Reading, PA - No. 12 Messiah College women's lacrosse dominated Albright College by a score of 16-7 on the road Saturday afternoon. The Falcons improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.

The Falcons had an impressive offensive showing against Albright and out-shot the Lions 33-16. Jenna Stover once again had an outstanding performance leading the Falcons with five goals. Allie Colson and Courtney Wagner each collected a hat-trick for Messiah and Elle Bargar added two goals of her own. Shayna Delaney, Annika Johnsen, and Stephanie Athens all contributed solo goals in the victory over the Lions. Alexa Dipeso collected five saves in the cage for the Falcons.

Offensive Pressure
Messiah demonstrated aggressive offensive play in the first half in which they out-shot Albright 16 to five. Allie Colson started things off for the Falcons and collected two of her three goals in the first 11 minutes of play. Her first goal came off of Courtney Wagner's pass at the 26:53 minute mark. Four minutes after Colson's goal, Jenna Stover found the back of the cage after Messiah took a quick timeout. Just a few minutes later, Messiah was back on the attack and Allie Colson scored her second goal of the game off a free position shot and gave the Falcons an early 3-0 lead. Courtney Wagner went on to collect two more goals in the first half, while Jenna Stover also delivered another goal for the Falcons. Elle Bargar scored with nine seconds remaining in the first half to give Messiah the 7-1 lead going into the break.
 
Two Quick Ones
Messiah came out of halftime ready to work. With only 1:03 off of the clock, the Falcons collected two fast goals to increase their advantage over the Lions. Both of these goals came from Ida Ehrhardt winning back-to-back draw controls. Courtney Wagner and Jenna Stover both found the back of the net to give Messiah the 9-1 lead at the start of the second half.
 
Albright's 5-2 Run
The Lion's began to come alive at the 21:00 minute mark. They scored back-to-back goals in less than a minute to cut into Messiah's lead (9-3). The Falcons then answered when Allie Colson found her third goal of the game. The very next position Stephanie Athens delivered the ball to Annika Johnsen and she was able to convert. This was Johnsen's second goal of the season and Athens' 15th assist.

Albright went on and scored three unanswered goals all within two minutes of play. These goals brought Messiah's lead down to five (11-6) but it wouldn't be enough for the Lions because the Falcons started to shift gears.
 
Falcons Soar to Victory
With 9:36 remaining in the game, Shayna Delaney ignited the Falcons' offense with her second goal of the season. Messiah then went on a 5-0 run in which Stephanie Athens, Jenna Stover(2), Elle Bargar all contributed on the scoreboard. Albright scored one more goal against the Falcons, but Messiah proved to be the more dominant team and clenched on to the 16-7 victory.
 
Next Up
The Falcons are back in action on April 5 when they host Alvernia University at 4:00 p.m.