Williamsport, PA - Messiah women's lacrosse raced out to an 8-0 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the Warriors of Lycoming College 16-5 on Saturday afternoon. With their 10th-straight victory, the Falcons improve to 12-2 on the year and a perfect 7-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.
 
The first-half was the Jenna Stover and Courtney Wagner show, as each player recorded three goals before the break. In the second-half, the spotlight switched over to senior Claire Stikeleather, who notched four goals in a span of eight minutes to put the Warriors away for good. Wagner also finished with three assists for a game-high six points.
 
The Falcon defense was strong yet again, holding Lycoming to just 12 shots, only five of which were on goal. Messiah also won more groundballs, 20-15, and caused more turnovers, 13-7, than the Warriors on the afternoon.
 
Wagner and Stover combined to score the first five goals of the game, with Wagner scoring less than 90 seconds into the game and then again six minutes later. Stover then racked up her three scores in a span of just two and a half minutes to put Messiah up 5-0 at the 15:16 mark of the first-half.
 
Stephanie Athens and Jamie Bishop added tallies later in the opening period, with Wagner assisting on Bishop's score. The eighth and final Falcon goal of the first-half came with 9:08 remaining, as Wagner notched her third of the game and 26th of the season. The Warriors would score two minutes later, and Messiah took an 8-1 lead into the break.
 
Over the last nine minutes of the first-half and the first eight of the second, Lycoming put together a small run with a comeback in mind, adding two more goals after halftime to cut the Messiah lead to 8-4. However, this was when Stikeleather decided to take over, scoring goals at the 21:53, 20:16, 15:28, and 13:54 marks to break the game wide open for the Falcons.
 
Elle Bargar, Stephanie Athens, and Audrey Liberati would all score before the final horn sounded, giving the Falcons a 16-5 victory.
 
Messiah next plays on Tuesday when they host Widener University at 4:00 p.m. It is the last regular season contest for the Falcons, with the MAC Commonwealth playoffs beginning May 1.