Messiah outshot the Battling Bishops, 50-36, with the Falcons also holding an advantage on groundballs, 33-28. Hunter Bellows tallied four goals for Messiah, while Garrett Amsbaugh and Joseph Franken each added three. Lucas Honebrink was solid on the faceoff, winning 18 of 28 attempts. Between the pipes, Evan Stoker recorded 11 saves in the winning effort.

The Falcons improve to 2-1 on the season while the Battling Bishops fall to 0-2.

After holding a 6-1 lead at the end of the first period, Messiah kept their attack on as they scored five of six in the second quarter. Coming out of halftime, the Battling Bishops generated five goals, cutting the Falcons advantage to 11-7 but Messiah held off the comeback, winning the second game in a row.

Messiah Comes Out Firing
The Falcons wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Franken put Messiah up 1-0 just 50 seconds into the game. Messiah won the resulting faceoff and, after a couple of wayward shots, tallied again as Bellows found the net for the first time on the day off a dish by Dylan Gillisse to double the Falcons' lead less than three minutes into the contest.

A minute later, Bellows doubled his goal total helping the Falcons earn a early 3-0 lead. Messiah kept the momentum going and converted two unanswered goals by Steven Dunn and Cory Hurst, building Messiah's lead to 5-0 with six minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

After the scoring fireworks from the Falcons, Messiah and Ohio Wesleyan fell victim to a scoring drought over the next six minutes. The Battling Bishops scored their first goal of the contest with 34 seconds left in the first period, but Messiah quickly responded when Gillisse tallied in the final seconds of the opening period.

Falcons Keep The Pressure On
The Falcons were not done on the offensive end. Messiah continued their scoring streak with five goals in the second quarter against just one for Ohio Wesleyan. Messiah held an 11-2 lead heading into the break.

Messiah kept their first-period momentum going in the second period as Amsbaugh uncorked two goals in a span of 14 seconds at 12:44 and 12:30 in the second period. His goals earned the Falcons an 8-1 lead. The Battling Bishops answered the call and scored their second goal of the game off a shot from Cole Jamieson with 11 minutes left in the half.

Amsbaugh tallied again, netting his third-consecutive goal for the Falcons, just a minute after Jamieson's goal for Ohio Wesleyan.

With just under three and a half minutes remaining in the half, Franken scored off a pass from Liam Lilenthal to give Messiah an 8-2 lead. Two minutes later, Ohio Wesleyan's Joe Connor received a one-minute slashing penalty with 34 seconds left, which gave a man-up opportunity to the Falcons. That man-up chance resulted in a goal from Lilenthal off an assist from Cory Hurst to give the Falcons' their largest lead of the game at 11-2 heading into the half.

Bishops' Comeback
After the first half was dominated by the Falcons, the second half favored the Battling Bishops, as Ohio Wesleyan got off more shots (22-15) and capitalized on opportunities. Just over 30 seconds into the second-half, Ohio Wesleyan started their comeback with the first of five-straight goals to cut Messiah's lead down to four at 11-7.

After a 14-minute scoring drought that lasted nearly the entire third-quarter, the Falcons brought their lead back to five goals, thanks to Bellows' third goal of the afternoon with two minutes left in the period. Bellows' goal ended the scoring in the third with Messiah holding a 12-7 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

In the final quarter, the Falcons and Battling Bishops traded blows as Ohio Wesleyan tallied the first at the 11:41 mark, but Bellows answered with a goal just a minute later to put Messiah back within five, 13-8. The Falcons received a big goal four minutes later from Gillisse to open the lead back to half a dozen with six minutes remaining. Ohio Wesleyan was able to tally a man-up goal with three minutes remaining, but Joseph Franken capped off the scoring with a goal with 1:03 remiaing to give Messiah the 15-9 victory.

Inside the Box Score
The Falcons pick up their first win over the Bishops in program history. Last year, Messiah forced overtime but the Battling Bishops put through a goal just 35 seconds into the extra period to take down the Falcons by a score of 11-10.

Franken and Amsbaugh both recorded their 10th goals of the season.

Messiah was 11 for 14 on clear attempts with the Falcons allowing the fewest goals in a single game this season.

What's Up Next
The Falcons will continue their road trip next Saturday when they travel to Elizabethtown College for non-conference match on March 2 at 1:00 p.m.