GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah men's lacrosse team fell to the visiting Albright College Lions Wednesday night 12-7 to drop them to 1-2 on the season. The Falcons got off to a great start, leading 4-0 after the first quarter, with three of the four goals coming from reigning MAC Commonwealth Offensive Player of the Week Sam Stone. However, the Lions began to creep back in the second quarter, outscoring Messiah 2-1 to head into the break down 5-2.

Cole Genneken scored his first goal of the night late in the first half, and out of the break he began to light up the scoreboard for Albright. He scored five goals in the second half to give him half a dozen in the game, with three of them coming in less than three minutes in the third period. He added two more in the fourth quarter. Sam Stone's fourth goal of the night cut the lead to 9-7, but Albright scored the final three goals of the game to win 12-7 and pick up their first win of the season. Messiah will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Alvernia to take on the Golden Wolves at 1:00 p.m.

Fast Start
Messiah got off to a great start in the first quarter of the game, grabbing a 4-0 lead and assisting on all four goals. As mentioned, Sam Stone scored three of the four goals while Owen Joyce also tallied a score. The Falcons dominated defensively as well, outshooting the Lions 13-1 in the quarter.
 
Roaring Back
Both teams struggled offensively in the second quarter with the Falcons scoring one goal on nine shots while the Lions got on the board with two goals on seven shots. Both sides had several turnovers in the second quarter, with Messiah recording 10 to Albright's seven. As mentioned, Messiah went into the break up 5-2.
 
The Lions came out of the break playing well, scoring four goals in less than five minutes early on in the quarter to give them their first lead at 6-5. Christian Santangini briefly tied it up at 6-6 after taking advantage of a man-up opportunity before the Lions used a late third quarter goal to swing the momentum back to their side and make it 7-6 heading into the fourth.
 
Cole Genneken continued to give the Falcon defense fits early in the fourth quarter. He scored two goals in a 15 second span to give the Lions a 9-6 lead. Stone recorded his fourth goal of the game on an unassisted strike to make it 9-7, but three goals from three different Lions gave them a 12-7 victory.
 
Inside The Box Score
Messiah outshot the Lions 39-21, grabbed more ground balls (48-38), and won more face-offs (19-4). However, a lot of credit must go to Albright goalkeeper Liam Ferry, who made 12 saves in the contest and turned away a lot of good Falcon looks.
 
What's Up Next
Messiah will look to get back in the win column Saturday afternoon when they travel to Alvernia University for a 1:00 p.m. tilt with the Golden Wolves.