Grantham, PA - The Falcons of Messiah College defeated the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College 6-5 Saturday afternoon with a game winning goal from Matthew Franken with seven seconds remaining in regulation. Matthew Franken led Messiah's offensive effort with two goals in a pivotal conference victory that will earn Messiah the second seed in the MAC Commonwealth playoffs with a Widener loss at Stevenson this evening. The Falcons improved to 10-6 overall and 6-2 in the MAC Commonwealth with the clutch victory.

The low scoring contest started with a goal from Lebanon Valley's Brett Kudlak with 8:40 remaining in the first quarter. It was the lone goal of the quarter as both squads played solid defense throughout the game.
 
The Falcons came out aggressive in the second quarter and scored back-to-back goals just 1:13 apart for a 2-1 lead. Justin Bradley started the scoring with a shot that snuck by the goalkeeper in the top left corner of the cage. Next, Matthew Franken tallied his first goal of two from an excellent feed from Tyler Goglio.
 
Lebanon Valley notched the final goal of the second quarter and first goal of the third quarter on extra man opportunities. Koty Keefer and Klayton Garman scored on two of eight extra man opportunities throughout the contest.
 
Messiah tied the game back up at three a piece when Isaac Zorn found some space and shot low-to-low past the goalkeeper for his eighth goal of the season. Seven seconds later, Brady Marburger added another goal for Messiah when he cleanly won a faceoff and took it the cage for the 4-3 Messiah lead.
 
However, the Dutchmen responded once again by accumulating back-to-back goals from Alex Bushong and Klayton Garman to reclaim a 5-4 lead. Tyler Goglio tied the tight game back up again when he came around the crease and executed a wrap around shot.
 
With time about to expire, the Franken brothers hooked up for the game winning goal. Joseph Franken dodged and fed brother, Matthew Franken who ripped a shot for the thrilling 6-5 victory.
 
Messiah did an excellent job of executing their man down defense throughout the game and limiting Lebanon Valley to two goals on their eight extra man opportunities.
 
Statistically, the Falcons edged the Dutchmen in shots (38-27), shots on goal (20-10), ground balls (27-20), face offs (9-3), and committed fewer turnovers (6-11).