GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah women's lacrosse team picked up a 17-10 victory over the York Spartans on Saturday afternoon to earn its eighth Conference Championship in program history. The Championship Game was tied 6-6 at the half, but the Falcons outscored the Spartans 11-4 after the break to earn the runaway victory.
 
Rachel Delate finished with a game-high nine points, scoring five goals and adding four assists. For her efforts on Saturday and the rest of the Tournament, Delate was named the MAC Commonwealth Tournament Most Valuable Player. A total of nine Falcons picked up points on Saturday afternoon with Emma Lytle and Hope Flack finishing with four and three goals, respectively.
 
Messiah has claimed five of the last six Conference Championships that have been awarded.
 
With the victory, Messiah advances to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in program history. The NCAA Selection Show coming up on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. on NCAA.com.
 
Even Opening Half
Messiah and York went goal went goal for goal through the first half of Saturday's contest. The Falcons were on the board first with goals from Amanda Wadsworth and Emma Lytle in the first two minutes of play, opening up a 2-0 lead. York swiftly responded with tallies from Chloe MacDonald and Jenn Cholowinski less than a minute and a half apart.
 
Abby Howard found Hope Flack with 22:37 remaining in the first half to put Messiah up 3-2, but once again the Spartans responded, this time less than a minute later to tie the game 3-3.
 
Messiah opened up 5-3 lead with scores from Makenzie Schnur and Rachel Delate, but the Spartans cut that lead in half with a score from Riley Roeder with 11:16 left in the half.
 
Both teams were held scoreless until Nicole Radcliffe went coast-to-coast on the clear and fed Emma Lytle for Messiah's sixth goal of the afternoon. It was the first assist and just the second point of Radcliffe's career.
 
Just as they had all half long, the Spartans responded. York scored eight seconds later to pull within one before tying the game on a Teresa Matthias tally with just over a minute left before the break.
 
Level Start to the Second Half
At the half, the Conference Championship stood level at 6-6 with nearly every statistical category tight as well.
 
Just as they had in the opening half, Messiah tallied first with two scores in the opening minutes of the second period. York held up their end of the deal, netting the next two scores to make the second half start feel almost identical to the opening of the game.
 
With Messiah and York level at 8-8, Rachel Delate scored a free-position attempt to begin to swing momentum in favor of the Falcons with just under 20 minutes left in the contest.
 
Stepping on the Gas
Five minutes after Delate's free-position tally, Messiah scored again on a free-position attempt from Makenzie Schnur. After Grace Gormley won the ensuing draw control, Amanda Wadsworth found Ehryn Groothoff for the Falcons' 11th goal of the afternoon. The score gave the Falcons their largest lead of the game, thus far, at 11-8.
 
After York closed the gap to just two once again, the Flacons put their foot down and tallied three-straight goals, with two from Delate and one from Gormley. Their second 3-0 run opened up a 14-9 lead with under six minutes to play.
 
With 5:28 remaining in the game, York scored again to pull within four at 14-10, but a third 3-0 run of the half carried the Falcons to the 17-10 victory. Rachel Delate, Emma Lytle, and Hope Flack scored for Messiah as the Falcons claimed their eighth Conference Championship in program history.
 
In the Box Score
The Falcons had nine players collect at least one point on Saturday. Rachel Delate led everyone with nine points, becoming the first player in program history to pick up 50 goals and 50 assists in the same season. She also tied the program record for points in a year with 108 points, matching Lizzy Keene's 108 points in 2014.
 
In addition to Delate, eight other Falcons collected points. Emma Lytle netted four goals while Hope Flack was close behind with three tallies. Makenzie Schnur dished out an assist and scored two goals of her own while Amanda Wadsworth and Ehryn Groothoff each had one goal and one assist.
 
Between the pipes, Heather Burnham and Mackenzie O'Haver split time in goal with O'Haver earning the win with her play in the second half. O'Haver finished with four saves in her 30 minutes of play.
 
NCAA Tournament Bound
With the victory, Messiah earns the Automatic Qualifier from the MAC Commonwealth to the NCAA Tournament. With an undefeated record of 16-0, Messiah is the top-ranked team in the region. The Falcons will find out where they are heading for the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. with a Selection Show on ncaa.com.