GRANTHAM, Pa. - Widener University took a two-goal lead at halftime, and Messiah men's lacrosse was just not quite able to mount a comeback as the Pride won by a final score of 12-9.
The Pride will advance to face top seed Stevenson after the Mustangs defeated Lycoming 22-7 earlier this evening.
Despite coming up short in the scoring column, the Falcons outshot the Pride 52-40 (29-21 on goal). It was the heroics of Widener keeper Matt Horton that was the difference, as the junior recorded an astonishing 20 saves. The game was also about as close as could be from the face-off circle with two of the best in the conference squaring off, as Messiah's
Lucas Honebrink edged out Widener's Anthony Paone 12-10.
Hunter Bellows matched his career-high for goals in a game by leading the Falcons with four on the night, while
Joseph Franken was solid as always with two goals and two assists.
Messiah finishes the year with a record of 10-6 and 7-1 in the MAC Commonwealth.
The first quarter of action was very tightly contested, as the teams matched each other blow-for-blow, alternating scores until it was 3-2 in favor of the Pride after the first 15 minutes were complete.
The next 15 minutes were about the opposite, as each team experienced huge momentum swings to make a pair of runs. Messiah started it off with a goal from
Garrett Amsbaugh at the 10:17 mark, followed by Bellows' second goal of the game just 24 seconds later to give the Falcons their first lead of the game at 4-3. Just under two minutes later, Franken performed his patented 'lower the shoulder and run through everyone' trick, powering through the Pride defense to score from point-blank range and give Messiah a two-goal advantage.
However, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Pride, as the visitors closed the half with four unanswered scores to go into the break with a 7-5 lead. They were not done, scoring the opening goal of the second-half as well to go up by three goals.
The Falcons were able to stop the bleeding and get back to playing their game for the majority of the rest of the quarter, as they were gifted with a pair of man-up opportunities that did not go to waste. Franken notched the score on the first of those chances with his team-leading 39th of the season at the 8:30 mark, and Bellows followed three minutes later with a rip from 15 yards out that sailed past the keeper to cut the deficit to one.
Widener had an answer once again, though, as Brady Franks tallied with 35 seconds left in the quarter. The resulting faceoff was won by Messiah, but the Falcons turned the ball over almost immediately, leading to a buzzer-beating goal by Widener's Kevin Kerby that pushed the Pride lead back to three, 10-7.
Messiah would not go away quietly, as Bellows scored again just over three minutes into the final period to cut the deficit to two.
Brian Doron picked up the ground ball on the ensuing faceoff for the Falcons and decided to take matters into his own hands, racing down the field untouched before juking a defender with beautiful stick work and scoring his first career collegiate goal. The score cut the Widener lead to one, and sent the Messiah bench and crowd into a frenzy as they still had 11:34 remaining to try to tie the game and take the lead.
However, that was the last goal that Messiah would score in the game, as Horton saved six of the Falcons' 12 attempts over the last ten minutes, with six other shots sailing away from the cage. Widener would tally on a pair of man-up opportunities before the game was over to come away with the 12-9 victory.
