Grantham, PA – Messiah College scored 11 goals in the second-half to open up a tight battle and defeat Albright College 15-4. The win sent the Falcons into the MAC Commonwealth Championship for the third-straight season where they will face Stevenson University on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The Mustangs enter the game by way of an 8-6 win over Lebanon Valley.
 
Jenna Stover was a catalyst all afternoon for the No. 1-seeded Falcons, and she finished with three goals and two assists. Courtney Wagner also tallied three goals for Messiah, and Alexa Dipeso came up with six saves in just 50 minutes of action.

Mariah Cullen tallied twice for Albright to help the visitors stay close for much of the first 35 minutes of play. Messiah held just a 4-2 halftime lead, and it wasn't until the 35th minute that they began to add some space. Three-straight goals over a two-minute stretch put Messiah up 7-2, and soon after that the Falcons tallied another seven-straight times to grab control of the game.
 
Despite the margin of victory for Messiah, the game was hotly contested early on. Stover put through her first goal in the fourth minute, but the Falcons' second goal did not come until there was 15:26 left in the first period. They soon went up 3-0, but Albright came right back and tallied two-straight goals to narrow their deficit. Amanda Smith scored the second of those goals by way of a quick dodge on the left side.
 
Less than a minute after Smith's goal Stover tallied again, doing so off a dodge on the right side to get to the cage.
 
That would be the all the scoring in the first-half. Messiah came close to adding more scores, but shooting space fouls set-up empty free-position shots on two separate occasions. The Falcons did launch 15 shots in the first-half, but just seven went on frame, with Albright goalie Emily Hutson making three saves.
 
Albright's deliberate approach and effort to slow down the Falcons' dynamic certainly worked early, but the Falcons came out of the break with better execution. Courtney Wagner sandwiched two goals around a Stover score early, with each of the three goals coming on one-on-one moves. Stover's score was especially impressive as she spun off her defender on the right side before splitting two marks and firing past Hutson.
 
Sophie Bass added a third goal a moment later, but that was the closest they'd get the rest of the game. Six different players combined for seven-straight goals to help Messiah go up 14-3 by the 10-minute mark. Brooke Gamble provided an exclamation point with the team's 12th goal, doing so off a free-position set that led to a big rip from the top of the crease— just her second tally of the season.
 
Amanda Wivell completed the scoring in the final minute, and Messiah ran onto the field in celebration of the Semifinal win.
 
The Falcons turned the ball over just seven times compared to Albright's 17 giveaways, and Messiah also outplayed the Lions in groundballs (21-13). Allie Colson and Erin Farrell each tied for a game-high five draw controls, and Kendra Herbenar earned a game-high four caused turnovers. As mentioned, Dipeso finished with six saves, a few of which were big stops to support Messiah's momentous play in the second-half.
 
In total, 10 different players tallied for the Falcons.
 
Messiah's match-up with Stevenson on Saturday will be a rematch of the last two MAC Commonwealth Championships. The Mustangs edged the Falcons in 2014, but Messiah won last season, with both those games also being played on the Falcons' home field.