READING, Pa. – Ten different players hit the back of the net as the Messiah men's lacrosse team ran past Alvernia University 23-12 in the second conference game of the 2019 season on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Schlager Memorial Field. The Falcons offense was generated through the two sticks of Dylan Gillisse and Garrett Amsbaugh, who totaled a combined 11 goals.

With the victory, Messiah sits on the top tier of the MAC Commonwealth standings with a 5-4 overall record and a 2-0 mark in the conference. Alvernia falls to 3-7 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Messiah put on a show in front of an away crowd, firing off 56 shots and blowing the game open with six-straight goals in the first-quarter. Today's 23 goals is the highest scoring game for Messiah since the Falcons scored 25 on March 10, 2012.

Amsbaugh paced the offense with a total of nine points with six goals and three assists to his day. Amsbaugh led the team in shots with 10 with all of them being on frame. Messiah had three goalies in net today including Evan Stoker leading the trio in saves with seven.

Messiah is next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Widener at 7:00 p.m.

Stellar Start
The Falcons used a strong effort from start to finish to claim their second conference victory of the season, but it was a commanding start to the game that quickly put the contest out of reach. Messiah scored the first six goals of the game in the opening quarter before Alvernia got on the board a minute into the second quarter.

During the opening stretch, Amsbaugh and Gillisse each scored two goals while Amsbaugh added two assists to fuel the offense. Alvernia's Sam St. Croix scored the first points for the Wolves with 14:04 left in the second on a man-up opportunity. The Wolves kept on scoring, adding two-straight goals at 13:00 and 12:04 remaining in the second to pull the Golden Wolves within three at 6-3.

Scoring in Bunches
Messiah responded quickly with six unanswered goals in the next nine minutes. The streak featured three from Joseph Franken and one each from Gillisse, Amsbaugh and Liam Lilienthal. The Wolves and Falcons then traded the final two goals in the final minute of the second quarter with Amsbaugh rocketing a shot in the back of the net with one second left before the break. That tally, put Messiah up 13-4 heading to the locker room.

Alvernia scored the first goal of the second half with 10:51 remaining in the quarter. The Falcons opened up their second half scoring with their run of at least six goals to open up a 20-5 lead early in the fourth quarter. Amsbaugh and Gillisse blasted two goals each during the Messiah run.

Adding Some Firsts in the Fourth
With a 15-goal lead, head coach Atsen Bulus opened up his bench in the fourth, allowing for some new faces on the field. All goals in the fourth quarter for the Falcons were the first points of the season for the respective scorers. The period began with Nathan Branson scoring 39 seconds into the fourth period which secured the Falcons their biggest lead of the game of 15 and capped off the 7-0 run.

The Wolves went on a 6-1 run which brought the deficit to 10 goals with 5:23 remaining in regulation. In that span, Sam Stone registered his first goal of 2019. Caleb Aytes and Keegan Hurley finished out the Falcons scoring, securing the 23-12 triumph.

In the Faceoff Circle
Jacob Davis finished the game with a career-high 21 faceoff victories. This was the first time that the Falcon recorded more than nine wins this season.

What's Up Next
Messiah continues a stretch of conference games with a meeting at Widener on Wednesday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m.