MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Messiah women's lacrosse team advanced to the Sweet 16 after cruising to a 20-3 victory over the Illinois Wesleyan Titans on a stormy afternoon in Memphis. Messiah jumped all over the Titans with half a dozen goals in the first 15 minutes of play before a lightning delay halted the game for 41 minutes. After play resumed, Messiah added eight more goals before the half to take a 14-1 lead at the break.
 
With the clock rolling for the entirety of the second half, Messiah netted six more tallies while the Titans scored twice. The result was a 20-3 victory for the Falcons, their sixth game this season with 20-plus tallies.
 
Rachel Delate sat for a vast majority of the second-half, but led the Falcons with a game-high eight points on three goals and five assists. Abby Howard was close behind Delate, scoring a game-high five goals for five points. Emma Lytle (two goals, two assists), Makenzie Schnur (goal, two assists), and AbbyEllen Wood (two goals) collected multiple points while 12 total Falcons collected points on the afternoon.
 
The Falcons advance to play the winner of the Rhodes College vs. SUNY Cortland Second Round game that is scheduled to take place later this afternoon. Messiah's Sweet 16 game will take place in Waterville, Maine next Saturday at Colby College at a time to be determined.
 
Fast Start
Messiah jumped out to a quick lead with Abby Howard scoring on a free position shot just over a minute into the contest. Messiah had a handful of chances to double their lead over the next few minutes, but it was the Titans scoring the second goal of the game with a tally Bridget O'Malley four minutes later.
 
Makenzie Schnur netted a tally with 21:49 left in the first half to start a 90-second stretch with three Messiah tallies. Rachel Delate dished out assists on the next two scores finding Amanda Wadsworth first and then Abby Howard to bump the Falcons' lead to 4-1 less than 10 minutes into the contest.
 
Delate handed out her third assist of the day on a feed to Ehryn Groothoff before Paige Megargee netted her third goal of the season. The two scores within 20 seconds of each other gave the Falcons a 6-1 lead. Just seconds after Megargee found the twine, the horn blew announcing a lighting delay after a strike close to campus.
 
Lighting Halts Game, Not Falcons
After a 41-minute delay, the Falcons and Titans were back on the field. Messiah picked up right where they left off prior to the strike with scores from Abby Howard, Grace Gormley, and Rachel Delate in the next five minutes of play to put the Falcons up 9-1. Delate's underhand strike might have been the prettiest of the day, but Gormley's tally during the stretch was the product of a great individual effort. Gormley caused the turnover, picked up the groundball, and went right to goal for her only tally of the day.
 
After another score from Howard, AbbyEllen Wood got the clock rolling for the Falcons with Messiah's 11th goal of the afternoon to put Messiah up by double-digits. An unassisted score from Emma Lytle and back-to-back tallies from Delate ended the half with the Falcons firmly in the driver's seat with a 14-1 lead.
 
Falcons Advance
With the clock rolling for the entire second half, Messiah scored six goals in the period to reach the 20-goal mark for the sixth time this season. While the Tians scored twice in the final 15 minutes of the game, Messiah earned the 20-3 victory.
 
Messiah's offense featured six different goal scorers after the break with AbbyEllen Wood, Abby Howard, Emma Lytle, Hope Flack, Abigail Evans, and Jana Krihak all finding the back of the net.
 
The Falcons' 20 goals on Sunday are the most Messiah has ever scored in the NCAA Tournament.
 
In the Box Score
Messiah dominated Sunday's game in terms of time of possession and nearly every major statistical category. The Falcons outshot the Titans 45-10 in the game, including a 28-3 edge in the first half alone. Messiah was perfect on the clear, going 18-18 on the day, while holding the Titans to 10 clears in 16 chances.
 
Messiah also held the advantage in groundballs (21-6), draw controls (13-11), and turnovers (5-15).
 
What's Up Next
As mentioned, the Falcons advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in program history (2006, 2011, 2012, and 2017). The Falcons will take on the winner of this afternoon's Second Round game between Rhodes College and SUNY Cortland. The Falcons are scheduled to play in Waterville, Maine next Saturday, but all game times and locations will be confirmed early this week.