GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah women's lacrosse team held off a strong second-half push from the Stevenson Mustangs to earn a spot in their 11th Conference Championship by way of a 10-8 victory in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals over Stevenson. Messiah held a 9-4 lead at the break, but were held scoreless for the final 28-plus minutes of the contest after netting the first score of the second half.
 
Messiah was able to weather four-straight scores by the Mustangs to earn the two-goal victory and advance to the MAC Commonwealth Championship Game against the winner of the other semifinal between No. 2 York and No. 3 Widener, taking place at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.
 
The Falcons were paced offensively by Rachel Delate, who scored three goals and added a pair of assists while Hope Flack and Emma Lytle each finished with three points in the contest. Flack scored three goals while Lytle netted a pair and added an assist.
 
Saturday's MAC Commonwealth Championship Game is slated for 1:00 p.m. with the Falcons playing the host for the game.
 
Building a Lead
Messiah fell behind early in the opening half, with the Mustangs striking first just over a minute into the contest with a score from Mary Marc. Messiah responded less than three minutes into the contest with Hope Flack tallying her first of her three goals on the afternoon.
 
The Mustangs quickly jumped out in front once again with an unassisted tally by their leading scorer, Caroline Muphy. The score was her 47th of the season and gave Stevenson a 2-1 lead just over five minutes into the contest.
 
The Falcons responded with a half dozen goals to build a five-goal lead at 7-2 with Emma Lytle starting the Messiah scoring streak with an unassisted score of her own. Lytle feed AbbyEllen Wood for the go-ahead score just over minutes later to make it 3-2.
 
Rachel Delate dished out a pair of assists on the next two scores, finding Makenzie Schnur on the first and Hope Flack on the second to bump the Falcons' lead to three at 5-2. Messiah added unassisted tallies from Lytle and Delate in the next three minutes to take a 7-2 lead.
 
Stevenson rallied for back-to-back goals to end the Messiah run, but the Falcons capped of the game with scores from Delate and Flack to take a 9-4 lead into the break.
 
Hold On Tight
After the break, the Mustangs came out new pep in their step. Messiah scored the opening goal of the half with a crazy goal just 90 seconds into the period. Grace Gormley took a shot from the right side and after her initial shot was saved the rebound went right to Rachel Delate for the quick tally and a 10-4 Messiah lead.
 
That was the last goal the Falcons would score in the contest with the Mustangs netting the final four scores of the game. Caroline Murphy scored the third of those four tallies to make it a 10-7 game with just over 15 minutes remaining. The pace would slow down from there with Mary Marc making it a two-goal game with 3:09 remaining in regulation, scoring her second tally of the game.
 
Costly turnovers down the stretch plagued Stevenson as they attempted to complete the comeback. Messiah was able to hang on for the 10-8 victory despite being outshot 14-7 in the second half.
 
Both teams took 26 shots in the contest with Stevenson holding a slim 11-9 lead in draw controls. Messiah was a perfect 18-18 on clear attempts while the Mustangs were 14-18 on the clear.
 
Moving On
As mentioned, the Falcons advance to their 11th Conference Championship Game, looking to clinch their eighth Conference Crown. By way of their perfect regular season conference record, and top seed in the tournament, Messiah will host the Conference Championship Game on Saturday against the winner of the No. 2 York and No. 3 Widener semifinal game.
 
Messiah is looking for their first MAC Commonwealth Title since winning four in a row from 2014-2018.
 
The opening draw control of the MAC Commonwealth Championship Game is slated for 1:00 p.m. at the Lacrosse Turf