Grantham, PA - The Messiah College men's lacrosse team did not let a little bit a rain stop them from playing hard on their Senior Day on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons defeated the Lycoming Warriors 12-8 on their home turf and moved to 8-4 overall and 6-0 in the MAC Commonwealth conference.

Joseph Franken had a career-high day and led the team in scoring with four goals. Justin Bradley and Dylan Gillisse added two goals each, while Blake Knobloch, Lorenzo DiPasquale, Liam Lilienthal, and Matthew Franken each collected a goal. Messiah outshot the Warriors 67-20 and were 11 of 12 of clear attempts.

Warrior's Strong Start
Lycoming had a quick and strong start to the game and collected their first two goals within five minutes of play. The Warriors only had five shots on net in the first quarter and three of those were goals. Lycoming started the second period similar to the first and Shain Quigley picked up an early goal for the Warrior's to give them a 4-2 lead.

Falcons Fire at All Cylinders in Second Quarter
The Falcons found themselves down 4-2 midway through the second quarter. At the 13:04 minute mark Messiah had a man advantage and Blake Knobloch found the back of the cage to cut the Warrior's lead down to one. Just over four minutes later, Liam Lilienthal scored his 18th goal of the season to tie the game up at 4-4. Messiah kept applying the offensive pressure against the Warrior's defensive line and outshot Lycoming 27-3 in the second period alone. Messiah went into the half-time break with a 6-4 lead over the Warriors and would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game.

Back and Forth Action
The Falcons and Warriors came out of the break ready to work. They traded goals back and forth until Matthew Franken delivered a pass to his brother Joseph Franken who collected his fourth goal of the game. This was a career-high goal for Franken and extended Messiah's lead to three (9-6). With just under two minutes remaining in the third, Justin Bradley scored a goal to give the Falcons their biggest lead of the afternoon (10-6). Immediately after Bradley's goal, Widener came down and cashed in one of their own goals to bring the lead down to three at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter consisted of three total goals, one for Lycoming and two for Messiah. Dylan Gillisse was wide open with 13 seconds, he faked high and shot low to give the Falcons their 12th and final goal of the afternoon. Messiah went onto win 12-8 and as mentioned earlier, remain undefeated in the MAC Commonwealth.

Stellar Defensive Effort
Sam Stengel picked up another win between the pipes for the Falcons. He collected seven saves on the afternoon. The Falcons did a great job gathering 48 total ground balls, 20 of which came in the second period. Messiah's defensive unit was impressive and held the Warriors to 20 total shots.

Next Up
Messiah will next take the field at Widener University next Tuesday, Apr. 25 at 7:00 p.m.