GETTYSBURG, Pa. – In a battle of preseason top-10 foes, the No. 8 Messiah women's lacrosse team fell by a 17-7 final against the No. 9 Gettysburg Bullets. Gettysburg opened up a 7-2 lead at the end of the first half and despite five Messiah goals in the second half, Gettysburg earned a 17-7 victory.
 
The Bullets scored five times in both the third and fourth quarters to open up the lead in the second half.
 
Individually, Emma Lytle and Rachel Delate led the Falcons on the afternoon with three goals each. Amanda Wadsworth dished out a pair of assists for Messiah.
 
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets at 1:00 p.m. on the Lacrosse Turf.
 
How It Happened
For large stretches of the game, Messiah outplayed the Bullets outshooting the home team 16-10 in the first half. Despite their advantage in opportunities, Messiah was only able to connect for two goals in the opening 30 minutes of play. Both tallies came from Emma Lytle, with the junior scoring once in the first quarter and once in the second quarter.
 
Gettysburg made the most of their chances with seven goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. The Bullets scored three times in the first period before adding four more in the second.
 
After the break, the Bullets controlled the third period with 11 shots against just three from the Falcons. As a result, Gettysburg scored five times in the quarter. Rachel Delate scored the lone tally in the period for the Falcons off a feed from Abigail Evans with 8:43 remaining in the third.
 
With the Falcons trailing 12-3 heading into the fourth, Messiah began generating some offense in the final 15 minutes of the contest. After Gettysburg's Jordan Basso connected to make it a 10-goal game, the Falcons rattled off three-straight scores from Delate, Ehryn Groothoff, and Emma Lytle to make it a 13-6 game.
 
The Bullets responded with four-straight scores before Delate capped off the scoring in the final minute of play with her third goal of the game.
 
Despite the fourth-quarter flurry from the Falcons, Messiah fell by a 17-7 final score.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will back on the field this weekend when they host the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.