Owings Mills, MD – The Falcons of Messiah College allowed the No. 11 Mustangs of Stevenson University to pull away in the second half for an 11-6 victory. Messiah never trailed in the first half and was tied with Stevenson 4-4 heading into halftime.
 
The Mustangs outscored Messiah 7-2 in the second half and dropped the Falcons to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in the MAC Commonwealth. Blake Knobloch and Trey Hanshew led Messiah in scoring with two goals a piece.
 
The Falcons struck first in the game when Blake Knobloch circled around the crease and ripped a shot for an early 1-0 lead. Messiah tacked on to their lead early on when Trey Hanshew tallied a score that was created from a fast break by a heads up defensive play from Chris Ruger.
 
Trailing 2-0, the Mustangs stormed back and added the final two goals of the quarter with scores from Stephen Banick and Matt Tompkins. In addition, Stevenson killed off a three minute non-releasable penalty during the end of the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter of play the Falcons notched the first goal of the quarter when Dylan Gillisse found a wide open Ryan Van Bochoven above the crease for the score. Stevenson answered and tied the game up at three a piece with a score by Wade Korvin.
 
Next, Trey Hanshew added his second goal of the night and nudged the Falcons to a 4-3 lead. However, the Mustangs answered once again and tied the game back up at four with a goal from Stephen Bankick.
 
Although the Falcons scored first in the third quarter, the Mustangs controlled the tempo in the quarter and outscored Messiah 3-1. Blake Knobloch tallied his second goal of the game when he slung a high velocity shot from way out for the goal.
 
The Mustangs took over after Knobloch's goal by adding three unanswered scores from Parish Young, Kyle D'Onofrio, and Stephen Banick.
 
The fourth quarter was similar to the third as the Falcons scored first with a strike from Matthew Franken. However, Stevenson notched the next four goals for the 11-6 victory.
 
Statistically, the Falcons were bested in shots (43-29), shots on goal (27-16), and groundballs (40-34). Brady Marburger had another excellent game by taking 13 of the 19 face offs and providing much needed possessions for the Falcons.
 
Messiah will be back in action this Saturday when they travel to Arcadia to take on the Knights at 12:00 p.m.