FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - In a low-scoring battle against the University of Mary Washington Eagles, the Messiah women's lacrosse team earned a 9-7 victory to improve to 5-3 on the season. Messiah built a 6-4 lead at the half and held on late as the Eagles scored the final two goals of the contest.
 
Amanda Wadsworth and Rachel Delate each scored three goals for the Falcons to lead the offense. Wadsworth also added an assist, finishing the day with a team-high four points.
 
Messiah will be back in action on Wednesday when they host the Albright Lions at 4:00 p.m. on the Lacrosse Turf in conference action.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Rachel Delate and Ehryn Groothoff less than five minutes into the game. Mary Washington answered with two of the own in a 30-second span to tie things up at 2-2 with nine minutes left in the first period.
 
The busy opening quarter continued with Amanda Wadsworth scoring her first of three goals on the afternoon to give Messiah the lead at 3-2. Once again it was the Eagles countering with Katie Blair scoring in a player down situation, to tie things up.
 
Wadsworth wasted little time scoring her second off a feed from Emma Lytle and the Falcons took a 4-3 lead after 15 minutes of play.
 
The second quarter slowed the pace down with Messiah and Mary Washington recording only three goals in the period. Rachel Delate scored her second and third tallies of the game to push Messiah's lead to three at 6-3.
 
Katie Blair scored the next two goals for the Eagles with the final tally of the first half and the first score of the third quarter to pull Mary Washington within one at 6-5.
 
The lead remained one for the Falcons until Groothoff, Wadsworth, and Lytle all scored in the final 4:30 of the third quarter to give Messiah a 9-5 lead heading to the fourth.
 
Mary Washington kept Messiah off the board in the quarter, scoring a pair of goals in the final five minutes, but it was not enough to complete the comeback as the Falcons held on for the 9-7 victory.
 
In the Box Score
A look at the box scores shows a very evenly played contest. Both the Falcons and Eagles registered 26 shots and earned nine draw controls in the contest. Messiah committed two less turnovers (14-12) and picked up three more ground balls (23-20) in the closely contested game.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons return home for two games next week. First Messiah hosts the Albright Lions in their MAC Commonwealth opener at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 30. Messiah will turn around and play the Christopher Newport Captains on Saturday, Apr. 2 at noon.