scored twice. Brunk finished with the four assists. Messiah's swarming effort from back to front forced nine of the Knights 14 turnovers, and Stephanie Athens (4), Dipeso (3), Brooke Gamble (2), and Ida Ehrhardt (2) all collected multiple groundballs. Dipeso finished with five saves.
 
As mentioned, the win pushed Messiah into the Commonwealth Championship on Saturday. The Falcons will host the winner of No. 3-seed Lebanon Valley and No. 2-seed Stevenson at 1:00 p.m.