Grantham, PA – In a thrilling game filled with many highlights and big-time goals, the Eastern Eagles came up with the last big play to clip the Messiah Falcons, 7-6 in three overtimes. Tim Lamb scored four goals in the Eastern win, and he put through the game-winner with 3:46 left in the final period.
 
Blake Knobloch provided a late and large highlight for Messiah with a game-tying goal with 20 seconds left to play in regulation. The teams the battled through two scoreless extra periods before Eastern won the faceoff to start the third overtime, and Lamb won it just seconds later with a top-shelf tally.
 
The loss dropped Messiah to 3-3 on the season while Eastern moved to 5-4.
 
Thrilling Finish
The Eagles held a 7-5 lead with less than six minutes to play in the fourth quarter—more on that in a minute—but Messiah responded to the challenge with two goals in the final 2:40 of regulation. Dylan Gillissee scored a man-up goal with a dump over the goalie's shoulder, and the much-needed tally cut the Falcons' deficit in half.
 
The Falcons then called timeout, but Eastern secured the ensuing faceoff. They ran more than a minute off the clock, but a shot by Grant Smith was blocked in front of the cage and Drew Gugliuzza collected the groundball to give Messiah one more possession. Gillissee nearly tied the game with 36 seconds to play, but it wasn't until there were just 20 ticks on the clock that Knobloch evened the score with a brilliant goal. The tying goal came on a turn over his left shoulder, and it was also his second goal of the game.
 
In the first two overtime periods Messiah outshot Eastern 12-0, but none of those 12 offerings went on frame and the teams moved to the third overtime. As mentioned, Eastern grabbed control and quickly found Lamb on a run to the cage, and he beat Sam Stengel at the top of the cage.
 
Lost Lead
At the end of the first-half, and long before the teams battled through overtime periods, Messiah led 5-3. But in the third period they were outscored 2-0, and Eastern made it a 5-0 run (dating back into the first-half) with two more tallies in the fourth quarter. Possession certainly helped the Eagles create opportunities to score as they collected six of the eight faceoffs across the third and fourth quarters. Goalie Jameal Hadeed was also great between the pipes for the Eagles as he collected six saves in the last two regulation periods.
 
In the Box
Messiah registered at least 50 shots for the third time this season, but tonight they only put 15 shots on frame. The Falcons also finished with less faceoff wins than their opponent for the fourth time in six games.
 
Nevertheless, Messiah also turned the ball over just 12 times as they maintained long possessions and executed well to get toward the crease for looks. They also grabbed 31 groundballs, 21 of which came after the halftime break.

Knobloch, Gillissee, and Liam Lilienthal all tallied twice for the Falcons, and Lorenzo DiPasquale tied for a game-high with five groundballs.
 
Up Next
The Falcons will hit the road next week when they open MAC Commonwealth play at Hood College on Wednesday, Mar. 29. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.