GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah men's lacrosse team earned its first victory of the 2019 MAC Commonwealth schedule with a 12-8 triumph over the Lycoming Warriors on Wednesday night at home. Hunter Bellows was the story in the victory, scoring six of Messiah's 12 goals in the victory. Messiah scored five goals in the third quarter, including three from Bellows and held off a late push from the Warriors to earn the conference victory.

With the win, Messiah improved to 4-4 overall and 1-0 in conference, while Lycoming falls to 2-7 with the loss.

Bellows led the Falcons with six goals on a total of nine shots, leading all scorers. Cory Hurst also notched a hat trick off five shots while Joseph Franken found the back of the net twice. Between the pipes, Evan Stoker collected a dozen saves, earning the victory.

Messiah is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Alvernia for a conference match, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Defensive First
Five minutes into the contest, Messiah's Bellows took control early with his first goal of the game.

The rest of the first quarter was filled with quality shots on each end of the field, but neither team could find the twine and Bellows' tally was the only score of the first 15 minutes. Half of Messiah's first quarter shots were on frame (eight shots, four on goal) while Lycoming gathered up nine groundballs in the period.

Falcons' Momentum Swing
Thirty-eight seconds into the second quarter, Messiah jumped out to a 2-0 thanks to the second goal from Bellows. A short pass by Cory Hurst found the streaking Bellows who connected on a rip for his second tally of the day. That tally began a key stretch for the Falcons, that allowed Messiah to take a 5-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half.

Bellows capped off the streak with his third goal of the game, registering a hat-trick after driving through the defense and firing a left-handed shot from the middle of the field.

Lycoming got its first goal of the game with 1:10 remaining in the second quarter on a man-up opportunity. The Warriors closed out the half with two goals in the final minute of play, but Messiah took at 5-3 lead into the break.

Messiah Eliminates Lycoming Possession in Third
The Falcons came out of halftime on the attack, starting the second half just as they did in the first, with five-straight goals. Three minutes into the second half, Franken came around from behind the net and scored off a one-on-one chance with the defender. After a Jacob Davis faceoff win, Bellows kept the possession and scored a minute later with a sidearm shot from 15 yards out.

Two minutes after Bellows' goal, Lycoming was called for tripping at the 10:29 mark. Messiah was unable convert on the man-up opportunity, but just after the penalty completed Dylan Gillisse dished a pass to Hurst who rocketed a shot into the back of the net.

Bellows completed the run with two-straight goals to up his total on the day to six and give Messiah a 10-3 lead with six minutes remaining in the period. Two minutes later, Lycoming's Travis Rode got the Warriors on the board to make it a 10-4 Messiah lead heading into the fourth.

Warriors' Late Comeback
Brandon Witmer saw an opening on the goalie's high stick side from the top of the box and converted for his first goal of the season with 12:30 left in the fourth which put the Falcons up 11-4. Just 14 seconds later, Lycoming answered with a goal from Rode to pull within six once again.

After a three-minute scoreless drought for both teams, Hurst found the twine, giving the Falcons their last goal of the game and a 12-5 edge.

With six minutes left in the match, Lycoming battled back and scored the final three goals of the game, including two in the final 15 seconds, but it was not enough as the Falcons held on for the 12-8 victory.

What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Mar. 30 at 5:00 p.m. when they travel to Reading to take on conference-foe Alvernia.