GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah women's lacrosse team picked up their first conference win over Arcadia this afternoon 16-5. The Falcons utilized a strong second half, scoring nine goals and out shot the Knights 18-5. After a shaky first half the Messiah defense settled in and that was a determining factor as well holding Arcadia to just one goal. The offensive output was balanced for the Falcons today as three players scored hat-tricks; Abby Howard, Jamie Bishop, and Annika Johnsen, while six other players found the back of the net. Messiah out shot Arcadia 30-15, went 26-27 on clears, and had more ground balls (36-25).

The first goal for Messiah came at the 27:44 mark when, after a clear attempt was good, Annika Johnsen scored for the early 1-0 lead. A couple minutes later Katelyn Pearson managed to cause a turnover, picked up the ground ball, and then found the back of the net for goal number two in the game. The third, fourth, and fifth goals all came from Abby Howard off of free position attempts as the Falcons were ahead 5-0 with sixteen minutes left to play in the first half.

Arcadia responded with a goal from Shannon Ryan at the 13:00 minute mark and she scored again two minutes later, while Julia Imbert also found the back of the net as the Knights cut the lead down 5-3 in a span of three minutes. After a clear attempt was good by Messiah, Michelle Krenzke extended the lead 6-3 with a goal and was assisted by Courtney Wagner. The Knights scored one more, and then Wagner tallied one of her own with less than a minute to play, assisted by Annika Johnsen, and the Falcons held a 7-4 advantage at the half.

Arcadia came out looking to score as Shannon Ryan tallied her third goal of the game to pull the Knights within two 7-5, but the rest of the half belong to Messiah as the defense played very solid. After a goal by McKenna Edwards increased the lead 8-5, Arcadia was issued a yellow card and the extra-player opportunity was available for Messiah, to which they utilized. Jess Hatch found the back of the net off an assist by Pearson to go up 9-5.

Goalie Jessie Lisner stifled a couple of Arcadia opportunities to score with saves, and a goal by Jamie Bishop (18:32) and one from Johnsen (17:30) gave Messiah a 11-5 lead. After about a ten minute span without any scoring, Messiah went off scoring five goals, four of which were scored across a span of two minutes. With the score 15-5, Madi Morris tallied the final goal of the game with about four minutes to play. The Knights had an extra-player opportunity before game's end, but the Falcon defense played tough and didn't allow a shot en route to the 16-5 victory.

Messiah is now 6-3 on the year and are 1-0 in the MAC Commonwealth. They travel to Lebanon Valley next Wednesday Apr. 4 for a conference game beginning at 7:00 p.m.