Reading, PA – Messiah men's lacrosse scored eight goals in the first-half and never looked back in a 20-4 win on the road at Alvernia on Wednesday night. The win pushed Messiah one game over .500 (5-4) and also to 3-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.
Fast Start
The Falcons scored the first five goals of the game on Wednesday, with four different players getting on the board.
Joseph Franken started it off with a tally at the 13:01 mark, and
Hunter Bellows made it 2-0 at 10:40.
Messiah did not score again until there were five minutes left in the period, but their defense caused two turnovers—and Alvernia committed five others—in the first period to keep the Crusaders at bay.
At the end of the quarter Messiah led 6-1, and both
Dylan Gillisse and
Matthew Franken had two goals.
Taking a Shot
As they have been for much of the season, Messiah overwhelmed their opponent with both possession and also volume shooting. Case in point: the Falcons scored just two goals in the second period but they out shot the Crusaders 11-6. That might not seem like a lot, but the long hold on territory kept the Crusaders from narrowing the score, and in the third quarter an 18-2 advantage in shots added eight more goals for the visitors.
At the end of the game Messiah held a 60-15 advantage in shots, good for not only their fourth 50-plus shots game of the season, but also a new season-high.
In the Box
Matthew Franken led the Falcons with four goals, and
Dylan Gillisse finished three tallies himself. Five other Falcons—
Cory Hurst,
Liam Lilienthal,
Quentin Johnson,
Joseph Franken, and
Hunter Bellows—finished with two goals apiece.
Lorenzo DiPasquale finished with a team-high six groundballs, and
Teagan Pfautz (4) and DiPasquale (2) each collected multiple caused turnovers.
Ian Olsen had a great night for Messiah at faceoff-X, grabbing eight in nine attempts to help Messiah hold a 13-12 edge in the category.
Up Next
The Falcons continue MAC Commonwealth play a week from today when they host Arcadia University. Game time on Apr. 12 is set for 7:00 p.m.
