READING, Pa. - The Messiah men's lacrosse team earned a victory in its 2022 MAC Commonwealth opener on Wednesday afternoon, topping Albright College on the road, 19-16. Nathan Branson scored a career-high six goals in the win as Aaron Shaw (4), Seth Libby (3), Owen Joyce (3), and RJ Mellor (2) all recorded multi-goal games as well. The Falcons used an explosive seven-goal fourth quarter to push by the Lions.

The victory improves Messiah's 2022 overall record to 5-4 (1-0 MAC Commonwealth).

The Falcons outshot Albright, 45-38, scoring seven unanswered goals from the 00:39 mark in the third quarter to the 6:19 mark of the fourth quarter. During the scoring spurt, Messiah had five different players record goals, including two goals each from Branson and Shaw. Aidan Hickey earned the victory in the cage, recording six saves to improve his record to 2-1 in his third start of the season.

Messiah returns to action this Saturday, Apr. 2, facing the University of Mary Washington on the road at 3:30 p.m.

First Half
The Falcons got on the board first with an Aaron Shaw goal less than four minutes into the contest before Albright tied it up 30 seconds later. Owen Joyce and Albright's Jack Burke traded the next four goals, with each player scoring two. Each team would score another goal to end the quarter at 4-4. Seth Libby tacked on that fourth goal in the first quarter.

Albright would take a one goal league into the half on five goals in the second quarter. Once again it was Aaron Shaw giving the Falcons a 5-4 lead in the second. The Lions would tack on two goals to take a 6-5 lead with ten and half to go in the half. The Falcons would retake the lead with Nathan Branson and Owen Joyce adding goals to make the game 7-6. Albright scored three straight goals to take a 9-7 with two and half minutes to go in the quarter. RJ Mellor scored the last goal of the half with 16 seconds to go to cut the lead to 9-8.

Second Half
Albright would increase the lead to three with a couple of goals in the first three minutes of the second half. The Falcons added three straight goals of their own, two from Nathan Branson and another from Seth Libby making the score 11-11. The teams would trade goals once again making the score 12-12 going into the final quarter. James Myers scored the 12th goal on the day for Messiah.

The fourth quarter was all Messiah, rattling off six straight goals to take a commanding 18-12 lead with six minutes to go in the game. Goals from Shaw (2), Mellor, Libby, Branson (2) made the lead too much for the Lions. Albright would tack on four additional goals to end the night with 16. Branson would add his sixth goal with two minutes to go in the game.

Messiah would win the game 19-16.

Stats
Messiah took 32 shots on goals on 45 total shots, while Albright had 22 on goal with 38 total shots. Messiah had two more ground balls 44-42 and three more face-offs 20-17.

Nathan Branson had a team high six goals while Aaron Shaw had four on the day. Seth Libby and Owen Joyce each tacked on three goals. RJ Mellor had two and James Myers had one goal.

Joyce also added five assists, while Libby and Sam Stone each had two assists. Ricky Pokrivka had eight ground balls while Libby, Fascetta and Honey each had five ground balls. Fascetta and McCuller also caused two turnovers each.

Next
Messiah improves to 5-4 on the year and 1-0 in the conference. The Falcons are back in action on Saturday April 2, when they travel to Mary Washington to play at 3:30 PM.