FREDERICK, Md. – The Messiah men's lacrosse team fell short on the road against conference foe Hood College, 10-8, Wednesday night. Owen Joyce led all point scorers for the Falcons, tallying four points on two goals and two assists. Joining Joyce in notching a pair of goals was Colin Webb, who netted his first career goal in the third quarter.
 
The road loss drops Messiah to a 1-3 (0-2 MAC Commonwealth) overall record.
 
The Blazers jumped out to an early 2-0 edge in the opening 4:10 of the first quarter. Jacob Davis got the Falcons on the board at the 7:49 mark, cutting Messiah's deficit in half, 2-1. Hood outscored Messiah, 5-2, for the remainder of the half. Joyce and Sam Stone found the net for the Falcons, as Stone increased his team-leading goals total to 13. Messiah trailed the hosts, 7-3, heading into halftime.
 
Hood began the second period of play with back-to-back tallies, increasing its advantage, 9-3. Joyce netted his second goal of the game at the 11:58 mark, inching the Falcons closer, 9-4. Webb added a tally with just over four minutes (4:07) remaining, cutting the deficit, 9-5, before Nate Jaloszynski scored his first career goal as a Falcon.
 
Messiah began the fourth quarter with consecutive goals, capping off a 5-0 scoring run that reduced the deficit to just one tally (9-8). The scoring run was not enough, as the Blazers tacked on an insurance goal, prevailing, 10-8.
 
Despite the loss, Webb and Jaloszynski notched their first career goals. The Falcons outshot the Blazers, 35-34, as Jacob Fahnestock played all 60 minutes in the nets for Messiah, recording 11 saves.
 
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Mar. 27, when they host Alvernia University for a conference tilt at 2:00 p.m.
 
Slow First Half
As mentioned, the Blazers took a quick 2-0 lead before Jacob Davis notched his first career goal to get the Falcons on the board and make it 2-1.
 
Every time Messiah scored a goal, Hood answered with one of their own. The Blazers took a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
 
Messiah wasn't able to get much going offensively in the second quarter, scoring once on a Sam Stone extra man opportunity to make the score 5-3.
 
Messiah struggled on extra man opportunities in the contest, scoring on just one of their six chances.
 
Hood tacked on two more goal to send them into the break up 7-3.
 
Comeback Falls Short
The Blazers extended their lead to six at the start of the third quarter, grabbing two unassisted goals to make it 9-3 with 13:00 minutes to play in the quarter.
 
Messiah than began to get hot. Led by a pair of Colin Webb goals, the Falcons scored five straight goals that stretched into the beginning of the fourth quarter to cut it to 9-8 with 11:11 to play.
 
That was all the Falcons could muster however, as a late Hood tally sealed the 10-8 win and dropped Messiah to 1-3 on the season.
 
What's Up Next
As mentioned, Messiah will be back home in Grantham on Saturday afternoon, where they host the visiting Eastern University Eagles for a 2:00 p.m. face-off.