GRANTHAM, Pa. – The top-seeded Messiah women's lacrosse team advanced to the championship of this year's MAC Commonwealth Tournament with a 10-8 win over Stevenson on Thursday afternoon. The Mustangs held the Falcons in check in the second half, allowing just one goal on seven shots, en route to the Falcons' lowest goal total of the season. However, good defense down the stretch and some late Stevenson turnovers pushed the Falcons into the title game.
Messiah is playing in their 11th conference championship game and looking for their eighth conference title in program history.
See below for a quick preview of Saturday's MAC Commonwealth championship against the York College Spartans.
No. 1 Messiah Falcons – 15-0 Overall, 8-0 Conference
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As mentioned, Messiah beat Stevenson Thursday afternoon 10-8 on the Lacrosse Turf in the semifinals. Leading the way for Messiah in the win was sophomore standout
Rachel Delate, who scored three goals and dished out two assists.
Delate is looking to become the first Falcon in program history to score 50 goals and have 50 assists in a single season. She currently sits with 50 goals and 49 assists. Her 99 points this season is third in program history for points in a single season, as she sits just nine points behind program leader Lizzy Keeney's 108 in 2014.
Joining Delate with multiple goals in the win was
Hope Flack with three and
Emma Lytle with two. Flack is third on the team with 36 goals while Lytle is fourth with 34 goals.
No. 2 York Spartans – 12-2 Overall, 7-1 Conference
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The Spartans come into the Title Game with an overall record of 12-2 on the season with losses to Messiah and Stevens Institute of Technology. They won their first six games before falling to the Falcons.
In their first season in the conference, the Spartans have cruised into their first MAC Commonwealth championship, allowing just seven goals in wins over Hood (15-3) and Widener (15-4). Leading the way for the Spartans was Celly Arthur, who had seven points against Hood (3g, 4a) and eight points against Widener (3g, 5a).
Arthur leads York with 76 points this season, with 24 goals and 52 assists. Their leading goal scorer is Rachel Della with 33.
When They Met
These two teams met back on Apr. 7 in York, where Messiah came away with a convincing 14-8 win over the then No. 6 nationally ranked Spartans. Messiah held a 4-2 lead at the half before exploding for 10 second-half tallies en route to the 14-8 victory.
Messiah spread the wealth during the game, with seven different Falcons scoring a pair of goals in the win.
Makenzie Schnur facilitated the offense, dishing out five assists in the game.
How to Follow
The Falcons will take on York Saturday afternoon for the MAC Commonwealth championship in Grantham beginning at 1:00 p.m. The Messiah Athletics Spectator policy will still be in effect for All MAC Commonwealth championship tournaments this spring, allowing current Messiah students, staff, and faculty to attend the contests, but No off-campus visitors will be allowed at Messiah Athletic events.
Fans are encouraged to follow the action with a live stream of the contest available on GoMessiah.tv. Live stats of the MAC Commonwealth Quarterfinals can be found at gomessiah.com/wlaxstats.
MAC Commonwealth Tournament History
This is the first time since the 2018 season where the Falcons have played in the MAC Commonwealth championship game. During that season, they beat Lebanon Valley 11-6 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
This will be the first time the Falcons and Spartans have met for the MAC Commonwealth championship after the Spartans joined the conference this season. The last time they met in the postseason was in the 2017 NCAA Tournament where the Spartans beat Messiah in a nail biting 8-7 affair in Hartford. CT.
As mentioned, Messiah is playing in their 11th conference championship game and looking for their eighth conference championship.
