WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - With just under a minute left in the first overtime period, Owen Joyce netted Messiah's ninth, and final, tally of the night to give the Messiah men's lacrosse team a 9-8 victory over the King's College Monarchs on Wednesday night. It was a tight contest throughout with neither team leading by more than two goals. The score was actually tied at the end of every quarter.
 
Joyce's game-winning tally was his third of the night, leading the team. Both Christian Santangini and Sam Stone netted a pair of scores with both Joyce and Stone adding three assists as well.
 
The victory moves the Falcons to 3-5 overall. Messiah will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen on the Lacrosse Turf at 2:00 p.m.
 
Back-and-Forth Regulation
The Monarchs struck first in the early potion of the opening quarter, but the Falcons quickly answered with a score from Josh McFadden, his second of the season. The speedy response from the Falcons was a sign of things to come throughout the game.
 
Messiah had just two scoring runs throughout the entirety of the game, netting three-straight in the middle of the second quarter and consecutive scores in the fourth. The Monarchs netted back-to-back goals on two occasions, striking at the end of the second quarter and again at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth.
 
Following McFadden's tally early in the first, King's and Messiah traded goals again later in the period with Christian Santangini netting the equalizer for the Falcons. After 15 minutes of play, the Falcons and Monarchs were level at 2-2.
 
After the Monarchs scored to begin the second quarter, Messiah went on their longest scoring run of the game with three-straight goals in a two-minute stretch. Owen Joyce fueled the run by scoring two of the three goals and assisting Sam Stone on the other. The burst, put Messiah up 5-3 with just over seven minutes remaining.
 
The Monarchs netted the final two goals of the half, to once again tie things up at 5-5 heading to the break.
 
The third quarter was the lowest scoring period of regulation with each team finding the twine once. Seth Libby scored for Messiah just over four minutes into the period off a feed from Sam Stone, but just 30 seconds later King's responded to level the score at 6-6.
 
That 6-6 score remained until the early portion of the fourth quarter when King's tallied to take their first lead of the game since it was 3-2 early in the second quarter.
 
Messiah snatched the lead back with scores from Sam Stone and Christian Santangini. The Falcons held their 8-7 lead into the final minute of regulation, but the Monarchs scored with just 50 seconds remaining to tie the game at 8-8. After winning the face-off, King's had a look to win the game at the end of regulation, but Jacob Fahnestock made one of his eight saves on the day to force overtime.
 
Striking Late in Overtime
In the first overtime period, King's had the first look after winning the faceoff, but Messiah's defense forced a turnover. After a successful clear, Nate Jaloszynski had his shot at an overtime winner saved, but the Falcons picked up the ground ball to retain possession.
 
Messiah turned the ball over, but quickly forced a turnover and called a timeout with exactly a minute remaining. Just 17 seconds after the timeout, Sam Stone hit Owen Joyce for his third goal of the contest, scoring the game winner and giving the Falcons a 9-8 victory.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons move to 3-5 overall on the season and will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Lebanon Valley to take on the Dutchmen at 2:00 p.m. in a MAC Commonwealth tilt.