Annville, PA - Amid steady rain and wet field conditions, Messiah College scored four times en route to a 4-0 victory over Lebanon Valley College to open conference play Saturday afternoon. Marisa Weaver tallied three goals on the day-- her fourth career hat-trick-- and Erin Sollenberger added a goal and an assist in the win.

The decisionw as the Falcons' fifth-consecutive victory and improved their record to both 7-2 on the year and 1-0 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Dutchmen fell to 6-3 and 0-1 in the conference.

Messiah's offensive attack pressured Lebanon Valley's backline from the opening kick-off, as Olivia Snare took a shot just 30 seconds into play, but Taylor Reinhold was there to keep the Falcons off the board for the time being. Messiah continued to attack, and earned three corner kicks in the first 10 minutes of action. However, they were unable to score early on.

In the 17th minute, the Falcons finally opened the scoring by way of Weaver's first goal. With the Dutchmen backline pushing up the field, Erin Sollenberger received a ball about 40 yards out along the right sideline, and immediately played Weaver into space. The senior forward outran the Lebanon Valley defenders, took a few touches toward the middle of the box and drilled a shot past Reinhold and inside the left post to put the Falcons ahead.

Nine minutes later, the Falcons struck again. On their fourth corner kick of the afternoon, Lilly Shover played the ball into the middle of the box. The ball bounced around and ended up at Sollenberger's feet just outside the left edge of the six-yard mark. She ripped a shot that was saved by Reinhold, but the rebound bounced back to Sollenberger, and her second attempt found the back of the net. The goal was the forward's second of the season, and put the Falcons ahead 2-0.

The Falcons were unable to generate a lot of offense the remainder of the first-half, as they only launched one shot in the final 18 minutes of the half, but still held a 2-0 advantage at the break.

As the second-half began, the Dutchmen backline continued to press up, and the Falcons were able to take advantage again in the 61st minute. The Falcons played a ball from the defensive third that sailed deep into Dutchmen territory as Weaver was able to sneak behind the defense. She got the ball along the left sideline, advanced into the box and launched a shot that got past Reinhold for her second goal and put Messiah up by three.

Just five minutes later, the Falcons added their fourth-and-final goal of the afternoon. After Skylar Ulry's shot was knocked out og bounds by Reinhold, Weaver took a corner kick from the right side. Her left-footed kick curled towards the goal and snuck by Reinhold for her third goal of the day and secured the Falcons' 4-0 victory.

The three goals on the afternoon gave Weaver her second hat-trick of the season, with the other coming against Wilkes University on Sept. 17. As mentioned, it was her fourth career hat-trick, good for the second most in program history behind Amanda Naeher '11, who had five.

Messiah controlled possession throughout the game, which led to a 22-5 advantage in shots and 12-2 advantage in shots-on-goal. The Falcons' defense also held strong, as Sara Yunez posted her fifth shutout of the season.

The Falcons look to continue their hot-streak when they return to action Wednesday night, when they travel to take on Alvernia University in a MAC Commonwealth matchup. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.