PITTSBURGH, Pa. – On Saturday afternoon, the Messiah men's lacrosse team built a sizable first-half lead, but had to hold off a late push from the Chatham Cougars in the fourth quarter to claim a 14-13 victory. The Falcons opened up an 8-1 lead midway through the second quarter and later held a 13-6 cushion early in the fourth.
 
Chatham scored seven of the final eight goals to pull within one at 14-13 with a score in the final minute. The Falcons held off the late push to earn the one-goal victory.
 
RJ Mellor led the Falcons with four goals and seven total points. Sam Stone dished out four assists and finished with six points on afternoon to help lead the offense.
 
Messiah moves to 2-2 on the young season and will be back in action next Saturday when they host Grove City at 12:00 p.m.
 
Building a Lead
The Falcons dominated the opening quarter, scoring half a dozen goals in the first 15 minutes of play. Messiah netted four goals in the first nine minutes from four different goal scorers. RJ Mellor scored the Falcons' first goal of the game off a feed from Sam Stone just over three minutes into the contest.
 
Just 24 seconds later, Owen Joyce connected on an unassisted goal to double the Falcons' lead just.
 
With 6:56 remaining in the quarter, RJ Mellor found Nathan Branson to make it 3-0 in favor of the Falcons. Less than a minute later, Messiah connected again with Christian Santangini finding the back of the cage.
 
The Cougars then broke up the Messiah scoring run with their first goal of the game.
 
Following the Chatham goal, the Falcons were right back at it. Messiah scored the next four goals to take an 8-1 lead midway through the second quarter. The run was once again fueled by four different scorers with Mellor, Joyce, Stone, and Branson connecting.
 
Back And Forth Stretch
The Cougars closed out the opening half with two goals to make it an 8-3 game at the break. Those two goals gave Chatham a little boost heading into the third quarter. Despite the momentum, Messiah outscored the Cougars 4-3 in the period. The evenly matched period kept the Falcons' lead at six, 12-6 heading to the fourth.
 
Sam Stone and Seth Libby each scored once during the period and RJ Mellor added a pair of scores as the Falcons had the Cougars doubled up heading to the final 15 minutes.
 
Chatham Rallies Late
Less than a minute into the final stanza, Aaron Shaw bumped Messiah's advantage to 13-6 with just over 14 minutes left to play. Chatham responded with a dominate stretch to end the game. The Cougars scored seven goals in the final 14 minutes.
 
Aaron Shaw scored his second goal of the period with 9:14 remaining in the game, but the Falcons had to hold on late. Shaw's second goal put Messiah up 14-8.
 
The Cougars scored five-straight goals, including one in the final minute to pull within one at 14-13. The Falcons won the ensuing faceoff and held on to possession for the final seconds, earning the one-goal victory.
 
What's Up Next
With the victory, Messiah moves to 2-2 on the young season and claims their second-straight victory. The Falcons will be back in action next Saturday when they host the Grove City Wolverines at noon on the Lacrosse Turf in Grantham.