GENEVA, N.Y. - The Messiah women's lacrosse team wrapped up their non-conference schedule on Saturday afternoon with a defensive battle at No. 17 William Smith. The Herons closed out the game on an 8-2 run to earn the 9-5 victory.
 
Messiah jumped out to a 3-1 lead with goals from Abby Howard, Mckenna Edwards, and Natalie Hoff in the first 15 minutes of the game. The Herons weathered the storm and closed the half with three-straight goals to take a 4-3 lead into the break.
 
William Smith outscored Messiah 5-2 after the break to secure the victory. Jamie Bishop and Makenzie Schnur accounted for Messiah's two second-half goals.
 
Messiah will now turn their attention to conference play, where they already hold a 1-0 record. The Falcons will be back in action on Wednesday when they host the Widener Pride at 5:00 p.m.

Falcons Take an Early Lead
Messiah took control of the opening minutes of the game with stellar defense and timely scoring. The Falcons scored three goals in the first 14 minutes of the game to take an early 3-1 lead over the Herons. Messiah got things started less than five minutes of the game with a tally from Abby Howard off an assist from Joanna King. The possession was created thanks to a caused turnover and groundball from Katie Stollemeyer.

Three and a half minutes later, Messiah was pushing their lead to 2-0 on a free position shot from Mckenna Edwards. The goal was her 12th of the season.

After the Herons' Payton McMahon tallied, the Falcons scored again with 16:42 remaining in the opening half with a tally from Natalie Hoff. King earned the assist to collect her second assist of the afternoon as Hoff was scoring her third goal of the season.

Herons Take Control
After Messiah took a 3-1 lead midway through the opening period, the Herons finished the half with three-straight goals in the last 12 minutes before the half. The stretch, gave William Smith a 5-4 lead heading into the break.

Williams Smith continued their lead into the second half with three more goals in the first four minutes of the period to take a 7-3 advantage.

The Falcons answered the 6-0 run with a woman-up goal from Jamie Bishop less than a minute after the Herons made it a 7-3 game. Once again, it was King assisting on the goal as Messiah pulled within three at 7-4.

With 25 minutes remaining in the game, the pace of scoring slowed down considerably. Messiah scored once with Makenzie Schnur tallying a woman-up goal with 16:37 remaining in the half, while William Smith scored twice to claim the 9-5 victory.

In the game, Williams Smith outshot the Falcons 28-9, putting 22 on goal. For the second-straight game, Amber Orner collected double-digit saves finishing Saturday's game with 13.

What's Up Next
The Falcons are next in action on Wednesday when they host the Widener Pride in their their second MAC Commonwealth game of the season. The game begins  is the first of seven games against the conference to end the season.