GRANTHAM, Pa. - Alvernia University hung tough with Messiah men's lacrosse in the first-half, but the Falcons outscored the Golden Wolves 7-1 in the third period and went on to win by a final score of 19-8 on Tuesday night.

It was Senior Night for the Falcons, so seniors Logan Pagano, Teagan Pfautz, Lorenzo DiPasquale, Drew Gugliuzza, Chad Krick, and Luke Hall were honored before the game.

Joseph Franken led Messiah with four goals and two assists, while Liam Lilienthal, Hunter Bellows, and DiPasquale each had three scores. Pagano played the entire game in goal and received his first career win, notching six saves.

The Falcons improve to 7-1 in the MAC Commonwealth and 10-5 on the season, while the Golden Wolves drop to 0-7 in the conference and 2-13 overall.

Coming into tonight's game without a conference win and therefore eliminated from postseason contention, Alvernia had nothing to lose and played like it in the first-half, matching Messiah blow-for-blow as the score was tied at five with 13:13 remaining in the second quarter. Falcon freshman Caleb Aytes would break that deadlock with just under three minutes to play in the half with his first career collegiate goal, and Bellows added another before the horn sounded as Messiah took a 7-5 lead into the break.

After Andrew RItchie opened the third period for Alvernia with his third goal of the game, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Falcons, as they scored seven unanswered goals, including five in the last 2:33 of the period.

Jarret Abernethy would cut the deficit to 14-7 with the first goal of the fourth quarter, but five more Falcon scores before the game was over proved to be more than enough as Messiah won handily, 19-8.

Having locked up the 2-seed, Messiah will now look ahead to the MAC Commonwealth Championships that will get underway next Wednesday, May 2.