Washington, D.C. - The Messiah women's lacrosse team saw their 2016 season come to a close against the Catholic University Cardinals in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals were too much for the Falcons as their dropped the contest 15-9 on a blustery Sunday afternoon in out Nation's capitol.

It was an even contest for the majority of the first-half. With the game tied at 5-5, the Cardinals scored a pair of goals late in the half to take a 7-5 lead into the break.

The Cardinals continued their strong play into the second-half, scoring the first two goals of the half to bump their lead to four goals. Messiah countered with a goal of their own midway through the period by Shayna Delaney to cut the lead to 10-7, but the Cardinals countered with a goal six second later to pull ahead by four.

Messiah couldn't get any closer eventually falling 15-9 and ending the 2016 season with an overall record of 14-6 and their second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
As mentioned the game started very evenly, Catholic connected on the first goal just over two minutes into the game with a strike by Laura Dunn – her first of four goals on the day. Messiah countered with Jenna Stover picking up her 31st goal of the season just 30 seconds later. With the game tied Audrey Liberati connected on a free position shot to give Messiah their first, and only, lead of the day.
 
After Liberati's goal with 22:36 remaining in the half, Nicolette Crisalli took over. Crisalli scored three-straight goals in a 7:03 stretch to give Catholic a 4-2 edge. Messiah scored back-to-back goals by Jenna Stover and Courney Wagner to tie the game at 4-4 before Clair Schmitzer and Jenna Van Middelem ended the half with a goal each to take a 6-4 lead into the break. Messiah had a costly turnover with 40 seconds left in the half that directly led to Van Middelem's goal. On the play, Messiah started too early on a restart and possession changed right behind the cage.
 
The pair of goals late in the half started a 10-2 run that pulled the Cardinals away from the Falcons. Included on that run was a stretch of five-straight goals that Catholic scored to bump their lead up to 15-7. The Falcons connected on two goals in the final minute, but it was too little too late. Annika Johnsen and Ida Ehrhardt both tallied unassisted goals in the final 43 seconds, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons fell 15-9 to Cardinals.
 
Offensively, Jenna Stover led the Falcons with three goals and two assists. Five other Falcons tallied goals including Shayna Delaney (two goals), who was the only other Falcon with multiple goals.
 
In goal Alexa Dipeso made eight saves on the day, including a couple spectacular stops in the second-half.